[ryem3]

Wanted to finally post up some pics of my car and the progress of the build. Not too crazy, but I've added some nice parts and happy to post some tips and advice for install of certain items. Main part is the Xpel Stealth wrap of course. Hope you enjoy and look forward to sharing comments and suggestions.

[ryem3]

Finally picked up my car after about one year on the waiting list. I was quite happy to see the Michelin tires (I had debated what to do if I had Contis). Ended up keeping the plastic wrap on for a few weeks after delivery until I could get the wrap done.

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[ryem3]

Wanted to get straight to installing some of the terrific OEM carbon parts even before I had the car wrapped. For the first time, I got the mirror cabs and the carbon diffusor. I also figured the M4 competition tips would be a perfect complement to the diffusor. They look really good together.

Installing the mirror caps. Although the stock ones clip in and simply pop off (yes, simply grab them firmly and pull out), the carbon ones need to be screwed in from behind the mirror. This is quite the PIA, although not that complicated. I certainly would not want to break a mirror - I've heard people have done it. If you are doing any work with the interior, I highly recommend a good set of trim tools. A credit card here will not cut it and a simple trim tool isn't broad enough for the job. You simply leverage this broad tool underneath the mirror and carefully pop it out. I let it hang out of the way while I screwed in the new mirror cap. The carbon finish on these is very nice.






While the diffusors on some new cars look decent, the plastic one on the M2 looks pretty cheap. It is such a big presence in the rear I thought it had to be changed. I can't believe the prices some other companies want to charge when the BMW OEM unit is only about $800. I also added the M4 tips for about $200 for a nice look. Some have posted requests for a view of the exhaust without tips, so I've added a pic below. The install was pretty straightforward, but a little challenging. Unscrew the bottom and then you get in close and yank it straight out. It is plastic and the bumper is plastic, so there isn't anything to break. I would note that there isn't much material on the bumper near the center, so be a bit careful.

Installing the carbon diffusor was a bit tricky. The carbon tabs aren't like plastic ones, although they made them the exact same size. Since there is no flex to the carbon it was very difficult to get them in. I simply trimmed my tabs very slightly with an exacto knife. With a little work it slid in nicely.

The stock tips come out if you carefully beat them out with a piece of wood and a hammer on the wood. The one way pins that hold them in must be the cheapest way to keep them in without falling out. The issue is that the slash tips only go in to the end of the actual exhaust pipe on the bottom, so the top end extends about 1/2" farther out than the stock tips. You can see the slight difference in the pics.

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[ryem3]

My wrap install was actually delayed several weeks as I wanted to install the factory carbon rear spoiler first and they were sold out across the country. Shout out to Chris Heck at Sterling BMW in Newport Beach, CA for sourcing it for me and providing all the OEM parts I've installed. I finally got it and had installed very reasonably by my dealer and then set up the wrap. Originally expected to take 3 days, it took about a week. It's pretty time consuming wrapping the whole car and my add ons took extra time. Instead of simply wrapping the top black or leaving it grey, I chose to vinyl the top with a carbon print. No, it isn't a real carbon roof, but the weight savings for this car seems immaterial. The look came out terrific and my installer wrapped the vinyl in clear Xpel. It has a terrific shine and really sets the car off nicely. It won't get universal approval, but what the heck it looks good and this is a $50k car after all. I debated a color change, but the frozen grey really looks terrific. I get comment on the paint ALL the time. Some people don't even recognize the car! Most people don't think it's wrapped.

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[ryem3]

Took some decent pics of the results. In most light it is pretty dark and very similar to the mineral grey tone. It can look a bit lighter in very bright sunlight, just like MG does. I've only recently begun to appreciate the huge benefit of a full wrap - it is maintenance free! No more polishing, worrying about little marks or anything else. It's completely wrapped in plastic! Hats off to my installer, Eagle Guard in Stamford CT that did a terrific job, as usual. No installing the stuff is not rocket science. Happy to hook people up in the tri state area. Hope you enjoy the look!

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[ryem3]

Not a very detailed description of my stereo install, but a few notes and pics. You'll find more details in the stereo thread on 2addicts. Instead of doing a full budget install, I've learned that in Germany there are a number of aftermarket speaker companies making full drop in kits for all the speakers in a BMW. However, my favorite brand has become Focal after a very successful install in my 911. The fronts and rears are available through Crutchfield and others, but the subwoofers are not available in the U.S. I went through Extremeaudio in Germany and got outstanding prices and service for the whole kit. I highly recommend using them for equipment; just be sure you know what you're ordering! (Return shipping is expensive!)



Before dropping in the speakers, I disconnected the glaring front speaker. This is simple to do by carefully removing the front cover, unscrew the speaker and disconnect the cable. Before you do any of this work, invest in a good set of trim tools (not only do they come in handy for the mirror cap install!) Disconnecting the speaker increases the stereo separation - although I've actually contemplated installing another high quality speaker. Bit of a trade off, but easy to disconnect it and try it out.

Also, I installed the Technic ASD harness in the rear. This bypasses the artificial engine sound piped through the stereo. I liked the sound most of the time, except on the highway when it seemed to drone. Bypassing the ASD with the harness made the cabin a lot quieter on the highway and has made the stereo more enjoyable.

I went with the Focal IFBMW-S separates setup for the front midranges and tweeters. You want to be sure to install high quality components upfront as they have the largest impact on your sound. This install is a bit challenging as it requires removing the door panels. The panel is held on by 5 screws and the usual pop clips. It can be intimidating the first time as the clips are very tight, but it is pretty straightforward. The Focal harness and speakers fit perfectly into the tweeter sails and the doors. What is a bit different is that the OEM speakers connect on the FRONT rather than the BACK of the speakers. This was very perplexing to me initially, until I realized there are plenty of holes in the doors to route the cables into the doors and connect behind the speakers. The pic below shows the insulation piece pealed down to feed the cable and then tuck in the harness.




For the rears, I installed the Focal PC100s. From the pic below you can see how massive the magnet is for this little 4" speaker compared to the stock one. Of course, this isn't quite in keeping with maintaining lightweight components in the car, but the weight sacrifice is well worth it.



If you use a less expensive coax in the rear, many have break off tabs, which facilitate the swap, because you will need to lose 2 tabs. With the high quality Focals, they have cast metal baskets, so I needed to cut off 2 tabs. These metal baskets were SOLID - not for the faint of heart! Couple of pics of the results:








No pics, but I also installed the IFBMW Subs V2. The car already has 2 8" subs under each of the front seats! Easy to unbolt the seat from the rails with 4 bolts and get to the subs. The Focal subs have rings to mount in the F87 and a socket to use the factory plug. Drops in perfectly, but be sure to use the spacer ring (I found out they don't seat properly without it). Some have commented that the subs don't add much, however I've found they had a lot of power to the bass and much more kick than the stock units. They are a tougher call, because they cost about $250 each. Again, these units are not available in the US.

I've found the whole system to be very well balanced, detailed without glaring, and very punchy. The HK amp does not get that loud, but with these drivers the sound is high quality and you definitely feel it with rock music. It will NOT rattle the windows. The subs are pretty limited excursion, so more volume would require a separate sub or an additional amp. The entire kit was about $900 from Germany (The front and rear alone are about $700 from Crutchfield).

If you do the install, be sure not to judge the system too early. The speakers will take a number of hours to break in and you can't leave the system on like in a house. Mine is really starting to come to life and the conversion was really worth it. When you can't listen to the exhaust in heavy traffic, a good stereo is always a good solution!

[ryem3]

Finally updated with install pics of the BMW performance wheel.
I would really only caution anyone doing the install to take pics of the inside of the wheel before moving over the wiring harness. It is easy to know where the wires plug in, but not so easy to remember how to route the wires in the wheel.

I compared the standard M2 open pore carbon center trim with the OEM M4 polished trim. The polished looks SO much better, but to each his own.







Final wheel complete with harness and switches installed:




And installed in the car. Makes a great addition to the interior. With the Alcantara it's perfect summer or winter.

[OSA_BMW]

Looks awesome...

Getting my wrapped in a few weeks full stealth

[///Cardia]

Legit progress thus far, thank you for sharing!

[metrickid]

You should have made the shark fin and sides of the roof gloss black like BMW does. It would look a lot better than the super fake looking CF now. The door handles look mega cheap too, the CF wrap chosen doesn't look very nice wrapped on anything but large panels.

[MerlinPurple]

Great thread rye - read the whole thing.

Nice write up on the diffuser/exhaust - wrap being maintenance free sounds really tempting!

[F87_LCI]

You had me right up until the CF door handles...it's your car dude, but I agree with the guy up there ^^ ...lose the CF wrap on the door handles. otherwise, looks really nice.

[Xtianh]

This is great! So did you get the xpel stealth PLUS a matte coating on top to protect the wrap, or did just the xpel stealth give it this great matte look?

[ryem3]

Originally Posted by LagunaSecaBlue

You had me right up until the CF door handles...it's your car dude, but I agree with the guy up there ^^ ...lose the CF wrap on the door handles. otherwise, looks really nice.

Yeah, installer got creative and did the door handles. I'm not that crazy about them either. Great thing about vinyl, easy to take it off.

[ryem3]

Originally Posted by Xtianh

This is great! So did you get the xpel stealth PLUS a matte coating on top to protect the wrap, or did just the xpel stealth give it this great matte look?

Xpel stealth creates the matte finish. The vinyl on the roof was also covered in gloss to give it a perfect shine.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Nice build!

[infinitekidM2C]

you know "those guys" that don't tell you that your fly isn't zipped up? i'm not that guy...CF door handles gots to go. Otherwise looks really nice

[ryem3]

Originally Posted by infinitekid2002

you know "those guys" that don't tell you that your fly isn't zipped up? i'm not that guy...CF door handles gots to go. Otherwise looks really nice

Duly noted! Deleting the closeup to spare myself any more grief! That'll be my first move when I have my installer do some clean up!

[ryem3]

Stereo install write up now added.

[ryem3]

Will post some more mod pics soon

[ryem3]

Updated with Performance wheel install pics.

[F87_LCI]

Just curious if you plan to swap the open pore CF in the car to the gloss?
As you said to each his own, but I personally don't care for the mix and match approach. I prefer continuity.