Palmo

I've noticed that on many later left-hand drive e60's the 'starter button' has a 'brushed aluminium surrounding Ring / Trim'. On right-hand drive (UK) spec vehicles this is missing - or at least it is on mine and others I've been in.

Does anyone know if this 'surrounding ring / trim' can be fitted on right-hand drive vehicles and if so what the part number is? I've looked on RealOEM and don't seem to be able to even find the starting button, let alone the piece of trim - I'm not sure which section to look under.

Whilst this is not a big issue in the great scheme of things it is beginning to annoy me and I thing it looks much better finished with the piece of surrounding trim fitted. Funny thing is I've been is a few UK 3 series and even a 1 series that have had the trim fitted, yet this is missing on the 5 for some reason in the UK - strange?

Palmo

For clarity the bit I am talking about is as follows:

Close up from a 1 series:


And from a left-hand drive e60:


And another close-up:


I have the button, but no surround! Can the surround be bought seperately and if so does anyone know how much and have a Part No:?

andy545

It's rather strange you're missing this ring trim. According to ETK and TIS it's one piece (the switch)
the ring does not belong to the dashboard trim assembly.

start/stop switch part no. is 61 31 9 110 359

Palmo

Interesting - thanks for this. To be honest I don't think that it is 'missing' from my particular car, rather that UK Spec e60's don't seem to come with this 'ring / surround' for some reason - no idea why? I have looked at other e60 cars in UK showroom's and noticed non of them seem to have this. However, looking on here I see that 'all' left-hand drive / 'non UK spec' cars seem to have this.

I would like to simply retrofit the surround if possible, but if I have understood you correctly are you saying the surround is part of the switch?

I'll take a picture of mine and post later so you can see what I mean with mine.

Can all other UK owners please confirm if their cars have the 'ring / surround' or not? Thanks.

Palmo

OK, I have just taken a few pictures with my camera phone in my poorly lit garage - so not the best quality, but they should give an idea of what I'm talking about.





It looks to me that the switch is fitted in quite a big(ish) recess that is not equal all the way around - deeper above the switch, tapering to a shallower depth at the bottom of the switch (maybe hard to tell this from the picture), where as the left-hand drive versions seem to be more 'surface mounted' - or at least it looks that way to me from the pictures.

andy545

Now I see why. Your switch belongs to the light switch trim. The way the inlet trim hole is designed, I'm not sure it's retrofitable with the ring...


edit: just as I thought : right hand drive has a different part no. 61 31 6 979 533 for the switch (without ring)

costing around 20 pounds you could always buy the left hand one and try it out - if you're handy even mod it.

bmw_wpq31

I don't think it's possible...right-hand drive spec's "start-button" is screwed from the back/inside of the panel peice for the light switch...
while as ilustrated, left-hand drives "start-button" is pushed from the outside of the dash...unless Palmo, you don't mind spoilling the panel to try doing this mod...just make sure the connectors of the starter are the same!

Palmo

Thanks for the great info guy's!

Don't think I want to get into trying to make the 'wrong' switch fit and risk damaging something / invalidating the warranty.

Guess my best bet is to try and find an aftermarket surround. A few companies in the UK do heater control surrounds along with headlight switch & electric mirror switch surrounds - maybe I can get one for the starter switch this way that just 'stick's on'? Would certainly look better this way. Anyone know of any such aftermarket product? Must admit I haven't seen one.

littlemouse

My April 08 LCI has the same surround as yours. The dash is is recessed to accept the starter button, so not a lot you can do in my opinion

Palmo

Surely there must be a company out there that makes some kind of surround for the UK car's? I can't believe the UK / right-hand drive cars have the surround missing - really poor IMHO as it looks nowhere near as 'finished-off' and 'special' as the left-hand drive cars!