upcoming mods, advices welcome.

somewhereinla · #1 01-04-2006, 08:49 PM

Okay, so I need a couple of advices for upcoming mods.

I have an appointment on Friday to get my windows tinted. I live in South Cal., I don't want to go too dark, but I do want privacy. Any advice on tint colors? I will be using the Madico Charcool products, which from my research seems to be one of the best brand, it is a non-metalic (ceramic I think) film, which will not interfere with radio?phone or GPS signal. I had a very hard time finding Madico Resellers on the web, so I called the Distributor in California, and got the name of 3 resellers. I was quoted between $160 and $220. I am going with the $160 quote, not so much because it was the cheapest, but it also happen to be recommended by my BMW dealership dealership and one other source. Of course I will take before/after picts.

Second upcoming mod is to permanently mount (hardwire) my radar detector (V1). I am planning to leave the radar on the driver side sunshield, have the power adapter wired in the center console (where the sunroof button is) and have the concealed display in the ashtray, which mean I will need to run a wire from the upper center console to the ashtray.

Any ideas would be welcome.

I will be sure to document every steps.

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alpac · #2 01-04-2006, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somewhereinla

Okay, so I need a couple of advices for upcoming mods.

I have an appointment on Friday to get my windows tinted. I live in South Cal., I don't want to go too dark, but I do want privacy. Any advice on tint colors? I will be using the Madico Charcool products, which from my research seems to be one of the best brand, it is a non-metalic (ceramic I think) film, which will not interfere with radio?phone or GPS signal. I had a very hard time finding Madico Resellers on the web, so I called the Distributor in California, and got the name of 3 resellers. I was quoted between $160 and $220. I am going with the $160 quote, not so much because it was the cheapest, but it also happen to be recommended by my BMW dealership dealership and one other source. Of course I will take before/after picts.

I am very interested with this. I too want my windows tinted but was a little bit concerned about a tint film interfering with the electric window up and down mechanism. Please let us know what you think once you get it done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by somewhereinla

Second upcoming mod is to permanently mount (hardwire) my radar detector (V1). I am planning to leave the radar on the driver side sunshield, have the power adapter wired in the center console (where the sunroof button is) and have the concealed display in the ashtray, which mean I will need to run a wire from the upper center console to the ashtray.

Any ideas would be welcome.

I will be sure to document every steps.

Any possibility to move the power adapter from the upper center console to the inside of the central column (where the radio is) and get the +12v from there? This way you would have the power adapter and the conceled display close to each other if that makes any sense. I did run a wire from above the central air vent down to the inside of the central column for my after market GPS. My GPS is on the dash just above the central air vent. The wire is hidden first around the air vent and then goes behind the radio module. From there you can esaily go down to the ashtray. I had to remove the radio and display unit for that but this is a very easy thing to do.

LeMansX5 · #3 01-04-2006, 09:29 PM

You are right about madico charcool. They are good.

Did you look for madico dealers on their website?

somewhereinla · #4 01-04-2006, 10:38 PM

No unfortunatly they don't list any dealers, but they do list their state by state distributors. I called the California distributor, gave the guy my area code and asked for 3 automotive installers. I called them all, got 3 quotes and made an appointment with the one that had the best quote. Here is the madico distributors link:
http://www.madico.com/Admin/Distribu...me&SortDir=ASC

SANguru · #5 01-05-2006, 01:58 AM

in terms of tint, make sure you go ceramic. Metallic will block AM signal and maybe some FM but not GPS or anything else. Madico is good, so is Llumar and Huper Optik. Stick with the the normal charcoal colors. In answer to yAlpac's questions, tint will not affect electric windows up and down operation.

as for teh V1 hardwire, I would highly recommend you not mounting the way you are stating as it will be quite a bit of un-needed and un-necesary work. Hardwire it per Chris F. instructions with the clamp on the acc on wire on the homelink and route the wire down that way if you want to do the remote display on the ashtray.. it will be a PITA though when it goes on as you will have to look down and take your eye of traffic. Take a look at the tech articles in the main x5world page.

Quote:

Originally Posted by somewhereinla

Okay, so I need a couple of advices for upcoming mods.

I have an appointment on Friday to get my windows tinted. I live in South Cal., I don't want to go too dark, but I do want privacy. Any advice on tint colors? I will be using the Madico Charcool products, which from my research seems to be one of the best brand, it is a non-metalic (ceramic I think) film, which will not interfere with radio?phone or GPS signal. I had a very hard time finding Madico Resellers on the web, so I called the Distributor in California, and got the name of 3 resellers. I was quoted between $160 and $220. I am going with the $160 quote, not so much because it was the cheapest, but it also happen to be recommended by my BMW dealership dealership and one other source. Of course I will take before/after picts.

Second upcoming mod is to permanently mount (hardwire) my radar detector (V1). I am planning to leave the radar on the driver side sunshield, have the power adapter wired in the center console (where the sunroof button is) and have the concealed display in the ashtray, which mean I will need to run a wire from the upper center console to the ashtray.

Any ideas would be welcome.

I will be sure to document every steps.