Hi all,

I posted my first topic in the new members' section recently and have since moved on to signing the paperwork for MY E60 530d. I will take delivery in about two weeks, and in the meantime I have some additional questions for you all. See attached for a pic of my new ride!

First thing I'm gonna do when I take delivery (or maybe I'll do it after a few days so I can better notice the difference) is reset the gearbox as per the instructions in other discussions. Can't wait to find out how much of a difference it makes..

A few things I'm considering having done to the car over time, on which I would love to hear your advice:
- The car came with the standard sound system as far as I can tell, which sounds decent enouogh but lack some bass. Is it easy to get some better speakers put in (I have a soft spot for Rockford Fosgate..) ;-)
- K&N air filter. I used to have one on a Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 when I lived in the States, and loved the induction sound when accelerating. Anyone gots any experience with those on a 530d here?
- Xenon front/rear lights. I love the look of them, especially the front with the 'brows during daytime running. Are they A) hard to (have) installed and hard to find? I've looked around on the web but all I seem to find are non-original lights which, to me, look a little tacky.
- Remapping/chipping. Any advice welcome. Seen lots of posts on here about it, but please would someone who's had this done list the pros and cons for me? My main concerns are increased wear/strain on the mechanicals of the car and effect on resale value to the uninformed buyer who's not into a modded car.

Any and all advice welcome and still loving the forum! I wouldn't mind a diesel/petrol section in the forum though.. :-)

Regards,

BasRed.

 

Great looking car! I am new to the forums too and look forward to seeing the responses to your questions.

 

It seems your car hasn't got the Bi-xenon setup. Retrofitting it costs about 1000 euros only in parts, as well as the costs to fitting them. Buying the headlights second hand may be a good start, but you still need many other parts included in the kit, as well. If you want a cheaper alternative, check if HID-conversions are legal in Holland, but I suppose not (wouldn't recommend them anyway, but....)


It depends. If you want to go Chip, either use a high quality product (like Hartge), or at least some big company ready to dyno the car and to configure the chip properly, even do it "on the fly" with a laptop with you driving. It depends how many miles the engine has, and especially if it's been serviced and taken care of properly. If you only use the extra power once in a while (for example.....if you don't drive on the Autobahns in Germany that often), than the increased wear on the drivetrain and on the engine components themselves would be pretty limited. But if the engine already has 150-170.000 km's on it and if you drive to work each day full throttle, then it won't hold up as much, it's clear.

EDIT: If your car has a particle filter system, then not all tuning chips and boxes are compatible with it, because they may burn out the filter. So clear that up before chipping it. Is your car made in 2003-2004?