sg530

I have been looking for a metal finished e-brake handle and found a Schnitzer one on ebay. (I was assured it would fit the e60. It did not.) Here is the series of pictures I took as I adapted the handle and made it work. I could not find a proper e60 handle so I modded the one I bought. The first pic is of the underlying structure after the leather handle and boot are pulled off. A lot of force is needed to unseat the boot base BTW. The parts are shown in the next pic. As for the mods, I used a Dremel tool and removed metal as needed. In the first pic is an arrow showing a tang (of 2) that required a relief to be cut in the handle, shown in the third pic - arrows. Not shown is major grinding of the inside of the handle near the button. The handle had a smaller diameter opening at the button end and it prevented the handle from seating properly onto the steel tube structure such that the release button would show both for functional and aesthetic reasons. The next pic shows the tie-down of the boot before closing it back up. One must bunch-up the leather and use an electrical nylon tie to clamp it down over the embossed ring on the handle. The old handle had a rectangular and larger boot mount area so the excess leather needs to be folded a little to fit over the smaller area of the ACS handle. The last pics show the final product. Took 3 times longer than expected because of all the delicate free-hand metal grinding. I plan to replace wood trim with aluminum shortly to finish the job.

alohalc

wow, thanks for the instruction and pics . very nice handle .

kigerka

Wow, that is pretty crazy. I know Igor has the same E-brake on his E60 and the brochure he got showed the E-brake handle. Maybe it looks the same and was designed for a different model. Who knows, but it does look good.

sg530

I have the satisfaction that my handle cost less than 25% of the ACS catalog. Except for the grinding, the install would be the same.

StreetDreamz

Too sporty for me.

Iceman

Yep, for me too. I prefer the poplar wood handbrake handle!

sg530

Sorry guys, I see the 5 as a sports car and not a limosine. I like the wood with beige inside and black ouside. I won't wash the car 25 times a year. I chose silver outside as second choice, but brown wood and grey inside doesn't go.
Either way, the plain black leather brake handle was ugly.
I am about to change out the wood trim for brushed aluminum once the dealer gets all the parts. It will be the first 04 with the new trim AFAIK.

igor

sg530,
I have also acs handle installed by my garage.
I want to swap it with the one coming on a new car.
I wud appreciate your further comments on the process.
1. How to take the handle off... Just pull it forcefully... no special tricks?
I tried gently but it does not move.
2. Is it necessary to pull the boot off as well?

E60Speed

Pull the leather boot forward

In the picture with the yellow arrows at the beginning of the thread you can see little holes at the back of the handle, these have little screws in them that need to be loosened.

Loosen the srews and then pull off

Then remove the boot ffrom the handle

igor

Thank you vm indeed, E60Speed.