[M4_GTS]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

I used Eibach Germany's catalog to find the PN and ended up ordering from a Euro vendor off eBay. I waited for an eBay sale, so the price (including shipping) ended up being a bit cheaper than the typical price for non F31 springs.

You have pics of how they sit without the spring insulators?

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by M4_GTS

You have pics of how they sit without the spring insulators?

Here's a decent pic. Slight forward rake. With the coil spring booster the bottom sits pretty flat.

[M4_GTS]

Looks good. Why didnt you buy the h&r springs?

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by M4_GTS

Looks good. Why didnt you buy the h&r springs?

I heard H&R lowers the car even more, which is something I definitely don't want to do. Also, their documentation isn't as good as Eibach, so you really don't know what you're getting.

[cdwalls]

this thread is extremely informative. thank you!

[FaRKle!]

Blackstone Transmission Fluid Report

A couple weeks ago I decided to have my transmission fluid/filter/pan changed. The vehicle was at about 45,500mi, and I decided to have some preventative maintenance done on it before the warranty was up (also if anything was caught then I could get it covered).

Most of us know that although BMW says the transmission has a "lifetime" fill of fluid, and that it never needs to be changed, that the transmission maker, ZF, recommends replacement at 80,000-100,000km (50-60kmi). For replacement, I ordered the ZF OEM transmission service kit from FCPEuro.

After having the transmission service done I sent a sample of the fluid to Blackstone to see what the wear looked like, especially since I have a decent amount of track days on the car. There's plenty of data on oil change intervals and track days, but not much on transmission fluid changes since they're done far less frequently or not at all.

With that said, here's my report:


Given the report, it looks like it's a good thing I changed the fluid. My fluid at 45,500mi had the same wear as one that has 72,000mi, or 116,000km. I guess if you have a use case like I do, you should be changing the transmission fluid every 37,500mi.

[andino]

Ah nice you ended up doing the zf8 yourself? How was the process like? I go back and forth on just taking it to a shop or DIYing it

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by andino

Ah nice you ended up doing the zf8 yourself? How was the process like? I go back and forth on just taking it to a shop or DIYing it

I had the dealer do it since I was having them do the EGR cooler recall inspection on my car too. I have a good relationship with my dealer's service department and I know they do a good job. I'm comfortable doing it myself though.

[CUTTUBUSM3]

Great journal! I respect your dedication to doing things right. this was a great read, thank you and gorgeous wagon!

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by CUTTUBUSM3

Great journal! I respect your dedication to doing things right. this was a great read, thank you and gorgeous wagon!

Thanks! I plan on having more to share, educate, and explain!

[FaRKle!]

The Asian Andy BMW Club

It just so happens that a few of us on this forum share many things in common. In particular, members kreuz, andino, and I share similar ethnic backgrounds, first names, and an enthusiasm for our BMWs. Yesterday we decided meet up and get some work done on our cars. Coilovers here, control arms there, some spark plugs, and suspension tuning. Following that we did some back road runs driving each other's cars to see how our different suspension setups handled and felt. It was a great and productive day.

(The other Andys/Andies? took much better pics than me)

[FaRKle!]

Retrofitting a 10.25" iDrive Screen

Most people retrofitting 10.25" screens into their F3x use F15 X5 screens. I saw one who had a G30 5-series screen retrofitted for him and decided to look into that further. The G30 screen looks better to me than the F15 one since it doesn't have a thick silver trim around it. Additionally, since my vehicle is LCI, it has NBT EVO. Finding F15 NBT EVO touch screens isn't nearly as easy as finding older NBT ones, and they were all pretty expensive. I knew that whatever G30 screens I found would work with NBT EVO and decided to check out that route.

Part Numbers
To my surprise I found a decent amount of G30 NBT EVO screens at decent prices, and ended up snagging one off eBay for $325. The PN I got was 65506810511, which came out with the initial G30s, but has since been discontinued and superseded by 65508781408 and 65508715339.

Fitting
When I took out my existing 8.8" screen and test fit the 10.25" screen I saw that the main mounts (where screws go) generally lined up with those of the 8.8" screen, but the rear mounts that snap into clips on the dash were significantly off. Additionally, if the screen were tilted back at the angle required to use the rear clips it would lean way too far back. Instead, I tried tilting the screen all the way forward to see how that looked, and that actually looked just right. That also had another a good effect, it allowed the screen and rear cover to clear the dash! No cutting of either was required!

The mounts with screw holes on the 10.25" screen are a bit wider than that of the 8.8" one. They won't fit all the way in the dash cut outs, but with the screen tilted all the way forward they won't align with the screw mounts in the dash anyways. I wasn't sure how to mount the screen at this point, but decided to try using zip ties. Beside the holes in the dash where the screen's mounts go I drilled two more holes, one on each side to route the zip ties to after going through the screen's screw holes. These would be hidden since they sit under the screen and within the dash. Surprisingly these held pretty well and didn't let the screen rock forward at all. The rear cover of the screen leaves a large gap behind it and the dash though, and allowed the screen to rock back a bit. In the meantime I used some dark foam to support the rear, and will probably end up taking some thermo-formable plastic (like kydex) and make a rear cover extension to cover the gap and add rear support. The foam's worked well in preventing the screen from rocking back during driving.

Zip Ties Securing Mount


Gap Behind Screen and Temporary Foam Support


Coding
When I initially plugged the 10.25" screen and turned on the car it stayed blank. I hadn't coded it, so I went about that next. In the HU_NBT_EVO file the only two options I needed to change were the CID resolution and CID screen size. These are located in "3005 DISPLAY_PIP_CONFIG>CID_DISPLAY_RES," and "3005 DISPLAY_PIP_CONFIG>CID_DISPLAY_SIZE." The screen size was changed from 8.8 to 10.25" and the resolution from 1280x480 to 1440x540. After those two changes were made the screen fired right up and displayed my ID6 Lite without issue. These screens are touch capable, and if I'm sure if I code ID6 vs ID6 lite that function will work too.

End Result
Even with my somewhat on the fly rigging, everything seemed to work out alright. The screen worked, and stayed secure in driving without any noticeable shaking or movement. I'll need to work on cleaning up the gap left by the rear cover and the dash though. You can see the difference between the 8.8" and 10.25" screens below.

Stock 8.8" Screen


G30 10.25" Screen

[DThr33]

The new screen looks great! Do you have pictures from the side to show how it sits on the dash?

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by DThr33

The new screen looks great! Do you have pictures from the side to show how it sits on the dash?

Unfortunately I don't right now, but I'll take some since I need to grab some photos of my "ghetto rigged" zip tie mount.

EDIT: Added pics of side/gap behind and zip ties holding the screen's screw hole mount.

[FaRKle!]

Making a rear cover for the G30 iDrive screen

This is a part 2 to Retrofitting a 10.25" iDrive Screen.

This weekend I finally got around to making a rear cover to fill the gap behind the G30 screen and the dash. In my last post I spoke of likely using a material that I could form with a heat gun. I ended doing that afterall, and using Kydex, a type of ABS plastic commonly used in sheaths and holsters. Kydex usually comes in 12"x12" sheets and I ordered them in 0.06" thickness (I've used 0.93" in the past and knew that'd be much thicker than needed for this).

My original idea was to use one single piece of Kydex and and form it around the back then cut it so it lined up with the dash. Unfortunately, I found out a 12" long piece wasn't enough to do this, so I needed to take a 3 piece approach (center and two sides). To secure the Kydex to the rear housing I drilled two small holes in the cover to fasten it with a couple of screws. I then made the two side cover pieces and used some more screws to fasten them to the center rear piece. This was a very iterative process figuring out where I needed to shave more material and then putting the screen in place. Kydex can be broken easily in a straight line by scoring it, and then bending it along the score to snap it. Since it's ABS, it also cuts/grinds down easily with a dremel too.

Screen Rear Cover


Additionally, when I first put the screen in place I saw that the screw holes in the mounts didn't go far enough into the dash to line up with the screw holes there, and that they also sat a bit forward. I used some scrap pieces of 0.93" Kydex to make extensions and also shim the gap between the dash and screen mounts.

Screen Mount Extensions




After mounting the screen with screws, the whole assembly is rock solid. The screws and gaps are noticeable, but I don't think they're really be seen unless someone is looking closely.

Screen Screwed Into Place


Passenger's Side View (view most likely to be seen)


View From Exterior

[Moupe]

Well done bruh, that's actually integrated fairly well. I'm looking hard at copping some Eibachs for my F31 to address the SUV-like wheel gap. Thank you for all your documentation and contributions to the community bruh, real talk.

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by Moupe

Well done bruh, that's actually integrated fairly well. I'm looking hard at copping some Eibachs for my F31 to address the SUV-like wheel gap. Thank you for all your documentation and contributions to the community bruh, real talk.

Thanks! Do you have the base or adaptive M suspension? Based upon that I can make some recommendations. One thing to be careful of with the base dampers is not over springing the car too much.

[Moupe]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

Thanks! Do you have the base or adaptive M suspension? Based upon that I can make some recommendations. One thing to be careful of with the base dampers is not over springing the car too much.

I have the adaptive M suspension. I am all ears regarding recommendations. I will say that my F31 will not see the track nor will it be pushed hard around the bends. I'm just looking to lower it down a reasonable amount and hoping ride quality won't be diminished. Your ride height looks just about spot on for me.

[andino]

Originally Posted by Moupe

I have the adaptive M suspension. I am all ears regarding recommendations. I will say that my F31 will not see the track nor will it be pushed hard around the bends. I'm just looking to lower it down a reasonable amount and hoping ride quality won't be diminished. Your ride height looks just about spot on for me.

Farkie's car was pretty spot on with the adaptive struts when I rode in it. I think he was just running the Eibach Pro Kit for F31s. He'll have some part numbers for you to look for though so you can get the exact kit he was running when he was on stock adaptive dampers.

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by Moupe

I have the adaptive M suspension. I am all ears regarding recommendations. I will say that my F31 will not see the track nor will it be pushed hard around the bends. I'm just looking to lower it down a reasonable amount and hoping ride quality won't be diminished. Your ride height looks just about spot on for me.

You're pretty well set up then with the Adaptive M Suspension. The Adaptive M suspension actually comes with stiffer springs than the base suspension. If you go with the kit Eibach recommends (E10-20-031-15-22) the front spring is only about 5% stiffer, and the rear spring is actually ever so slightly softer than the OE spring.

One thing I'm in the middle of trying is seeing how F8x springs work with the F31. Both the front and rear springs look to be just the right stiffness to be "one level stiffer" than the Adaptive M springs without being too strong that they'll cause you to be under damped. Additionally the F8x ground clearance is 4.7" vs 5.7" for our cars, so it should give you a nice lowering. In fact, the front weight of an F8x is pretty close to the front weight of our 4cyl engine + xDrive components, so I expect the front to sit the same as an F8X. The rear will be lower, but I believe that can be fixed with shims like how Macht Schnell does it for the F80.

Another thing to consider is going with F8x bump stops over E39/E60 "Dinan" ones. The F8x ones are pretty cheap, already meant for a lower ride height, and can handle the weight of our cars (same PN is used from M2 to M4 vert, which is significantly heavier than the F31). I have a set of rear F8x bump stops coming to me soon to try.

[Moupe]

FARKLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just came across some threads regarding an OEM M Performance "HAS" or height adjustable suspension kit for the F8x cars. I wonder if this is a viable option spring wise as it would be amazing to be able to adjust ride height for fine tuning. Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaa!

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...s/33502414216/

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by Moupe

FARKLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just came across some threads regarding an OEM M Performance "HAS" or height adjustable suspension kit for the F8x cars. I wonder if this is a viable option spring wise as it would be amazing to be able to adjust ride height for fine tuning. Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaa!

The rears from that will work, but I don't think the front will. The spring perch for the front seems to attach differently vs ours and I'm not sure if the diameter of the strut itself is the same as the F8x or not.