BMW 525xi
Sapphire Black Metallic
2007 - Built December 2006

So this is the first car officially registered and owned under my name! My first actual car was a 1997 Toyota RAV4, which has now been passed down to my younger brother. I still love that car - it's been well taken care of, and still runs beautifully. Only time it ever let me down was when my damaged key got stuck in the ignition. (That's another story all together. Ended with a few diamond-bit drills and a new ignition. Fun times.)

Anyways, onto my 525xi!

After about two months of searching around, I finally found what I wanted. To be quite honest, I had originally started looking at Mercedes-Benz. They're beautiful cars.. but I was having a really hard time finding ones with the things that I wanted, and that weren't absurdly out of my price range. But I kept seeing BMW's more and more.. and I started searching around for 3-series. I see them all the time on the road, and I turned and looked a bit more each time. But every now and then? a 5-series would pop up and then really catch my attention.

So long story short - found my 525xi! The one main thing I wasn't willing to budge on was AWD. One thing I loved about the RAV4 was that I could go and take on a mountain of snow fearlessly and pass through without a hitch. 120 HP of AWD goodness! Then turn around and watch my friends spinning tires uncontrollably on a tiny lump of snow. 'tis one of the wonderful things of living on a street that is pretty much neglected by the city's cleaning crews.

Mods Completed

• LCI Headlights
• LCI Taillights
• Black Kidney Grills
• Remote Window Open/Close with Keyfob coded
• Welcome Lights coded
• De-badged
• Reset of Transmission's Adaptive Learning

Mods Planned

• M5Tech Front Bumper + Sideskirts
• Wheels + Tires
• Orion V2 Angel Eyes
• LED Interior Lights
• LED Turn Signals / Side-markers

Notes

• All coding was done by myself through NCS Expert and INPA. Did it using a netbook and a $15 ODB cable off Amazon. Apparently newer models need that stupidly-expensive cable. Yikes =x
• Black Kidney Grills were done using Plasti-Dip! I have some pics and a log of it that I'm going to post below.
• Resetting the transmission learning through INPA was a HUGEEE improvement in how the car drove. I had asked the dealer how much they'd charge for doing such a thing? they wanted like $300-something to look at the car and then do the reset. What a scam! I got me the cable, downloaded INPA and the reset took no more than 5 mins.
• Planning the M kit for Spring 2011. Still debating on the rear bumper. I really like how the one with the diffuser looks on Alpine White e60's, with the diffuser painted matte black. Just looks so badass. Not sure that level of badass-ery can be pulled with an all-black e60.
• Wheels and Tires I'll probably do come December. Still doing a lot of reading as to what kind of wheels and rims will fit xi's. There is that bazillion-page-long thread on here?. Which is a real pain to read, as info is scattered all over the place and padded on each side by random comments. Why is it we can't edit our first posts? =\ It would make managing informational thread so much better.
• I purchased the Orions quite a bit ago? never gotten around to installing them. Originally was going to put them in my original headlights, but never found the time to. My plans were to put them in this weekend?.. but? stupid hurricane.

PICTURES!

Will be posted in the next two posts!

 

LCI Tail Lights

 

LCI Headlights








Plasti-Dip Matte Black Kidney Grills

 

Welcome Lights



(after enabling Fog Lights with Welcome Lights)

 

very nice!

 

Awesome, great to see another hopping on the mod journey.

I probably should make a post about this, but I find that Rust-Oleum's Performance Enamel (glossy black, or whatever color) is a whole lot better than Plasti-Dip. It comes out super clean, very very chip resistant from what I have experienced, and assuming you have any skill at painting, it'll come out looking factory.

 

I'll keep that one in mind. I wouldn't ever consider myself a master painter, but I am handy enough with a can of spray paint to make something come out looking decent. Biggest thing to keep in mind is smooth even motions and patience while painting

Main reason I went with PlastiDip was because I was really unsure if I'd like the black grills or not. I've seen countless pics of people's on here and various other places, bur it's always different from seeing it in person, and from seeing it in person on your car.

I plan on taking the same route with my wheels eventually... I'll give them a few coats of black PlastDip and run around with them for a while to see how I like the all-black look. Should give me a good reference point before investing in some black wheels.

 

+1 on the Rusoleum glossy black. I painted my when I first bought the car but where I live, after 4 months, I have to redo it again due to those small rock chips from the big semi so ended up getting the OEM glossy black one.

BTW, don't plasti dip the rims because the rubber texture is a magnet for dust. Since it's OEM wheels and you're planning to go with after market rims down the line, look into spray paint. Easy job and you can try different color too. Heck you can even spray paint silver again if you don't like it.

 

cool

 

can you change the bulb in your headlight to be the same color as the new model BMWs? I think that would look sick!