I recently crossed the one year mark with my '17 328dx Wagon. When I think back on all the experiences I've had with the car, I'm astounded at how much I've learned over that period. For example, before getting this car, I really didn't know how to work on anything in a vehicle. Now, I can strip the interior by memory, and swap brakes for track days. This log catalogs the various things I've learned about my vehicle and its modifications.
But wait, don't we already have plenty of logs on Bimmerpost about other people's wagons, and even another EBII diesel wagon?
The thought had occurred to me, however I have a good amount of modifications and experiences that those other logs don't have. Besides, none of those logs are of
MY car.
Other log entires:
Helpful Reference Links:
My Youtube Channel
The Beginning
After waiting five months (July through Nov. 2016) for my 328dx Wagon order (thanks VW Dieselgate...), I finally picked up my new car from BMW Santa Barbara from none other than Jon Shafer (Bimmerfest founder)! Jon was a pleasure to work with and gave me a deal nobody else could meet. Bummer he's not in the business anymore.
Here's what the build had (most relevant/interesting parts anyways):
-328dx Wagon
-M-Sport package
-Estoril Blue II paint
-Adaptive-M Suspension
-Tech Package (HUD & Nav)
Looking at my previous vehicle next to my new one, some things are readily apparent:
1) I like hatchbacks.
2) I like blue.
Initial Changes/Mods
The day after I bought the car I took it to the tire shop by my office and swapped the run-flats on there for Continental DWS06 in 235/45-18. A coworker of mine needed new tires for his 3 series, and he was happy to buy my run-flats off of me for how much I paid for the DWS 06. Talk about convenient!
Immediately after getting the tires changed, I brought the car to Automall Tint in Fremont, CA. I wanted a tint that had a good balance of rejecting heat and maximizing visibility, essentially not looking like I had tint at all. I decided on Llumar Air 80 for this. Greg at Automall Tint did a great job with the install, and the tint works well. The car doesn't get "can't touch the steering wheel" hot in the summer, and I never feel the need to turn the AC past the first level in auto mode.
In the same complex as Automall tint is a detailer, Carzwerk. The owner, Jason, is a really stand-up guy. Jason has a chemical engineering background, and it shows because he really wants all of his customers/potential customers to really know the process of what they're getting and how to maintain it. I really appreciate how much passion Jason has for customer education, which enables you to maintain the cosmetic condition of your vehicle. Jason worked with Will, of Speed Shields, to do a PPF (Suntek) + Ceramic Pro coating. For ppf I decided to do the full front (including A-pillars), four doors, rocker panels, rear quarter splash area, and rear loading area strip.
Even before I took delivery of the vehicle I started to stock up on accessories for it. Over my five month waiting period I acquired the BMW/Weathertech floor liners, AutoTecknic painted front reflectors ($52.50 new on eBay), black BMW M-Performance grills ($90 new on eBay), and a dashcam setup.
I've been pretty happy with the floor liners. I do a lot of off-pavement/muddy driving and they do a good job of keeping the filth contained. One thing I started to notice though, was that the area behind the right ankle on some of my nice dress shoes started to get scratches. I found out that as I was lifting off of the pedals that area was making contact with the floor liner. Some seating position changes remedied that.
Installing painted reflectors always takes longer than videos/people say it does. If it's chilly/cold the adhesive really firms up and is difficult to work. I used a heat gun and isopropyl (IPA/rubbing alcohol) to slowly work the stock adhesive loose. My fingers were darn tired after doing this!
The M-Performance grills were a pretty straight forward install. I wouldn't listen to any guides that tell you to just break tabs and yank the existing grills out. It's really not that hard to unbolt the top of the bumper from the engine bay and reach your arm behind it to release the tabs.
For the dashcam, I went with the Thinkware F770 along with a Cellink Battery B. I got both from Blackboxmycar.com during their Black Friday sale. I subscribe to the "it only takes one event for it to pay for itself," school of thought. It also works decently for recording things like track days. For the memory card I went with a 128gb Samsung EVO+ card. I haven't had any issues with that combo and the dashcam prompts me to format the memory card about once a month (just have to hit the "format" button). One thing to be aware of with the F770 is that the buttons can rattle. To mitigate this I put some clear packing tape over them. Janky, I know, but cheap and effective. Being in California, I've captured lots of footage of crappy drivers, and maybe one of these days I'll submit something to one of those "USA Car Crashes" Youtube channels.
Given that the holidays (and associated break) were coming up shortly after I got my car, I decided I would teach myself how to code the vehicle. Coming from an EE background the concept was really simple to me, "Find text file, find text parameter, and change the parameter value." The most difficult part ended up being configuring the program correctly, but even that wasn't really difficult. The documentation and guides out there are quite good. It's really amazing how much more convenient you can make the car by just coding simple things such as doors unlocking when engine is shut off, folding mirrors upon locking, and being able to roll up windows with the doors open.
Dyno Time, and Crashing an Audi Party
One thing I was really curious about after getting the car was what the actual power was. It's super hard to find an AWD dyno in the Bay Area that's open on weekends, but I just happened to get lucky and find a shop close to my office, 034 Motorsports, that was having a dyno day on a Saturday in January. I called them, got the details, and signed up for a slot.
When the day came, I drove over to 034 Motorsports, and to my surprise, found the parking lot FULL of Audis. I'm sure I felt similar to a whore in church as I crept through the parking lot past many awkward stares. Apparently this "dyno day" was part of the Audi Club of North America (ACNA, basically Audi's BMW CCA) Golden Gate Chapter's "Audi Winterfest." Apparently in Audi-land, 034 Motorsports is kind of like Dinan is to BMW, and they're one of ANCA's premier sponsors. I ended up getting an 034 Motorsports shirt with my dyno runs, which would come in handy for blending in...
034 Motorsports has a Mustang AWD dyno. I guess this brand is known as the "heart-breaker" for measuring lower outputs than other dyno brands. It certainly had that effect when I looked at my dyno runs. The highest run came out at 143hp and 217lb-ft of torque at the wheels. A far cry from the advertised 180hp and 280lb-ft. Looks like xDrive has a lot of losses!
New Shoes
I happen to like shoes, especially nice shoes. Shell cordovan is my weakness and one of these days I'll have the complete shell rainbow of Alden's plain-toe bluchers (PTB). Oh, wait, I'm on Bimmerpost, not Styleforum... Right.
After getting blacked out grills on the 328dx wagon, the silver 400m wheels just looked out of place. I began the search for a set of black rims. Eventually I stumbled upon pics of the 18" 405m wheel (probably on here) and was immediately sold! I began to look for them and became dismayed for a couple of reasons, the first being they're a pretty rare wheel in the USA, and second, they're pricey! Thankfully I had made a connection at my local dealership and they were able to get me them at a more than reasonable price. Seriously, take care of your local dealership people, and they will take care of you!
After getting the wheels I dropped them off with Jason at Carzwerk for a ceramic coating. They came out looking great!
400m
18" 405m
Ultiminate Driving Machine?
Given BMW's slogan, it was natural that many of my friends/family would ask me, "So is it really the ultimate driving machine?" I would always feel a bit embarrassed when asked this, because I could never say with confidence, "Yes, it is." The fact was (and still is), the base xDrive suspension isn't worthy of the BMW brand. I remembered test driving wagons with the base xDrive suspension, and thinking to myself, "Why the hell would I buy this? This is worse than my Mazda 3!" Even with the Adaptive-M suspension, I wasn't really impressed. Comfort mode was too disconnected from the road for me, and Sport mode, while better and tolerable, never satisfied me with the connected feel I looked for. I knew the suspension would require some changes.
Luckily for me, around the time I was thinking that the suspension needed improvement, Dinan dropped the price of their Shockware to $200. This would change the profile for the electronic dampers and stiffen them up. I scheduled an appointment to have it installed at my local dealer, and was super glad I did! My first thought after getting in the car after it was done was, "This is how it should've come from the factory!" The ride was much more planted and it felt like the body roll was much reduced. Some people thought that it was too rough for daily driving, but I find the Sport mode to be just right (I still do my off-pavement driving in Sport mode). The one downside, is that it essentially made the original Sport profile the Comfort profile, which isn't comfortable enough, and not sporty enough, so essentially useless. Overall, this made the car much more enjoyable.
Along with this I saw the thread here about the
CPM mid-chassis reinforcement plate. It also came up in that thread that you could just buy the F80/82 plate for about $20 and use that instead. For about $30, I figured, "What not?" and ordered the longer bolts and plate to see if it would do anything to stiffen up the chassis. One interesting thing I found out, is that the CPM instructions say to torque the bolts to 30Nm (22ft-lbs), but the stock bolts holding the original brace on there are torqued to nowhere near that (much less). I put the F80 brace between the stock brace and the car. I honestly couldn't tell from daily driving if this made any improvement, but it was my first time getting under the car.
Mid-Chassis Brace, F80 Brace Between Stock and Car
Interior Trim - Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
When
roll_the_dice showcased his his
SWEET self-done carbon fiber interior, I was blown away! "I have to try that too!" I thought to myself. Unfortunately, I've never worked with real carbon fiber before, but I knew there were lots of carbon fiber vinyls out there, and decided that I would teach myself how to wrap with that. Researching different CF wraps, I settled on VViViD Vinyl's Epoxy wrap. I bought a 18"x60" roll. That was plenty for all the interior trim, and there was even enough for re-doing my steering wheel trim. As for the vinyl itself, I wasn't terribly happy with VViViD's product. It got stretch marks too easily, and didn't hold very well. I used a heat gun to apply it and not a hair dryer. Additionally, the Epoxy CF vinyl looks pretty flat unless at an angle. In the end, I wasn't satisfied with the look and looked for another CF vinyl.
Real CF Left, VViViD Epoxy CF Vinyl Right.
After scouring more CF vinyl threads on Bimmerpost to see what other people were using, I decided to try
Teckwrap's 4D CF vinyl. It came in a 2'x5' roll, and was cheaper than VViViD. Verdict? It's excellent! The Techwrap vinyl was easier to work with, stuck better, and the pattern is much better than VViViD Epoxy. Each of the weaves has texture in the squares so it looks much more realistic.
To paint the interior trim pieces I wanted something I could experiment with, but not cause a permanent change. The various pieces that I did in EBII actually have a layer of white plastidip underneath. For the EBII color I used Scratch Wizard's touch up spray paint followed by regular Rustoleum clear coat. The regular paints/clear on top of plastidip makes it so you can't peel it off in one big pieces, but you can still scrape it off without damage to the surface underneath.
My roll_the_dice Imitated Interior
One other thing I tried were those "stick on" carbon fiber pieces. Bimmian happened to be looking for testers for a kit and I joined. The pieces are supposed to stick on top of your existing trim via 3m tape. Unfortunately, this kit fit terribly! The iDrive surround piece didn't have a large enough cutout for the iDrive controller, and typically the edges were too long so the kept the main surface from making contact with the substrate. I haven't trusted anything with this method since...
Bimmerfest 2017
This year was the first year I attended Bimmerfest. I wanted to get the "whole experience" so I joined the caravan that starts in Seattle, WA and grows along the way down. It was awesome being part of a long line of cars. Unfortunately, the caravan wasn't without casualties. One fellow with a Z3 roadster I met at the San Jose rally point wrecked shortly after we got onto 101 in South San Jose. Remember to check your blind spots!!!
Bimmerfest attempt at Most BMW's on a Track Record (we failed)
Just before Bimmerfest I got Dinan's diesel Sport tuner. I played with the various settings for a week or two, and then just left it on Sport+ for the trip down to SoCal. One thing that interested me at Bimmerfest was the dyno runs you could do. I wanted to see just what the Dinan Sport tuner was doing and signed up for a slot. The dyno operator (MCE) was super cool and gave me a bunch of runs so I could have multiple data points for a couple of profiles. Unfortunately, they weren't able to measure my torque numbers, but were able to get horsepower. Surprisingly, the Sport+, not Race modes on the Dinan Sport produced the highest horsepower numbers. One Race profile run showed a short spike in power, before dropping off, and the other one pretty much just followed the stock profile. The max gain was only 8-9hp... After that trip I decided to remove the Dinan sport tuner, since it wasn't really doing anything (and I couldn't feel it from my butt dyno either). One interesting point to note, is that the stock horsepower number from the Dynojet dyno at Bimmerfest wasn't that far off (~5hp) from the value on the Mustang at 034 Motorsports.
Bimmerfest Dyno Numbers
On the Dyno at Bimmerfest
Another highlight of Bimmerfest was meeting up with fellow member
Johnny250 and seeing his EBII diesel wagon after reading
his log. It'll be interesting to see where we go different on mods. I can say for sure that his exhaust mod is unique for 328d's.
After Bimmerfest, I decided to stay in SoCal for a few more days and went to Palm Springs. I did a couple of short driving experiences at the BMW Performance Center in Thermal, and was sold on trying to take a class there in the future, little did I know that would be sooner than I imagined.
A Mod Crazy July Fourth!
Over the summer I went a bit crazy with mods. I really just wanted to pull everything apart to see how it all worked/went together, and that was all the excuse I needed to buy more stuff to add while it was apart.
On the way back from Bimmerfest I stopped off in Covina to check out an M-Performance diffuser replica that I saw on eBay. It looked good enough, and I picked it up for $100. When I got back to the Bay Area, I had it painted with EBII on the sides/top and gloss black in the fin area. Seeing the raw plastic diffuser on cars, bothers me for some irrational reason, it just doesn't look complete/finished to me. Painting was an additional $250, so all in all it was still cheaper than the official diffuser. Originally, I was going to try and paint it myself with Scratch Wizard spray paint again. I read how paint doesn't stick to PE plastics well due to the weak surface bonds, and release agents they use to get the plastics out of the molds. I read about flame treating (running a flame from a propane torch over the surface) to sweat the release agents out and break the surface bonds of the plastic so there are more dangling bonds for the paint to stick to. It was crazy seeing just how much release agent was coming out of the plastic! After doing this, and thinking about how I was going to mask off the sections for painting, I decided it was worth it to just pay the pros to do it. The fit from this particular diffuser was pretty good. One of the sides didn't lock completely, but the bolts holding it to the bumper allowed me to align it just fine.
Original M-Sport Bumper Trim
Painted M-Performance Diffuser
Although the group buys closed in the winter/spring, BimmerTech's comfort access and soft-close door retrofits weren't released until summer. This was the first time pulling apart my doors (I would go back and do this MANY times in the future). I got the comfort access (CA) kit because I wanted to add that feature to my rear doors, as the fronts already had the BMW CA system. I was hoping to set it up so that if I used the CA on the driver's door, only the driver's door would unlock, and if I wanted to unlock all doors I could just use the rear passenger handle. Soft close doors just looked friggin cool, and I had had some times where I thought I closed my driver's door, but hadn't and got a rude jerk from the car as it shifted to park while I was reversing because of that.
BimmerTech CA and Soft Close Kits
Since it was my first time pulling apart a lot of my trim, it took multiple days to install these kits. Thank God I did it over the long July 4th weekend, as I needed almost all of it! You definitely need to be careful when installing certain parts, and will have to figure out other parts because the car in the installation video might not have the same parts/configuration as yours. Also, if doing the soft close doors,
REMOVE YOUR DRIVER'S DOOR KEY LOCK CYLINDER! The installation video didn't do that or mention a risk of it, and I ended up breaking the rod that connects the key cylinder to the door latch when pulling out the stock unit.. This part isn't sold alone, and the cheapest I've seen an assembly is $70... Yeah, I still haven't gotten around to buying a new one.
Remove this Before Removing the Driver's Door Latch!
In the end I'm SUPER happy with the soft close doors. Definitely one of my favorite and most appreciated mods. Unfortunately, the CA kit never worked right. What ended up happening is if I unlocked and opened the car using the BMW OEM CA on the front doors, the alarm would sound. Eventually BimmerTech and I decided that this wasn't going to work with my car, and I uninstalled the kit and returned it to them for a full refund. Shout out to their support guy Maciej for being so helpful!