[EthanS92]

Hello community members!

I’ve recently joined having just had my 3 Series GT delivered last week, arrived on Thursday and couldn’t be more pleased

Did an intro in the F34 section and was told to get some anti theft gear in place because I’m UK based which is unfortunately really sound advice.
I’ve ordered a disklok device and will look at a Ghost Immobiliser later down the line. I’d like to hope nobody would be interested in my car but literally everything is getting stolen here at the moment so it’s not with the risk as Oksamit (member) highlighted with the advice.

I don’t have any major plans in the works for the car but am keen to make some small changes here and there. After the anti theft stuff arrives I am planning to change the badges and emblems to the black counterparts.

The only BMW I had before this was an F20 1 Series which I had to let go after leaving my old job and needing to cut costs back for a while

Here’s a few photos of original current setup - I know a lot of you guys aren’t keen on the F34 look but I absolutely love it

Gonna drop any changes and tweaks here on this thread - always welcome advice and guidance

[EthanS92]

Hello again! Whilst I’m waiting for some of the small orders to arrive and I’m getting used to the car, I thought id share some of my ownership history so far (not a lot of it!).

First car was a MK4 Golf 1.4l - Loved this car and this had the most done to it cosmetically during my ownership. Ended up getting stolen from the parking space outside our house eventually- sad day 😔
Changes were body kit modifications inspired from R32 line, lowered, alloys and spacing, grill changes, head and tail light changes, de-badging to the rear, boot spoiler and then new radio inside and led lighting.
Gone but not forgotten!





Because of work I then had use of company cars for the next 9/10 years. Didn’t buy another car after my golf for a long while.

When I did it was the F20 2019 1 Series 118i M Shadow Edition in blue. Stunning car and was completely in love with the look and colour. It had a lot of the add ons (that my current F34 doesn’t) like heated seats and folding mirrors etc. only had this car around 8 months then sold it because I had a job change and it wasn’t needed anymore.




2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V8 Startech Edition - Been in the family since 2003 and I took over ownership in 2020. It’s seen better days cosmetically as the body kit needs work but it’s too expensive and difficult to find a lot of the custom parts needed as well as way too expensive to run in the UK alongside everything else, so is currently resting on the drive until I have the time and funds to get it back to ideal condition.





Now up to date on ownership history which brings us back to the F34 🙂

[EthanS92]

Checking in with the arrival of my first goodie - Not the add on that I would have liked to have make first, but definitely one that is unfortunately most likley needed based on the amout of car theft in the UK. Recommended to be the first thing I buy by member Oksamit.

Disklok Security steering wheel cover. I will be looking in to other systems such as Ghost Immobiliser's as I have read quite a lot about them. I'm hoping neither wil be needed but better safe than sorry

The disklok device is very quick and easy to fit, I thought it would be more of a pain to put on and off but after doing it once or twice it takes about 30 seconds.




Next delivery should be the all black front grilles and then the all black emblems / badges / decals. Small changes to start but I think it should slowly start to make subtle differences

[EthanS92]

All black grilles arrived - great change to the look of the car. Subtle difference but a really nice one IMO as gives it a sleeker front end image. 10 minute job to change, although fiddly, easy one to do so highly recommended if people are considering it. I will keep the OEM Grilles jn storage. These new ones were £23 inc delivery which i thought was pretty good although they're not OEM.





Black emblems / badges arriving in the next two weeks hopefully so will get the chrome ones replaced and that should help complete the all the black look I'm looking for.

Trying to keep things cheaper at the moment as got other stuff going on in the background, but will be working towards a rear diffuser change to accomodate a quad exhaust as well as a front splitter for a slightly more agressive look.

[Ragnar The Redneck]

Nice rides... I think that the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car! j/k

[Oksamit78]

Originally Posted by EthanS92

Black emblems / badges arriving in the next two weeks hopefully so will get the chrome ones replaced and that should help complete the all the black look I'm looking for.

Interested to see what emblem replacement you have gotten for the rear as it is a one-of-a-kind one piece construction from OEM with a raised chrome pedestal. Or you are planning to detach the roundel from the chrome pedestal and re-attached an all black one with glue or other adhesive?

[EthanS92]

Originally Posted by Ragnar The Redneck

Nice rides... I think that the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car! j/k

Thank you sir!

[EthanS92]

Originally Posted by Oksamit78

Interested to see what emblem replacement you have gotten for the rear as it is a one-of-a-kind one piece construction from OEM with a raised chrome pedestal. Or you are planning to detach the roundel from the chrome pedestal and re-attached an all black one with glue or other adhesive?

I was struggling with the rear boot emblem, I can't seem to find a black replacement to the chrome mounting that holds the badge - I've checked a lot of places.

I've ordered another OEM second hand badge and mount from ebay and I'm going to try rubbing it down and spraying it to see if that comes out in the right look.

If that fails I was going to look at getting some wrap to see how that comes out.

If these two options are no good I'll get it sprayed professionally in the paint matched colour code.

[EthanS92]

Wing mirrors, new sequential indicator lights and key case arrived.

Indicators and wing mirrors casing change was pretty straight forwards but getting the mirror off…. Daaaaaaamn. Clips were seized so even with the prying tool it was a massive struggle.

Annoyingly I cracked one of the mirrors so I need to get that ordered and changed.

Liking the changes 👍🏼 Just need to get the car washed now but it’s been raining the last two weeks so waiting for the one day of sun per year that we get.

[EthanS92]

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[pboss0812]

My whip

[EthanS92]

Originally Posted by pboss0812

My whip

Nice ride

Loving the rim colour 👌🏽

[EthanS92]

Mirrors replaced and fitted - can now fully enjoy the changes made yesterday

[EthanS92]

Mud flaps on, car washed, looking good

[EthanS92]

Black badges added to replace chrome ones. Change looks smart, quite subtle but a nice addition. Mostly easy but had a bit of a wobble on alignment with the number 5 Dodnt want to ruin the adhesive backing by taking it off and then trying to put it on again so it stays for now. Rest of them went on straight and within the measurements laid out.

Front black BMW emblem changed over from OEM one, loving the impression and just need to do the back one now Paint and wet & dry paper is here so when weather is a bit better I’ll start standing down the rear emblem mount so it’s prepped for spraying.
.

[EthanS92]

Originally Posted by Oksamit78

Interested to see what emblem replacement you have gotten for the rear as it is a one-of-a-kind one piece construction from OEM with a raised chrome pedestal. Or you are planning to detach the roundel from the chrome pedestal and re-attached an all black one with glue or other adhesive?

Nearly ready for remounting

[EthanS92]

Rear emblem swap to the black badge done - The secondary chrome pedestal I bought to sand down and respray came out well. Colour blend is a perfect match on the car and I managed to get out the most of the blemishes and protrusions which I was happy with. Had a few issues during the lacquer stage, which ended up meaning I had to sand it down to black again and add a few more coats before re-lacquering, but ended up with a decent result.

All badges and emblems have now been chrome to black swapped so will start looking at some other bits next month.

Happy with the changes so far and keen to see what difference some of the future changes make. Since delivery at the start of Jan I've done;
- Sequential smoked indicators (on wing mirrors)
- M3 style wing mirrors
- Black front & rear emblems
- Black side & rear badges
- Black kidney grilles
- Mud flaps

Watch this space, more soon to come!

.