What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[mistasteppa]

Originally Posted by XVII

New steering wheel.. What a difference this thing makes!

Edit: Excuse the floor mats, it's been a rough winter!!

Looking good, I would like to do that mod but really don't wanna lose me heated steering wheel feature.Do they make it with that feature?

[Qsilver7]

After successfully upgrading my Nav firmware from its original V26 (4-1/60) to V32 (4-1/00) (thanks to the links for burning a DVD in the Nav forum)...found & purchased 2012 BMW Nav DVD set (east & west) for $30 on ebay.

BTW...love the "perspective" view with the horizon off in the background...I find it very interesting...but it doesn't display street names like in the other views. Does this change with updated maps? Guess I'll see soon when my 2012 map DVDs arrive.

[XCUSM5]

Tried on some exhaust tips. They still need to be lined up. They don't look too bad. Spacers are on. It look much wider in person.

The interior needs a serious Leatherique clean. Tri-stitch is flithy and the grip on the steering wheel has a sheen. Once she's out of the shop its clean time.

[Cjallstar]

Originally Posted by XCUSM5

Tried on some exhaust tips. They still need to be lined up. They don't look too bad. Spacers are on. It look much wider in person.

The interior needs a serious Leatherique clean. Tri-stitch is flithy and the grip on the steering wheel has a sheen. Once she's out of the shop its clean time.

Man car looks great. Did you paint your rear wheel arches or have you used some type of restoration product on them? The look really shiny in your pic. Which exhaust tips are those? Been wanting to expand the tips on my 4.4 without too much work.

[DTMdan]

Took some photos this weekend, my fiance surprised me with a roof rack for vday/our anniversary.

[XCUSM5]

Originally Posted by Cjallstar

Man car looks great. Did you paint your rear wheel arches or have you used some type of restoration product on them? The look really shiny in your pic. Which exhaust tips are those? Been wanting to expand the tips on my 4.4 without too much work.

Thanks. All the skirts/trimming has been paint-matched to Jet Black. If you want to restore the black plastic you should use BlackWOW, works nicely.
The exhaust tips are made by Superior and they are polished stainless steel. They are bolt-on with rolled edges. Its a round straight cut. The model # is 28-4101.

[X5SND]

^^trim the inners & Get some high temp black and paint the insides of your new ones....it'll finish them off nicely! Look good so far though!

[XCUSM5]

Originally Posted by X5SND

^^trim the inners & Get some high temp black and paint the insides of your new ones....it'll finish them off nicely! Look good so far though!

Thanks man. The stock tips are definitely going to be trimmed up, they were just left as is to try these guys out and make sure they fit decently enough. I love that these tips have already been outfitted with an inside black chamber so it gives the tips depth and a finished look. I'm definitely very happy with them. I will admit I have yet to put the rear bumper back on yet to make sure they do fit right. From my original calculations there should be no problem but the moment of truth should be tomorrow. I will post up a pic when I get a chance.

[XCUSM5]

I know some of you will hate this but I wanted to try something out. I despise ambers. I haven't made a finally decision on exactly what the final outcome will be but this may very well be the look that stays.

I took apart the facelift headlights. Originally I didn't want to cut them but I tried to bake them open twice and failed. I kept ruining the assembly so I decided cutting the assemblies open instead. With my extra assembly I pulled out the amber lens first. Just like X5SND said, the headlight looked so naked and awkward. Plus the black plastic holder showed the holes. It wasn't working. After a little bit of looking around I saw people pulled these out and painted them. I wanted to try it out so I taped off the clear deflector and painted the reflector part a silver chrome from one of those arts and crafts rattle cans but the finish was definitely not as advertised, not even close. I sanded the paint off and used some white/clear reflector self-adhesive film but it was just a touch too transparent and you could see the amber behind it. I kept trying but I couldn't get the inside cut of that U shape to come out crisp so I tried removing the clear indicator deflector lense in the middle. With some dremeling I finally took that deflector out. It didn't look as naked. It didn't look too bad. The paint didn't look like something that would sit inside a headlight assembly so I sanded the paint off again and remembered I had some left over Di-Noc in Brushed Aluminum. Its a really nice film and the grain really gives the perception of metal. I wrapped the amber U piece in the film and it came out pretty nice but it looked a little too simple. I grabbed that white/clear reflector film and cut out a little triangular piece that would work with the lines. In different angles it looks the same color as the aluminum and in other there is a hard contrast, exactly how a reflector would work. I'm a little bit on the fence about this whole thing but it might stay.

The front lense that you see is my spare that has some overspray on the lense. I think once I clean it up it should come out okay. I also have silver/chrome stealth indicator bulbs to help take out that egg-yolk look.

Feel free to leave any feedback, good or bad.

[Ricky Bobby]

better than amber in my opinion! Did you cut them open with a dremel? give us more details on the disassembly of the lenses for sure. I don't see why if you clean up the cuts and use oci-butyl sealant that they should hold up just fine, hell if you arent going to open them up again you could always plastic weld them back together too.