[sick_guy]

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and wanted to make a post with a question I have regarding swapping out the old idrive unit in my car with a newer model. I have a 2013 328i with the old 6.6 inch screen, no navigation, no bluetooth audio streaming, no cameras, or PDC. Basically it is fully base minus the leather seats and the seat heaters. I'm interested in this product offered by bimmertech and wanted to see if anyone in the forums has this newer retrofit kit or any experience with this brand and its retrofit kits. From the videos I have watched, the installation seems quite easy.

I wouldn't mind even trying to find a new idrive unit from a junkyard and installing that to be more cost effective, but the coding involved seems like too much of a daunting task for me. However, if any of you have some advice on how to do so that would be greatly appreciated!

Link to the product I am asking about is down below:

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/products...4-series-x3-x4

[obert]

Check with Steve at https://www.codemybimmer.ca/

Much cheaper and mine has worked great with no issues.

I have done a few things to my car

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1352545

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by obert

Check with Steve at https://www.codemybimmer.ca/

Much cheaper and mine has worked great with no issues.

I have done a few things to my car

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1352545

I was actually looking at that one offered by codemybimmer, but I saw that under compatible vehicles it only lists f30 bmws from 2014-2018. That was the only reason I did not mention it.

Edit: I just checked out that post you linked. Wow you have done quite a bit of work to your car! So you have a 2013 and the retrofit was compatible with your car? I gotta read that whole thread and come back cause there seems to be a ton of good information there.

[obert]

Originally Posted by sick_guy

I was actually looking at that one offered by codemybimmer, but I saw that under compatible vehicles it only lists f30 bmws from 2014-2018. That was the only reason I did not mention it.

Hit up Steve and ask. I have a 2013 as well. Maybe they stopped doing them for 2013 models but I don't think so.

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by obert

Hit up Steve and ask. I have a 2013 as well. Maybe they stopped doing them for 2013 models but I don't think so.

Just sent a message to them. Hopefully they get back to me soon. So I was looking at the upgrades you did for your lights and I loved it. I also have those shitty base halogen lights and I hate it. They really do a terrible job of illuminating the road at night. I wanted to upgrade my lights, but I am not willing to spend all that money right now to get a whole kit. I wanted to just swap out the bulbs but I know it requires some coding because of the color temperature or something like that. From what I read it seems that you have done quite a bit of coding for your upgrades. Would these coding jobs be something I could do myself or do you think it is too complicated and requiring expensive equipment? I really want to upgrade the lights, but I cannot afford a new kit at the moment and was looking for a more temporary but satisfying upgrade. What're your thoughts?

[obert]

Google bimmercode and check out the how to videos on YouTube. I have not done a lot of coding myself.

Steve has done a lot of my coding on my car but I did a couple of things myself using bimmercode.

Steve lives in Hong Kong now so not sure the time difference. He responds pretty quickly.

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by obert

Google bimmercode and check out the how to videos on YouTube. I have not done a lot of coding myself.

Steve has done a lot of my coding on my car but I did a couple of things myself using bimmercode.

Steve lives in Hong Kong now so not sure the time difference. He responds pretty quickly.

He got back to me and quoted me on it. One thing I realized is that his kit does not come with the updated idrive controller and I would need to acquire one in order to operate the retrofitted idrive. I saw that you had one and wanted to know if you could point me in the right direction to find one that would work with his kit and what a good price would be.

[obert]

Originally Posted by sick_guy

He got back to me and quoted me on it. One thing I realized is that his kit does not come with the updated idrive controller and I would need to acquire one in order to operate the retrofitted idrive. I saw that you had one and wanted to know if you could point me in the right direction to find one that would work with his kit and what a good price would be.

You should be able to use your original one.

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by obert

You should be able to use your original one.

I did not know that. I asked Steven if he was selling one or if he knew of how i could acquire one, but if that's the case then I might just stick to the original for the time being.

[obert]

I didn’t change mine until I upgraded to a ceramic controller.

[sick_guy]

I made my deposit with Steven and hopefully I'll get it soon. Did you opt for the id5 or id6 interface? I was thinking of going with the id6 interface. Also are you able to swap the interfaces on the fly or do you have to specify which interface you want with him first?

[obert]

Originally Posted by sick_guy

I made my deposit with Steven and hopefully I'll get it soon. Did you opt for the id5 or id6 interface? I was thinking of going with the id6 interface. Also are you able to swap the interfaces on the fly or do you have to specify which interface you want with him first?

I don’t think you can swap them without getting a new head unit. Get the most updated version you can.

[idopullups]

I retrofitted my Dec 2013 build F30 with id6 from Steve at codemybimmer. HIGHLY recommend, awesome guy and service, and of course the retrofit is still going strong. Easily the best thing I've done to my car its SO nice.

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by idopullups

I retrofitted my Dec 2013 build F30 with id6 from Steve at codemybimmer. HIGHLY recommend, awesome guy and service, and of course the retrofit is still going strong. Easily the best thing I've done to my car its SO nice.

Awesome! Yeah I made the deposit and am waiting for mine to be built. Did you end up swapping out your idrive controller? Or did you just keep the stock one?

[idopullups]

Originally Posted by sick_guy

Awesome! Yeah I made the deposit and am waiting for mine to be built. Did you end up swapping out your idrive controller? Or did you just keep the stock one?

I kept and still have my stock one, and it works totally fine.

I am thinking about changing to the ceramic controller, all you need for that is the touch controller box that sits below the idrive controller and the controller itself.

[obert]

Don’t forget you need to figure out if you have a KAN or KAN2 system to make the controller work.

Check out the link in the controller thread I am selling.

[idopullups]

Originally Posted by obert

Don’t forget you need to figure out if you have a KAN or KAN2 system to make the controller work.

Check out the link in the controller thread I am selling.

Good call, thanks for the heads up.

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by obert

Don’t forget you need to figure out if you have a KAN or KAN2 system to make the controller work.

Check out the link in the controller thread I am selling.

How do you check if you have a KAN or KAN2 system?

[obert]

Originally Posted by sick_guy

How do you check if you have a KAN or KAN2 system?

I honestly don’t remember but I know mine was KAN and I did a little bit of rewiring to be able to use the KAN2 knob.

[sick_guy]

Originally Posted by obert

I honestly don’t remember but I know mine was KAN and I did a little bit of rewiring to be able to use the KAN2 knob.

Steve mentioned something about me needing to do some splicing or get a plug and play harness so I assume that I am in the same boat with you and have the KAN. Did you rewire it yourself or did you buy one of those plug and play harnesses?

[obert]

I did some wire splicing.

Not sure if there was a harness when I did mine.

[sick_guy]

Wanted to update the post. I received my retrofit kit from codemybimmer and installed it. Everything seems to work just fine. One thing I was disappointed by was that the trip computer doesnt show all the information that it used to and is now just a duplicate of the onboard information where it just shows mpg and average mph if im not mistaken. For reference I have attached a picture of what the trip computer used to show on my old idrive system. I wanted to see if anyone has the same issue and if they were able to resolve it. I would like to have it display the same information that is shown in the picture.