Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
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    Red face Sillieidiot's...er...SamBam's M240i progress thread

    I figured I'll just post in here too since the 2 series forum is like dead. Plus I actually frequent this forum more nowadays. Thinking about reposting my e46 progress thread over too cause the e46fanatics server has been crappy lately.


    This was taken straight from the 2addicts post. Except I went through and edited all the smileys because that forums smiley selections sucks.

    Hi,

    Just wanted to start a progress thread on here right from the get go instead of what I did with my last car on e46fanatics where it was a struggle to remember when I did shit to it and in what order lol Although this is going to be a bit different because this isn't my car. lol It's my friend's, Samantha (technically we both own it). For the purposes of this build, we will be referring to her as SamBam. Anyhow, I'm basically going to do most of the work on the car anyways. This way is much better imo because she will be paying for the mods

    I don't expect to mod this car anywhere as crazy as I did the E46, so updates will be rather boring.

    Here's a link to my e46fanatics build thread if you're really bored:
    https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1026101


    Here is her current mod list (as of 7/11/2021)

    Vehicle Info
    • 2018 M240i
    • Alpine White with Black leather interior
    • Automatic

    Exterior
    • BMW M Performance black grilles
    • BMW M Performance diffuser
    • BMW M Performance front lip
    • BMW M Performance trunk spoiler
    • IND M-Sport Painted Front Reflectors
    • IND Painted Key Hole Cover
    • Painted OEM Mirror Covers
    • XPEL Ultimate Plus PPF - full front w/ wrapped edges, door cups, mirrors, rear luggage area

    Interior
    • 45% Spectra Photosync (sides/rear)
    • BlackVue DR750S 2CH dash cam
    • Removed visor warnings

    Lighting
    • LED reverse lights



    So to start off…

    I was actually looking at this car as a potential new car for myself. But nevermind that. SamBam, tells me she's ready to get rid of her crappy Scion tC and get her dream BMW. But she didn't really know which car she wanted. Originally the 4 series. Then I told her what car she "shouldn't" get because I like it. Then in my efforts to persuade her from not getting it, somehow I got it backwards and convinced her it was an even better idea than the 4 series. From then on, she was determined to get that car.

    Fast forward to the last couple of days of Sept. 2018. I was looking for her car half-assed until one day SamBam forced me to actually look hard. We've already looked at a few locally and found what options we wanted from the car. There was a few must haves that I forced on her haha. Found one in Fremont BMW. It had almost all the options we wanted and a few we didn't need. And also wood trim..ugh. Really wanted to aluminum, but I think we made a good decision on it since the aluminum felt or is plastic?

    Here's some pictures that was sent to me by my buddy, Jon, that I asked to check out the car for me before I flew up there to drive it down. They aren't great quality sorry.








    Car looked good from what he told me. So I made the deal so that we could come get it. You can bet SamBam was excited. So the internet sales guy tells me to bring personal check, ID and car registration for the BMW loyalty discount. Personal check…just keep this in mind for a bit.

    I took a single picture of the car in the showroom. Figured I would someday post this.




    So we go though the more haggling bit, then get down to signing the finance papers. They tried to pull one over me. The numbers don't add up. I ask them and they were like oh that's right. Tries to explain it to me, and his numbers don't even match up. I'm not signing that. Got that changed, we're all good. Then we get to the check to pay the deposit. Now remember I told you to keep that in mind? They tell me they don't accept checks that are numbered under 150. WTF?! I asked why, they told me that checks below that might bounce. Uh…dude any check can bounce. WTF you smoking. Well, why the hell didn't you tell us this before we flew here? Ok we only brought one check because no one told us shit. They told us they don't accept wire transfers and that we had to get a certified check from somewhere. I honestly never had this problem anywhere else I bought a car from before. Well except Tesla where they don't accept personal checks at all. But at least they accept wire transfers. So we spend the next 4 hours driving around to find her CU branch bank so we could get the check. Barely made it to the bank before it closed. Seriously if we didn't find one iono what I would have done. I swear my buddy, Jon, who joined us was even more pissed at them than we were lol Honestly, it probably would have been a lot easier had I not moved most my money from my BoA account to CU savings account before

    Anyhow after that debacle. Took some pictures of the car while we waiting for Jon's gf to come by so we can go eat.

    Purchased 9/27/18






    Jon's other friend with the yellow M4 came too. I forgot his name already. I don't even remember where we ate lol Set up an impromptu BMW meet. Damn it sucks that I didn't have my car. But it would have totally messed up the numbering anyways.



    Which car messed up? lol


    The other photographers…


    Said our good byes, and it was time to get the car ready to drive back from Fremont to Orange County. We bought some painters tape from Lowes (I think) and got to work taping the edges of the car. What we were using was Road Warrior Plus temporary PPF paint. I actually semi-researched it and tested it on another car before we left to Fremont. Seemed like it would work perfectly for what we need it for. The product paints on white, then dries a clear matte finish. When it dries, it feels pretty solid. Since we did it closer towards night time, we just chilled a bit longer for it to dry. Generally it only takes an hour, but we gave it twice the amount just in case.





    Next day, after we came home and had some sleep. It was time to take off the tape and paint and wash the car. The paint is not as easy to take off. The majority of it peels off. But there are a lot of little bits left behind. If we had a pressure washer, this would come off rather easy. Also, it was hot as hell outside so that didn't help too much. It probably took the both of us like 3 hours to get it all off. But the good news was that there were no rock chips. There was a shitload of bugs and stuff on the film though. Every time I peeled a section off it looked like that might be the one with the rock chip, but nope. So it seemed to do it's job




    Car looks good. SamBam wanted to get clear bra done right away. I tried to convince her that she didn't need it, but since I had it on my car she wants it. So made an appointment for it. The problem is that they would want us to have to painted reflectors installed before they do the wrap.

    10/9/18

    So a little over a week later. Her first mod. Ordered from my friends at European Auto Source. Painted reflectors from IND. Installed by SamBam, herself. She's a car gal, so she knows how to drive a lowered car and DIY some car stuff. Oil changes are her thing. But I make her do anything else that's easy. We also threw on an EAS license plate thing. Forgot what they are called. Getting rid of the Fremont BMW crap. Don't want to be driving around advertising for them.



    Forgot pictures of them installed. But you'll see them in the other pictures anyways.


    10/15/18

    The following week. It was off to get clear bra done by Protective Film Solutions. Coverage would be exactly like my car. So full front coverage, door cups, and luggage area in XPEL Ultimate Plus. I've been going here for quite awhile. They seem to always be expanding and getting new people every time I come here. They did a great job as always. Of course when I went to pick it up. It rained out of nowhere. So I didn't get any pictures right after install. That was pretty much it for awhile. I did buy reverse LED bulbs because it looked like they were still incandescent bulbs. But it was raining and I couldn't figure out how to do it. Didn't find any DIYs so I did that later. Off to work I go, for a month.


    11/20/18

    It was time to do the break in oil change. Actually, it's a little overdue because well, I was still working far far away and she didn't want to go pay someone else when we could DIY. I don't remember much of this oil change because, well, I didn't do it. I set up the lift and put her car on it. Then SamBam did the rest, figuring out where the drain plug was and all that.

    She's going to be pissed when she sees these pictures. I picked the two that didn't make her look fat :lol:



    Shit is a blur after that lol I'm pretty sure I worked until mid December. I'm modding like 3 cars at the same time so I had to go back to my other build threads to figure out when I did stuff on this car.


    Sometime in December...

    We started talking about doing tints. I had a $100 deposit tied up at Extreme Autowerks. Originally, I put down a deposit for my Model 3, but I ended up refusing delivery on the car due the condition. So they told me it will be there until I decide to use it. Well applied it to SamBam's car as her Christmas present. I did say that she would be modding the car with her own money right? What am I doing?


    1/9/19

    Lol So then, last Monday, dropped it off to get it done. She didn't know what she wanted in terms of darkness. So I told her what I would get when I redo the tint on my E46 again. That's what we got. They did an ok job tbh. Originally, there was a lot of bubbles and some stuff that I knew wouldn't come out. I pointed it out before I left. They told me to wait a bit. It's not my first rodeo, I already know that it's not going to go away. A couple of days later, I went back and had them fix all the issues. It came out way better. Their support has been great so far.

    Spectra Photosync 45% sides/rear



    It came out darker than what I thought, given that I have 35% all around on my car. But I think it was due to it being cloudy. It should look a bit lighter. But since it's been cloudy and raining since forever. It's taking a long time to dry.

    At the same time, while the car was drying. I got around to installing those reverse LED bulbs. Turns out you have to take the tail light out just to replace the bulb Luckily the tail light is rather easy to take off. I guess that's why there wasn't a DIY. The other issue I ran into was that I couldn't put the car in reverse and get out to check the bulb. The LEDs only go in one way so I have to check to make sure it's on each time. I ended up asking for help so that someone can put it in reverse while I do the install.

    I don't know why the whole tail light is LED except for the reverse bulbs. The ones I installed were way brighter, and it's a nice straight white color.



    Then I bought the Bimmercode app and BT OBD2 thing. Coded a few things that I hated on her car even though I don't really drive it. I could have used E-sys. But I was too lazy to set it up so I just bought the app lol I got rid of the warning you have to click OK on every time. Couldn't figure out how to get rid of the welcome gongs. I think they took out that option in the LCI models? I enabled door lights on reverse, should help with some light on the curb for parallel parking. Changed reverse lights to LED even though there's no warning. Oh the other thing I didn't like was the damn radio. It stays on at whatever the current volume is until you close the door and lock it. I made it so that it turns off the moment you open the door. My model 3 does that shit too, but luckily the volume goes down when you open the door and instantly turns off as soon as you close the door. Coded some other things too, but I forgot already. See, this is why I'm writing this shit down early


    1/13/19

    Fast forward to Sunday. She hit a pothole and blew out her tire. She told me she didn't see it. Just this puddle Why do you think there's a puddle in the middle of the street? Lol At least she knew what to do and pulled over unlike this other friend I have. His reaction would have been more like "oh shit tire popped, must swerve into a median or something to total car."

    Luckily, it happened locally. I tried throwing on my 18 x 9.5 ET35 ARC-8 as a spare and just drive it to my house which was only a couple streets down. It was definitely going to scrape from what I felt. Did it anyways and yelp shaved off some of the wheel lol It's been sitting in my driveway the whole week since it's raining. Meanwhile, EAS now sells Michelin tires, so I hit them up to order one.

    I can't figure out if I like her car on ARC-8s or not. Probably need to lower the car a bit first to know for sure. But I flip back and forth every time I pass by it to do something outside.

    What do you guys think? I know, blurry picture.




    Finally brings us to yesterday… (1/18/19, I think going by what I wrote )

    On Thursday, I dropped by EAS and got them to install the new tire. Tire looked like it shit itself when they took it off.




    They told me there wasn't any bends/cracks. Dammit, ugh…I mean..whew. can't convince her she needs new wheels now.

    Now that it's dry-ish. I'm ready to swap the tires. Well I already ran into a snag. The ARC-8 tire is flat. Can't find tire pump. Dammit, both the units are in the other car (SamBam calls it the spaceship) she's driving and she's at work So I have to swap the wheel on the incline in my driveway.




    Checking how bad the scrape was on the wheel. I guess not to bad. Iono what this clump came from though. But that explains the knocking sound lol I'll just shave it off and throw it on my E46 when I get that back. Figure that out later.




    All finished up. Drove it a bit and I heard a clunk. Um..what was that? Went away as I drove around to get the TPMS to reset though. Went back and threw it on the lift. Everything looks good. Some paint scraped off from where the wheel rubbed but otherwise, everything looks good. I wiped the front down snapped a picture or two.




    Then parked it next to the Model 3 that I just got back from clear bra. Snapped a picture, and I'm done.




    Next install will be hardwiring a dashcam. She already bought it, I just never got around to installing it due to the weather prolonging the dry time of the tints. I'm not looking forward to the install. I have the same unit, still haven't installed it on the E46
    Last edited by sillieidiot; 07-11-2021 at 02:16 AM. Reason: updated mod list

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Atlanta/Macon, Georgia
    Posts
    574
    Absolutely Gorgeous car! I originally hated both the 1 and 2 series but recently I've been hit with this bug that has me contemplating a 135i with M Sport package (mostly so I can make it a hoon mobile with turbo noises and loud exhaust) but damn does the M240 look good.

    2004 Titansilber Metallic BMW 330i ZHP

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
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    This story is all good stuff, but my favorite part is her nickname, Sam Bam.

    Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
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    Socal
    Posts
    1,739
    Well I can't sleep so I might as well update the thread on some things I did recently.


    9/4/19

    Well 8 months later and the time has come to install the dreaded dash cam lol SamBam dropped off her car for the week cause she's going on vacation.

    Procrastination kicked in. So I re-coded the car using Bimmercode because that was the easiest. The dealer wiped away the previous coding I did when they did the warranty oil change. And since I couldn't remember wtf I coded last time, I just went through all the settings again like it's my first time and coded stuff that I want lol I did add something that I didn't get to do originally was to get the mirrors to auto-fold on lock with comfort access. Turns out you can't really on this car. The setting is there, but it doesn't work when I code it. The closest you can get is to put the delay on convenience closing to 0 ms. So you basically have to hold your finger like 0.1 seconds longer to get it to close. With the key fob, it's instant though.

    That's all I had time to do that day.


    9/5/19

    After laying out everything I needed for the dash cam install, I realized that I'm missing some essential items, so Amazon to the rescue. Will start tomorrow.

    I went ahead and did the other item which was to get rid of the airbag warning labels from the visors. It took some time. At one point I was like, FML regretting this decision right now But after working at it for awhile I finally got them both off. There's still that rectangle of where the sticker used to be though. But it's not that noticeable.

    Before:


    During:


    After:


    The picture makes it way more noticeable than it actually is on the passenger side.


    9/6/19

    Ugh, I had to start the install. Figuring where to put the front camera was hard. There are sensors at the end of the rearview mirror so I had to figure out how to place it without blocking it. This is where I ended up putting it.





    Then the long tedious process of running the wires from the front to back. I split up the video and power cables, so that meant that I would have to run it up & down the car TWICE . More work, but it's a lot easier to hide wires this way especially when I get to the rear window. I'm using the Power Magic Pro for the parking mode and will probably just leave everything in the trunk.

    Mock up of the wiring route to make sure I have enough wire. There was enough for the video, but not the power side. But the Power Magic Pro wiring makes up the rest of the distance.







    This is as far as I got. I stopped short of wiring it up to the battery. I was soldering the terminals at the ends of the wires and checked the wiring for the final time. I was like where tf is the fuse for the battery lead? Lol I forgot that I cut off the cigarette adapter . So I opened it back up to see the size of the fuse. It's 2A. So now I gotta buy an inline fuse holder for that. For the accessory wire, I'm just going to use the fuse tap add-a-circuit wire which I have. Pretty much just decided here is good to stop to continue tomorrow.


    9/7/19

    So I went to Fry's and got the fuses I needed and wired everything up. Put everything back and I'm done. I spent the rest of the day messing with the Blackvue's settings and driving around to make sure everything work. Turned off all the LEDs to keep it looking stealth at night. I left the voice prompts on so it could scare the shit out of SamBam

    Picture of them installed. It's actually pretty hard to see after I took off the plastic wrap and the casing became matte.

    Front:


    Rear:



    9/8/19

    I have one mod left to do, but screw that. I'm too lazy to take the entire center console apart right now. So today, I'm washing her car because it's dirty af. I'm washing my Tesla too.






    I feel like this car is going to have a lot of freshly washed pictures lol


    Oh yeah, she did this sometime last week. Damn that's bad . Car isn't even lowered





    She blamed it on Google maps taking her a weird way and forcing her down a steep driveway. I don't blame her because my experience with Google Maps in other states do the same shit. I use Here WeGo now because it doesn't make me go in stupid routes. But it's missing some stuff I would like. But full offline support is useful.

    I didn't tell her, but we'll cover it up with a lip later

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Good updates. Sux re bumper.

    Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
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    Socal
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    Updates are few on this car.

    3/15/21

    Bought a keyhole delete. I don't remember the occasion it was for though

    Original plan was to make SamBam install it. But I couldn't wait so I did it :lol Similarly to how I installed it on the E46. I just took apart the cover and made it so that it would fit over the existing keyhole. In case I ever need to break this off so I can open the door with the key. This car not having a keyhole in the trunk, it's especially important.

    All I did was take off the metal piece with the spring door.



    Then test to see if the key is still working.





    Put the delete cover on. Fits perfect. :







    Before/After pictures





    Fast forward to 3 days ago…

    Bought the BMW M performance diffuser. I went back and forth forever on how I would paint it Then I decided to just leave the whole thing unpainted lol I even asked SamBam for input, but you know it came back with…whatever you think looks better. Damn you

    Got it in and opened it right away. Looks good



    Then a couple days later I decided that I'm going to seal it with Carpro Dlux.

    Prep:


    Sealed/curing:




    Then yesterday, SamBam dropped the car off. God dammit it was filthy. So I washed it just so it would look good when I installed the diffuser lol





    The install wasn't too bad. Didn't have to take the bumper off. Really, taking off the diffuser was the easy part. Putting the diffuser back on and snapping in all the clips was the hard part



    The whole process took like 30 mins. Didn't even have to lift the car off the ground.

    Before/After



    Way better. The tips are a little more hidden, but I'll deal with that later. Haven't decided if we want new exhaust, or just replace the tips.

    While I was at it. I took the time to install the NOCO eyelet for her. Just makes it easier for her to jump the car as well as trickle charge it.





    All finished up and ready to go back to SamBam. I took one more picture because it looked good just sitting there.




    I have a couple more minor mods in the works as well.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Nice!

    Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Huntsville, AL
    Posts
    4,397
    Interesting, it must be something about the 2’s!

    We have a 2016 ///M235 vert and also had probably my worst BMW dealer experience. It is a nice combo so, I put up with the BS for the day. That was a couple hours away and wouldn’t be my service dealer.

    That said, I took it to the local dealer last year to have its second or third oil change done, only has 16k on it. It was a long time before I hear from them after receiving the inspection video.

    That was because, the tech forgot to put the oil back in before starting it. It now has a New N55 Crate engine installed by them with a complementary full detail.

    No issues with the car since but, it didn’t get a lot of miles since due to COVID.




    Sent from my iPhone Xs using Tapatalk

    Dinan; Hign Flow Intake System, & Strut Tower Brace
    Turner Motorsports; Underdrive Power Pulleys
    Koni Sport, Bridgestone; Potenza RE-11, Coby Wheel
    Stewart High Performance Water Pump
    Hawk High Performance Street 5.0 Brake Pads
    Brembo Rotor

    The purposeful face of a formidable athlete:

    The spine-tingling 330i Performance Package.

    Purchased CPO on 12/23/2006 with 28,090 miles

  9. #9

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Socal
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3ZHPGUY View Post
    Interesting, it must be something about the 2’s!

    We have a 2016 ///M235 vert and also had probably my worst BMW dealer experience. It is a nice combo so, I put up with the BS for the day. That was a couple hours away and wouldn’t be my service dealer.

    That said, I took it to the local dealer last year to have its second or third oil change done, only has 16k on it. It was a long time before I hear from them after receiving the inspection video.

    That was because, the tech forgot to put the oil back in before starting it. It now has a New N55 Crate engine installed by them with a complementary full detail.

    No issues with the car since but, it didn’t get a lot of miles since due to COVID.

    [IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210504/81b8b8123f3401993ee22f995c16f0d8.jpg[/IMG


    Sent from my iPhone Xs using Tapatalk
    Damn. I hope that doesn't happen with this car. There's 1 more dealership oil change left I think.

    Quote Originally Posted by johnrando View Post
    Nice!

    Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
    Quote Originally Posted by cakM3 View Post
    That's a very nice ride Hieu!
    Thanks

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