Need some advice from the E53 owners...

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Henn28

.. Have you checked the front drive shaft transfer case splines? If not I’d recommend doing so if you hang onto the car. ...

The front driveshaft splines are not a known weak-point on the LCI (X-Drive, Facelift) cars, only on the pre-facelift cars. BMW extended the drive shaft a bit on the LCI refresh...

[Kam850]

Hi all,

I spent the last couple days looking for "mods" for my X5. I figured if Im going to upgrade the radio, and Ill have to take half interior apart... I might as well do everything at the same time.

Mod list:
-upgrade radio
-install back up camera
-Msport seats
-Msport Steering wheel
-Msport Headliner
-PDC Retrofit (Maybe)
-Msport exterior trim (bumpers and arches, maybe with PDC)

Long story short I went to a few local junkyards and only managed to scoop up the black plastic trim pieces for the black headliner (msport). I figured Id take those so I don't have to paint mine since Ill probably re-do the headliner in my E53 since the panoramic panel material is sagging. Headliner from the car in the junkyard was already coming apart, so I didnt take that. I did pass on the "shadow line trim" that one X5 had. I figured since my X5 is all "paint and plastic" the shadow line trim would just look off on the car since its gloss black.

Found a few local people parting out a few X5s... the downside is that for the msport heated seats, the X5 specific heated Msport steering wheel (thats trashed and needs new buttons), PDC bumpers with msport "add ons"... in total... these guys are asking about $1300. Add another $250 to paint for the bumpers, and $200 for the new buttons from BMW for the steering wheel. The radio from AVIN (avant 4) is going to be around $700 - $750.... so in total this is close to $2500 for everything. Oh... and ill need brakes soon, so another $400 ish.

Obviously brakes will be done. Not sure if my car is even prewired to have PDC... (11/2005 with factory Nav, non dsp), if it is not... then Ill give up on those bumpers and I guess the exterior in general... and just focus on the interior. I genuinely thought this "build" would come out to be cheaper given the fact that the E53 chassis is old and unpopular. Im already way too deep into this X5... and now Im asking myself if its worth dumping another $3000 into this X5. I don't view cars as investments, but Iv had good luck with cars in the last 6-5 years. The X5 seems to be the opposite.

Also not sure how to talk these guys down for the parts... I just might pull the "Thats all I got with me" OR "No one is going to give you that much" card on them. Id be content with spending about half of what they said. Because again, I actually know for a fact... those cars have been sitting for about 5-6 months now.

[StephenVA]

Install the radio, steering wheel and then keep on driving while you seek seats. They just bolt in so it is only a few hrs work. The PDC upgrade can be done via other options including a backup camera only. Not worth the labor and costs in my opinion but it is nice to have in tight spaces.

Forum posts on this topic that can help you if you go down the PDC path
https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...g-sensors.html

[Kam850]

Well looks like the radio will be ordered here soon, just got to wait for my paycheck lol

Today on the way to work, my Nav/Radio Started to freak out mid-drive. The nav unit just opened up (there is a casette player behind it) and the unit started to turn on and off, it kept opening and closing all the way and in some cases not all the way (the hinge mechanism really got a work out today). It kept switching to the radio and from it. Basically it reset my MPG consumption too which I was bummed out about since I was mid progress of efficiency experiment lol.

It kept doing this then, it started to make a ticking sound from the cassette slot. I pressed the eject button on it in hopes it would "reset itself". It sounded like a bomb ticking...at one point it got faster. Drove like that for about 15 minutes until I got to work. About 5 minutes before I got to work, the nav unit just kept shutting on and off, but it closed itself. Once I parked, I shut off the car and the unit freak out for about 3 seconds and it shut off (as I thought), I sat there for about 2 minutes and the nav opened up and closed one more time, screen flickered one more time, screen went blank...and then after a minute it shut off. I was worried it would drain my battery. But I went out to lunch today and the unit worked like normal. Not sure what caused this.

When its hot, sometimes the unit will reset itself, but that happened a total of 2-3 times on me over the year Iv been driving the car.

Gives me an excuse to finally get a new radio and not procrastinate on it lol. Anyway, would 2 GB Ram be good? For Avin they want $50 more for a total of 4 GB ram... I dont really plan on running a bunch of apps on the radio. Just the ibus app for the most part. Run everything else off my phone for apple car play.

[Kam850]

Originally Posted by StephenVA

Install the radio, steering wheel and then keep on driving while you seek seats. They just bolt in so it is only a few hrs work. The PDC upgrade can be done via other options including a backup camera only. Not worth the labor and costs in my opinion but it is nice to have in tight spaces.

Forum posts on this topic that can help you if you go down the PDC path
https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...g-sensors.html

Good idea. PDC would be nice but I would need it. But I figured it would be a cool thing to have. Would probably help sell the car faster later too. People already rely a bunch on their diving assists. Im near Chicago, so you see multiple idiots on the road everyday. I saw guy pull out into the furthest lane in his Tesla today RIGHT IN FRONT OF A MOTORCYCLE. From what I remember from driving school, you aint supposed to pull out into the most furthest lane when making a turn. Not sure why the tesla driver decided to take the farthest lane with a INCOMING MOTORCYCLE. Dude on the motorcycle was obeying the laws etc. He was not happy.

I might just counter offer this guy for the steering wheel. He was supposed to send me better pictures today but he didnt. If it sells, I have a lead on a really nice clean ready to go heated steering wheel.... just no air bag. But I know I can get an airbag from a junkyard for $60. It sounds weird when I use the word AIRBAG and JUNKYARD in the same sentence. LOL

[Kam850]

Hi all,

Its been almost a full year since I posted lol

Anyway, I ended up getting the radio. I went overboard with how to install it. I basically took everything apart in the inside and ran all the wiring like the factory looms ran. Including the rear camera which was a huge PAIN in the rear. But I did it.

About the radio (Avin Avant 4):
I feel like the price that it costs...its a bit too much. Especially if you want to use the Apple Car Play feature. Would I buy again? Probably but I would have done things a bit differently. Im not going to complain about it because having this radio in a vehicle from 2006 is a huge bump in enjoyment. Looks OEM and I can do what most cars do. Yes its not the smoothest or the greatest...but it works just fine. The only REAL major complaint I have is that I cant really use the the unit to talk with people over the phone. Not sure why, but there is a major echo on the other end. People just hear themselves and its annoying to them. In the apple car play settings I have it set to car mic, but I guess for some odd reason the mic is picking up the callers voice from my speakers at all volumes pretty much. With the OEM headunit it didnt do that. So I probably should have gone with a external mic.

As for my mods, I didnt do much. My moonroof fabric fell off. I have ordered some alecentara headliner material and iv been postponing the job. I got the black plastic pieces and the pillar trim from a "si/M-sport" E53, just would have to wrap all the headliner stuff in new fabric. The seats I gave up on and the steering wheel as well. The OEM steering wheel grew on me and finding a cheap M-Sport E53 steering wheel with a HEATED function is proving to be difficult....unless you want to spend the $350+ on ebay for one.

The X5 currently just hit 86k miles. No major issues other than I had a leaky rear rubber brake line, so I just replaced both rears. I ended up changing out the fuel filter about a month or two ago and Iv seen a slight increase in my MPGs. The filter in the car was original from the factory and when I turned it over black sand/dust/dirt started to pour out from the tank side, fuel was clear from the other end of the filter.

Pretty much since my last post I just drove the car as a daily. I like it. I took it on its first 3-4 hour road trip and it handled it well. Thats where the X5 seems to shine.

I do find myself again in the situation where Im not sure what to do with this X5.

Here are my options:

-keep it and just maintain it, buy yourself something "cheap and fun" or something "fun", the X5 can be a back up car if you need to tow something, haul or use if I dont want my other cars to be damaged or something. I do have the OEM wesftalia hitch on it (I believe its a class 2 or 3), so I could technically tow 6,000 lbs without an issue.

-sell it, use funds to help me get a new car of sorts. Like a pick up or a newer X5. Maybe even throw half of that money into my "Can I finally buy my own place in this market?" Fund.

-Keep it, but buy something fun. But also have some fun with the X5. AKA dump more money into it and dont look back.

-Sell the X5, get another cheap car of sort, maybe something better on gas. Not that fill ups are an issue really.

[Happy]

Originally Posted by Kam850

Hi all,

Its been almost a full year since I posted lol

Anyway, I ended up getting the radio. I went overboard with how to install it. I basically took everything apart in the inside and ran all the wiring like the factory looms ran. Including the rear camera which was a huge PAIN in the rear. But I did it.

It sounds like it was done right!


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Kam850

... finding a cheap M-Sport E53 steering wheel with a HEATED function is proving to be difficult....

Probably since they don't actually exist.

There was never an M-Sport version of any sort on the E53 platform.

There IS a "sport" steering wheel (I have one, from the factory - like most LCI cars have) but not an M-Sport.

[Effduration]

I know I said sell it and move on in a post almost a year ago...

But in Chicago you need a quasi-heavy duty winter car...
Try and keep salt and brine off the bottom of the X5, rinse it off from time to time.

Your car isn't worth much in a sale...and it has quite a bit of function to you, so I suggest you keep it.

I tow with mine occasionally and also have the OEM hitch...its very handy in that regard. I have a permanent roof rack on it also.

But I have 3 other BMWs with same engine that I drive more often in the non-winter months.

[dkl]

Originally Posted by Effduration

Your car isn't worth much in a sale...and it has quite a bit of function to you, so I suggest you keep it.

This. I had the same thought a couple of years back => https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-thoughts.html

Ultimately, I have decided to keep mine and use it as my back up...but I still feel bad seeing it parked outside in the hot sun Just started dailying it the past couple of weeks and still enjoy it tremendously, surprisingly

Carvana wanted to offer me $770 and keeps upping the offers every couple of months. The latest offer from them was $880 and this was a week ago