F30 Winter Mats - Going To Do The Install Myself

After the recent hurricane, I'm feeling a bit more confident about my fix-it skills as I discovered a lot of new abilities like turning on a pilot light, using a lighter to light the stove, changing batteries in the LED flashlight, etc.

So I cancelled my winter mat install appointment with BMW service and am going to give it a go today. The mats are in a plastic bag with something that looks like a hangar attached to them. Going to get my tools together and prepare.

I'll report back on my progress. Any pointers appreciated.

BJ

Hey man, glad to hear u made it thru. Been monitoring your situation. That sucks.

What do u mean install winter mats yourself? What am I missing here?

Originally Posted by CE750Jockey

What do u mean install winter mats yourself? What am I missing here?

The sarcasm.

Originally Posted by sunny5280

The sarcasm.

Gotcha.

Thought of this instantly:

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

I'll report back on my progress. Any pointers appreciated.

BJ

it's several order of magnitude easier to install the mats with the doors open and while the car is stationary

make sure to take pics and then post a DIY thread.

Oh, very important additional tip: The hanger is provided to ensure the mats are properly handled during shipping. It is not to be installed in the car!

Originally Posted by Zeichen311

Oh, very important additional tip: The hanger is provided to ensure the mats are properly handled during shipping. It is not to be installed in the car!

Good lord, thank you. It's been almost an hour and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the mats in the right orientation with the hangar attached. It almost felt like there were two mats on there or something.

I'm going to remove the hangar now, should go pretty quickly from here.

EDIT: There is another hangar on the rear mats; do I remove that hangar too?

BJ

Originally Posted by dealio

it's several order of magnitude easier to install the mats with the doors open and while the car is stationary

make sure to take pics and then post a DIY thread.

Please, I know the car needs to be stationary; I'm not stupid.

Good call on leaving the doors open; it was hard trying to put the rear mats in from the front seat, really hurting my back that way.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

After the recent hurricane, I'm feeling a bit more confident about my fix-it skills as I discovered a lot of new abilities like turning on a pilot light, using a lighter to light the stove, changing batteries in the LED flashlight, etc.

So I cancelled my winter mat install appointment with BMW service and am going to give it a go today. The mats are in a plastic bag with something that looks like a hangar attached to them. Going to get my tools together and prepare.

I'll report back on my progress. Any pointers appreciated.

BJ

The only tools you need are your fingers not even a brain. Good luck
cheers
vern
PS glad you got your mind off of your dilemma.

Originally Posted by vern

The only tools you need are your fingers not even a brain. Good luck
cheers
vern
PS glad you got your mind off of your dilemma.

I got the hangars off, but now there's this strip of rubber atop each mat with a "scissors" logo on it.

It doesn't make sense to me that I'm supposed to cut the mats in half, is that really how you do it? Cut vertically down the middle of the mat? Do the Velcro pads hold the two halves together once they're installed or something? Doesn't make sense as it would allow water to get right through that center cut. My son would have one boot on the left side and one on the right. Are they adjustable width for each passenger and thus the instruction to cut them?

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

EDIT: There is another hangar on the rear mats; do I remove that hangar too?

Hmm. I'm not sure. That may be an update for the F30; I don't recall that from my E90's winter mat set (though it's been a couple of years, I may have forgotten).

I would say it's probably scrap also, but it could be some kind of anchor to secure the rear mats in the car. Just in case, look at the underside of the front seats, above the rear footwells. If you don't see an obvious fixture to which the hanger would attach--it would be very obvious--then I'd say it's safe to remove & discard.

BJ,

Make sure to use scissors with rounded edges, we don't want you to get hurt, while performing this tough assigment.
I asume you did ask your manservant to keep the door open for you correct? That might be the next skill you might want to learn: opening your own door (I know it's sounds like a lot of effort but you might find pride in it).

In any case, good to hear you are ok and in good spirit.

Originally Posted by Zeichen311

Hmm. I'm not sure. That may be an update for the F30; I don't recall that from my E90's winter mat set (though it's been a couple of years, I may have forgotten).

I would say it's probably scrap also, but it could be some kind of anchor to secure the rear mats in the car. Just in case, look at the underside of the front seats, above the rear footwells. If you don't see an obvious fixture to which the hanger would attach--it would be very obvious--then I'd say it's safe to remove & discard.

Turns out there's a little 'flap' of rubber to attach the hangar to the mats and that's what the Germans want us to cut off. We do NOT need to cut the mats lengthwise. Perhaps we need a sticky.

Now, onto the rears. Wish me luck.

BJ

Originally Posted by thegandalf

BJ,

Make sure to use scissors with rounded edges, we don't want you to get hurt, while performing this tough assigment.
I asume you did ask your manservant to keep the door open for you correct? That might be the next skill you might want to learn: opening your own door (I know it's sounds like a lot of effort but you might find pride in it).

In any case, good to hear you are ok and in good spirit.

Thank you. I'm using my wife's cuticle scissors as they are curved and have these pointer cover things on them.

We are in good spirits now that the power is back and we can get our dry cleaning done. I mean, a week without? Awful.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

Thank you. I'm using my wife's cuticle scissors as they are curved and have these pointer cover things on them.

We are in good spirits now that the power is back and we can get our dry cleaning done. I mean, a week without? Awful.

BJ

If you ask nicely, most dry cleaners will give you a complementary floor mat cleaning the next time you bring in your pants and shirts.

Originally Posted by CE750Jockey

If you ask nicely, most dry cleaners will give you a complementary floor mat cleaning the next time you bring in your pants and shirts.

Great news. The rear's are in. A little more tricky than the fronts (multiple test drives necessary to determine which was drivers-side and which was passenger-side) but my second major F30 mod is now complete.

BJ

Thank you for showing a pic of the rear mats.. I just ordered these and there are no pics of what the rears looked like!

Originally Posted by m3kidd

Thank you for showing a pic of the rear mats.. I just ordered these and there are no pics of what the rears looked like!

Just payin' it forward after all the help and support I received today. Note that there are different mats for each line, the ones shown are for the Luxury. Not sure if they all have the same tread pattern, I know that the Sport line mats have red trim, for example.

Just woke up from a well-deserved nap; automotive work is hard on the body.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

Great news. The rear's are in. A little more tricky than the fronts (multiple test drives necessary to determine which was drivers-side and which was passenger-side) but my second major F30 mod is now complete.

BJ

You might want to double check that you don't have them in the wrong side up. I don't see the little foot massage bumps in your picutre.

took me 2 hours to get those hangars off...bloody germans and their hoity toity tech.

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

Turns out there's a little 'flap' of rubber to attach the hangar to the mats and that's what the Germans want us to cut off. We do NOT need to cut the mats lengthwise. Perhaps we need a sticky.

Now, onto the rears. Wish me luck.

BJ

thanks for the pic i just got those yesterday.

Originally Posted by BMW X Series

thanks for the pic i just got those yesterday.

Be careful. They're a little bit slippery, lost traction the first few times I got out of the car.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

After the recent hurricane, I'm feeling a bit more confident about my fix-it skills as I discovered a lot of new abilities like turning on a pilot light, using a lighter to light the stove, changing batteries in the LED flashlight, etc.

So I cancelled my winter mat install appointment with BMW service and am going to give it a go today. The mats are in a plastic bag with something that looks like a hangar attached to them. Going to get my tools together and prepare.

I'll report back on my progress. Any pointers appreciated.

BJ

LMAO. BJ classic what can I say.

i finally finished installing mines