Here it is: My "Ultimate Driving Machine"
 

Finally Picked it up yesterday. The "mods"( I use the term loosely:thumbup: ) on it include: 3M clearbra, tinted the windows and Luv H3 angel eyes. The black kidney grills and painted front reflectors are on the way. Will post some updated pictures once they are installed. The interior photos were taken before I got the weather tech mats...Its Space Grey metallic, black perforated leather with aluminium trim.

As far as driving goes: I cannot put in words the adrenaline rush that I get when I put my foot on the gas. I have not taxed the engine or used the M button(my CA told me not to touch it until I hit 1000 miles). The handling is exceptional, power is phenomenal. This truck is amazing to drive :D (sure it will get better once I ditch the RFT lol)

As far as break in period: CA told me not to go over 4K rpm, not to use cruise control and vary the rpms when on the highway. Any other tips guys?

Now to find a good radar detector: U guys have any ones that u like?

Thanks again for all the help that I got during the ordering process. U guys are awesome.

Wow. what a beautiful car! I am so jealous

as for radar detector, definitely definitely go for the Valentine 1. It is a great detector and all the big car enthusiasts swear by it

Congrats! looks great in that color.
I have both Valentine 1 and Passport 8500 and happy so far with them. Next time I will try 9500ix

LeMans,

my friend has the 9500ix. And we drove down to florida together and did a comparison. the V1 definitely won in that competition, actually won by a long shot..

Looks great love that color as well. Please keep us posted on how the aluminum trim holds up to scratches and wear and tear. Would like to get that on my next one but worried about how it'll hold up over time. The Piano Black trim scratches and scuffs easily.

Congratulations!
 

I am sure you are thrilled to get your awesome ride after all of the painstaking research that you have done.:thumbup:

Looks very elegant and classy. Simply a beautiful car with a great color combination.

We haven't decided yet whether we'll go with the Monte Carlo Blue vs. Space Gray metallic.
I really love the blue, but hope it wouldn't be too flashy you know.

Let me pick your brains on your purchase, if I may:

1. Why did you go with perforated leather? It's what I'm considering too, but is it purely for looks, since pricewise the extended leather is the same whether it's perforated or not.

2. The 3M clear bra looks awesome and I can't see any lines. Did you have it installed at the dealer?

3. Could you please list all the options you got on the car?

4. During the break-in period of 1000mi, is it certain RPM that you can't go above or what are the exact restrictions?

5. What kind of tint % are the front windows?

Sorry to bombard you with all the questions (I'm sure I'll come up with more).

Congratulations again on the beautiful vehicle. It's definately one of a kind car!;)

As far as radar-detectors go, it's certainly a must. Valentine 1 is always a great decision. The only thing about the Passport is that it can show where there are speed camera's and such, and I don't believe Valentine 1 has that.

Thank u all for the feedback. Looking at the valentine 1 and Passport 9500ix. I hear the later has the memory feature that is helpful. My friend has both and with limited research I am leaning towards the 9500ix.

iMpower to answer your questions:

1. When I chose active ventilated package, it defaulted to perforated leather. Ventilated package because of its seat ventilation needs perforated leather. If I am wrong someone can correct me
2. The 3M bra and tint was installed at the dealer before I picked up the car. The dealer has a person who does it on all their cars. My CA showed me a few Porsches, Audis and Bimmers with the 3M installed by this person. Was very impressed with his workmanship. So it was a no brainer for me.
3. Options: the only things I did not get were the 6CD changer, rear entertainment and roof rails. CD changer in this era of digital music dint make sense to me. My CA told me to get 3 ipads for the price of the rear entertainment system: better option as its more a entertainment weapon than the single screen DVD player/
4. Break in: was told not to use the M button/cruise control, stay below 4000rpm and to vary the rpms on highway until 1000miles
5. Tint: not sure what percentage they are. He did apply another coat on the back and then got the front to as close to match as possible but staying legal. I will call him tomorrow and get back to u.

Thanks for the reply.

Are you thinking about any suspension, ECU, exhaust tuning down the line?:popcorn:

Wheels will be the next project. I am going to put Pirelli snow and ice on these rims. Hope to get custom rims for the RFTs when they go back on in spring. :D

Debating between Dinan/ESS tune. Will do one of them in spring. Have to research more about the Dinan warranty vs the lower cost and options that I get with the ESS tune. If I decide to do exhaust I will do the Akra. Down the line though..;). All in all exciting times lol.

Speaking of wheels, I think the ones below are some of my favorite ones that I've seen on the M.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z...ADV1AAX5M1.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z...ADV1AAX5M2.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z...ADV1AAX5M4.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z...ADV1AAX5M6.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z...ADV1AAX5M7.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z...IMG_9972-3.jpg


Exhaust wise, I'm definately with you on the Akrapovich.

The ECU I kind of like the peace of mind that Dinan offers full 4yr/50K warranty to match that of BMW, pretty impressive indeed.

The Dinan suspension also looks cool. I wonder if anyone here has one.

Cheers!:2thumbs:

Thats funny, because we headed to SC on day and my buddy who swears by the V1 brought it, I had my 8500X50 on the left side of the mirror and the v1 on the right side. Same height, clear line of sight. He was bragging how his V1 just had the firmware updated. This was in a 2011 QX56. BIG windsheild, not obstructions.

The 8500 picked up WAY faster then the V1. First time it happened my buddy said the 8500 must be falsing. But as we came over the hill, his V1 went off. But the 8500 picked up way before that. It happened over and over. and coming back through Va. The troopers were standing outside their cars, shooting laser. His V1 NEVER picked it up. the 8500 picked it up everytime. Not like it really will help you once you are hit. But the fact was his never even detected it.
he now owns a 8500 x50 in blue. The V1 went on Ebay
I have not heard great things about the 9500 and 9500i.
That is why I still have both my 8500 units. I send them in once every 2 years or when they start to self calibrate alot. Passport does a full diag, replaces whatever and does a firmware update and they come back better then new. It used to cost only 50-60 bucks and come with new suction cups, but I just sent one in last week and the price is now 79.99 due to them not making the units anymore!

Sorry for the threadjack. Nice X!!!! I wanted the black trim, but now with the high maintinance and seeing your aluminum trim, I wish I had that instead!:thumbup:

Good lord almighty those adv.1 wheels are amazing.

Congrats on the M stlcity!

Congrats! Shes a beauty! No front plate FTW I love it haha:thumbup:

What percent tint did you go with?

And as far as radars go, I have a V1 and I love it, def recommend it.
Keep driving so you can break that big girl in properly. Your talking about the adrenaline rush and your limited to 4K, man juust wait till you can hit that M button and enable launch control! :wow: Ahhhhmazing! :D

Congrats again man, take care!

Thanks guys for all the compliments. Loving the car so far. The black kidney grills are here. Waiting for the painted reflectors from IND. Will install them both and post updated pictures over the weekend.

As far as tint goes I am not sure what percentage the installer went with. Told him to darken it as much as possible as long as it stays in the legal limit :). I will talk to him tomorrow and post it here....

Nice steering wheel

For the people who asked: I talked to the installer for the window tint. He said the front windows has 20% tint.

This here seems to be an informative website on the tinting laws for sedans and SUVs by state.
Auto Window Tint Laws | TintCenter Window Tinting

Wow, congrats! Space grey is the best color! :D And the white angel eyes look great.

+1 on the adv wheels! If only I didn't have a lead foot that likes to plow through the pothole ridden streets of LA!

Two questions about service: when did u guys do the first one? CA told me that the Ms get their first service at 1500 miles unlike the regular X5. Also he told me that although BMW recomends oil changes only every 15K miles, he said it would be better for the car if I did it every 7.5K miles. Any thoughts guys? Thanks in advance.....

^^^Congrats car looks great! I did a break in oil change around 1200 miles which was not covered by BMW and have been doing an oil change every 7500. It turns out that I put 7500 a year so once a year oil change is not too often

I don't know, but I would follow the BMW recs. They give those for a reason. If they say 15K miles checks, then that's what I'd do. Not more, not less.

My wife's Accord in the manual it says check ups every 7.5K miles. Dealer said every 5K, but they couldn't give a legitimate reason, other than "it'd be better for the car". Well, then wouldn't every 3K be even better?

I guess I like to follow the official recs. :dunno:

Dealers have changed oil for me for free at 15000 or 12 months which ever came first. So, they changed it 6500 once and 4700 another time as it was 12 months already.

The X5M doesn't have a post break-in service. I ended up hitting my 1 year mark before I hit the 15K miles. And actually for a little while BMW changed their recommended service interval to 2 years or ~15K miles but then decided to go back to 1 year/15K. How shady is that? So, on my car it shows a 2 year interval but the dealer serviced it in 1 year since BMW changed their mind. Also, since my service indicator didn't come on they didn't reset it and told me to just bring it back in when I hit the ~15K. So I had 2 service 1's in within several months of each other. lol.

I'm sure it doesn't hurt to do more oil changes than required but I heard the oil and filters these days can last for a long time. Unless you're planning to keep the car for a long time, I wouldn't waste my time or money to do any extra maintenance.

Yes, regular M do get 1st service at 1500 miles. for some reason the X5M doesn't. I went round and round with BMW on this. Finally I just paid for the 1500 mile service.
The rest of the services you do when the car tells you.

M

Hot, Hot, Hot & Sexy. Congrats.
I am with you on the adv.1... Looks amazing!!

Nice ride!

Pony up and do the KW v 3 coilover
Kit rather than spend $$$ on a crappy Dinan suspension.

I think besides the ECU my KW was the best aftermarket mod hands down

Could you post your pics too?

Check the thread "please post X5 M w/ aftermarket wheels "

post #24 for a quick reference, but I'll throw some up later

Thank you!

A beast, indeed!
:thumbup:

Thanks. Got the black kidney grills and the painted front reflectors. (Havent installed them yet)..My truck now atleast on the outside almost looks like yours lol ;)

Thinking about the KW/tune and this:

ADV.1 - ADV5.0DC

Come spring time...:D

Hats off to you for the patience that u have...u have the patience to wait it out for a few months before u get the car. Its a good thing.:thumbup:

For me...if I decide on something I need it ASAP....lol :D

Love the wheel choice! Very aggressive looking wheels, yet clean and powerful!:thumbup:

Thanks.

I figure I've waited a long enough time to find and get a perfect car then I can wait a bit longer.


The main dilemma now is Monte Carlo Blue vs. Space Grey!:dunno:

I always go for ///M exclusive colors. ;) Space grey is great too, especially with fox red interior. Too bad fox red is not available on X///M in US.

Loved both..but wifey thought that Space Gray was more elegant. It helped that I got to see black and space grey but not the monte carlo blue. So we went with the Space Grey. Love it though. The lines stand out really well. Everyone who has seen the car so far has fallen in love with the color...:thumbup:

Quick q for u guys: this will probably sound stupid: After I turn off the truck for a while it seems that the heater/AC continues to run? there is a continous hum from the hood for atleast 5 mins? Is this normal? Thanks.

Yes, it is the fan

I have no idea on this. I wonder maybe, since it's a turbocharged engine, it's taking it's time to let the turbos "cool off".

In my earlier days, when I had a sporty turboed car, when I stopped, I'd let the engine run for 30secs to a minute.

Shut Down
Before shutting your engine down, let the turbocharger cool down. When an engine runs at maximum power/high torque, the turbocharger is operating at very high temperatures and speeds. Hot shut down can cause reduced service life which is avoidable by a minute or two of idling. Most mobile equipment applications include an adequate cooling period during parking or mooring procedures.

Above quote from: Turbosafe Industry News - What others say about turbocharger failures caused by hot shutdowns & oil lag.

That's the thing. My wife likes the Space Grey for its elegance and taste. She likes the Monte Carlo Blue as well, but hopes it doesn't attract too much attention.

I agree on M specific color point. I only saw the blue car once at the dealer, but didn't pay attention to it, because I wasn't interested in the car at the time.

Now that I am, I really want to see it live!

Either way, can't go wrong with those colors.:thumbup:

Thanks that explains it all...

yup that explains why everytime i park in garage the fan runs for so,me 10 mins and the whole garage warms up nicely , prolly cause i drive it like i stole it ! ;)

Guys quick Q: does the nav switch automatically between the day/night modes. I have the night mode in settings checked: did so because I saw that it remained in the day mode after sunset. Thought it would auto switch back to the day mode: not so far. Wondering if I am missing something.

No it doesn't, pretty dumb on BMW's part

I thought it did when the light came on. Not sure now.

I did hear that someone used one of the six programmable buttons to switch back and forth.

M

Nice X

Thanks. BTW what do u guys think about this: V1

Biggest issue is that I am not sure you can upgrade it. I started using the Escort 9500ic built-in. Really like it. I still have the V1 up. They both seems to work about the same except that the Escort has about 5% of the false alarms.
M

winter tires
 

Ordered a set of Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 27540/R20 as winter tires for the M from tirerack...

Guys quick service question for U again: did any of u get the after-break-in service done at 1500 miles? Dealer recomended it though I read somewhere (cannot remember where), that it is recomended for all M vehicles other than the X5M/6M. Thanks in advance for replies.

I did it out of pocket as it is not recommend and therefore not covered by BMW. All my other M's had a 1200 mile service so I figured it can't hurt

Same with me

Thanks. That makes my decision easy. Just want to make sure that the dealer was not BSing me....

Guys another question: Ordered a set of Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 27540/R20..will the 275s fit on the default rear wheels that come with the truck?

Yes. Per home page of Blizzak BM-V1 they fit. Click Specs on the linked page and look at Rim width column ...(9" to 11").
Blizzak DM-V1: Bridgestone Tires

Thats what I thought too....I had made sure with Tire rack before I ordered them. The frea....ng service dept at the dealer decided that it wont fit. They then stuffed the tires onto the seats of the brand new truck...To add oil to the fire on the invoice they charged me for the tire change...

I'm pissed like no other. Left the car at the dealer as unfortunately the service center was closed when I got there. Sometime I think people dont think.....:banghead:

Man... if they stuffed the tires on that leather I'd have some serious rage in that department and light some manager up. Unbelievable!:gun:

That is exactly what they did...I yelled at the sales manager who happens to be good and pretty friendly to me. if the service department was open I would have got someones head for that....I am still enraged hours after leaving the dealer.

One would think that before they decide not to put the tires on they would have the sense to call me. No phone calls. Then they stuff the tires into the truck on the leather seats. Freaking demented...

Going to call and threaten them tomorrow that if the car has a scratch has a scratch on the outside or dirt/rubber on the seats/inside they would have to clean/detail before I take the car away...

:kungfu: That is exactly how I feel right now....

I agree.

It just makes NO sense why someone would even think to do that! Seems it was done out of some sort of hate or jealousy for your car. :fired:

Sorry for your frustration, but I'd feel exact same way.

Typical. I guess they did because you did not buy tires from them. I use Tirerack recommended places when I buy from them and also ask the installer what kind of Hunter machine they have and that they do not scratch my wheels, if they do, they will be paying for replacement.

This. I bought 4 brand new competition pack wheels for my M3 along with brand new PS2's and took to dealer hoping they would do a good job since they deal with bunch of bimmers. When i picked the car up, all four wheels had a scratch all around the wheels from the install, you want to know about rage, you should have seen me then.

LeMans could u explain "kind of Hunter machine"? Thanks.

Majority of places use the Hunter tire changer machines. The cheaper (could be still Hunter) machines can scratch the wheels. Check the Hunter website for more.

So just to update you guys on the saga: called the owner up and gave him a piece of my mind this AM. He was very apologetic. Got the tires installed. They detailed the interior of the car. When I walked in to pick it up, everyone was "very sorry" lol. Anyways it all ended well. The interior thankfully looks fine. The rims are without any scratches either. :)

The 275s look a little funny on the rear wheels. I will post pictures in the next few days. Driving on the winter tires feels different...feels less responsive. Maybe me..

For anyone considering changing the front reflectors from the ugly orange..do it. I got body colored ones from IND. The more I look at it the better it looks. Got a lot of compliments for it.

This thread is all over the place but just a quick comment on color and radar.
I was drawn to the Gray and the White and the Blue. Went with Blue and have never looked back. It does get a bit of attention but all complimentary. There are enough Blue cars on the road these days that it does not stick out like a sore thumb. However BMW absolutely nailed this Blue and it always looks great.
I had the top of the line Passport radar detector and Laser Interceptor installed Day 1. After about 3 months I pulled the Passport out. The noises were annoying and at least in Atlanta, all they use is Laser to write tickets. Are Radar detectors not like VCR Players or Beepers these days?

LEDs internal
 

Anyone change the interior bulbs to LEDs? If so could u guys recomend one? Thanks.