New Purchase: Glossy Black Front Hood Grills

After I purchased my car, Hubs noticed that the front hood grills were slightly cracked. It took me awhile to decide what to replace them with (chrome or black). When I saw the photo of this car, I made up my mind. Definitely black.

Glossy Black Kidney Style Front Hood Bumper Grill BMW E82 - $61.99

New Purchases: Nav Fitting Kit & JB4 Stage 3

 Today I received the fitting kit for my navigation unit. The original kit that we purchased didn't fit so I had to order a new one from the UK. It took a week to arrive. I have to drive to LA next week so Hubs will have the Nav installed this weekend. I miss listening to Sirius Radio.

After having a frustrating week at work, I purchased the JB4 Stage 3 BMW Performance Tuner. I hope it will arrive this weekend, otherwise I have to install it after Hubs comes back from his business trip to Seattle.

DIY: Painted Brake Calipers

All done. On to the next project.

Next Project: Painted Brake Calipers

Posi-Quiet Ceramic Brake Pads - $129.99

A few months ago, I noticed my wheels were constantly dirty. Hubs told me me it was due to the brake pads and that I should switch them out for better ones. Hubs purchased the above brake pads last month but we were too busy to installed them right away. I'm glad we waited as I want the brake calipers painted like this:

This weekend I bought VHT caliper paint and caliper cleaner. Primer is not needed with this paint brand. Now I just need to find the time to do it all.

New MPG and Personalized License Plates

Earlier this month we took a road trip to the Bay Area. By the time we returned, our MPG improved from 22.4 to 24.5. So far, I was able to maintain 24.0 MPG on my daily commute to and from work.



I also received my new license plates. The car came with one plate so in case I ever got pulled over for not having a front license plate, I decided to get new plate altogether.

MPG and New Purchases

A few weeks ago, I drove to Beverly Hills to attend a focus group for work. Since I got this car, I haven't been able to hit the proposed MPG 25/hwy. So far the closest I've gotten was 22.4 combined. We plan to take a road trip to Vegas in a few weeks so maybe I'll get a little closer with more driving distance.

During my LA trip, I had a navigation fail. This car didn't come with a nav system as I never really liked BMW's iDrive. I figured I'll use my iPhone for navigation since I haven't had any trouble with it. What I failed to overcome when I got into Beverly Hills, specifically on Beverly Drive, was dropped cell signals. I had full bars but Google Maps totally died on me. Damn AT&T. Luckily I sort of knew what direction I had to go toward but I had no idea where the focus group facility was. I ended up parking in a residential area and rebooting my phone. When my phone recovered cell signal, I was a few blocks away from where I needed to be.

When I got home, I told Hubs I needed to install a nav system in the car. To reduce costs, we're removing the nav system from the M3 and reinstalling it in my car since it's already hooked up to my SiriusXM radio subscription.

JVC KW-NT1 Navigation Receiver

I had to buy the following items to retrofit the nav system into my car.

Metra Axxess BMRC-01 BMW/Mini Cooper 2011 ACC Wire with Chime Speaker - Price: $99.00

Antenna Adapter - Price: $4.95

Metra 95-9306B 08-10 BMW without Nav Dash Kit - Price: $27.26

DIY: How to install E82 LCI LED Tail Lights

This weekend Hubs installed the OEM E82 LCI LED tail lights. These tail lights were introduced with the 2011 BMW 1-series.

For comparison, OEM LCI LED on top, stock tail lights on the bottom. 

LCI LED Tail Lights installation on BMW E82 135i:

Installation time: 15 minutes

1. Remove the truck liner panel. 

2. Use a trim removal tool to remove the panel fasteners.

3. Remove the fasteners from the rear truck trim. This is optional for those who don't want to crease the paneling.

4. Carefully loosen the gasket.

5. Bend the truck liner to reveal the back of the tail light.

6. Remove the tail light bolts with a 8mm socket.

7. Remove the light connectors.

8. Remove the stock tail light. 

9. Replace the stock tail light with the LED tail lights and replace the gasket.

10. Screw back the bolts with a 8mm socket.

 11. Fasten the light connectors.

12. Pull back the truck liner panel and reattach the panel fasteners.

 

LCI LED Tail Lights vs. Stock Tail Lights

Before

After

Here's what the lights looks like at night: