BMW E46 Grey 325XI

HI guys,

First at all, i want to Thanks for the wonderful forum, i just got my Bimmer this week ( on monday ) ... Im thinking on doing some CLEAN mods to the car but keeping in clean...

I added a few pic of the car down here...

I was thinking to do FOR THE INTERIOR

Carbon Fiber Mods... Changing the part that looks like WOOD i wanna change it to Carbon Fiber, following this tutorial... HERE

And Want to install the INTERIOR LED But still looking over the internet the issue regarding the ERRORs, because i've been reading that many bimmers get ERROR if we install crappy LED ...

in my research i found this : INTERIOR LED Size

2 39mm x 10mm for the footwells
2 39mm x 10mm for the license plate
2 44mm x 10mm for the vanity mirror lights
2 44mm x 10mm for the trunk lights
3 194 bulbs for the center light/front maplights
4 194 bulbs for the rear/rear interior lights
1 39mm x 10mm for the glove box.

Dont know if those are the correct one, but looks like that...

Dont know what else to do without altering how great it looks...



For exterior, i want to set a FOG LIGHT of 3,000 K HID KIT, which i was thinking on getting HERE

And The same for HID in low and high beam, but i was reading on this forum that in order to do that i have to get the HEADLIGHT with projectors... So still dont know if i do it, but i want to do it.. But what's the major different of just installing it right away ?


Please any input will be more than Appreciate it to read... =)

Btw, it is Obvious, i just receive the car last tuesday.. so i will be upgrading the car slow.. but will keep this post Alive on the updates...

First, i gotta change the Oil / Filter / Brakes / and the last part i will be doing is the Painted... because there are a few scratches on the car...

I may Do The first thing,, the LED... im checking a whole set of kit or buying it individually at ebay... or amazon... please any suggestion of which you have THANKS!

Thanks in advance....

Carbon fiber will be out of date in a few years. Just keep the wood, it looks great.

Or wrap it in a Brushed Metal.


As for "mods", a nice cheap interior mod would be the sharpie mod. Just color the needles red with a red chiseled sharpie. Then get some silver gauge rungs to compliment it.

Congrats on the new ride !
Rather than jumping right on that mod train, you might want to save your money for things which will keep your BMW on the road (i.e., cooling system rebuild, CVV, VANOS seals, LCABs, brakes, etc.).

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

Congrats on the new ride !
Rather than jumping right on that mod train, you might want to save your money for things which will keep your BMW on the road (i.e., cooling system rebuild, CVV, VANOS seals, LCABs, brakes, etc.).

Just to let you know... Old Man Bobber is the House-Scholar.

Originally Posted by Western Skier

Carbon fiber will be out of date in a few years. Just keep the wood, it looks great.

Or wrap it in a Brushed Metal.


As for "mods", a nice cheap interior mod would be the sharpie mod. Just color the needles red with a red chiseled sharpie. Then get some silver gauge rungs to compliment it.

The brushed metal ... didnt though about it... Thanks!

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

Congrats on the new ride !
Rather than jumping right on that mod train, you might want to save your money for things which will keep your BMW on the road (i.e., cooling system rebuild, CVV, VANOS seals, LCABs, brakes, etc.).

Thanks, yeap, im getting ready that part first, before jumping into any other stuff at the car... For example tomorrow monday, will be doing the brakes, oil/filter change...

Originally Posted by XtrlRulz

Thanks, yeap, im getting ready that part first, before jumping into any other stuff at the car... For example tomorrow monday, will be doing the brakes, oil/filter change...

That`s cool....ya can`t build a good house on a shaky foundation....

Exactly my point. But im pretty happy with my bimmer. The first one and i love it ... Next yeat i may sell it to get the new model 2006+. But one step at time!

Originally Posted by XtrlRulz

Exactly my point. But im pretty happy with my bimmer. The first one and i love it ... Next yeat i may sell it to get the new model 2006+. But one step at time!

You DO realize that E90s are fugly German Hyundais, don`t you ?

Just curious - Why an XI in Miami? You are dragging around a lot of hardware that you will never need.

Originally Posted by SJBimmer

Just curious - Why an XI ? You are dragging around a lot of hardware that you will never need.

Fixed.

Originally Posted by jonathan2263

Fixed.

Thank you !

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

Thank you !

My pleasure.

Originally Posted by jonathan2263

My pleasure.

I`m thinking that you & I learned the "Less Is More" theory from our bicycling experience....

Originally Posted by SJBimmer

Just curious - Why an XI in Miami? You are dragging around a lot of hardware that you will never need.

Because I got an offer with that Bimmer, So i took it.. 325 I is more than i need .. but the XI all wheel drive is more than i need, maybe for NY or any Snow city... but What can i say.. and yes it does consume more gas than 325I...

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

You DO realize that E90s are fugly German Hyundais, don`t you ?

LOL, i havent realize that, but what can i do ? Stay at the E46 ? ,, at least i will be upgrading to the new model, but lets focus on this one.. :P 1 step at time..

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

I`m thinking that you & I learned the "Less Is More" theory from our bicycling experience....

As Colin Chapman would say, "light is right." every sport I've been involved in since I was a kid, I've understood that going as light as possible made everything better. Same thing works for cars, and besides, RWD is just more fun to drive. And anyone who grew up and learned to drive in Western New York can tell you that grip on snow is about tires and good sense, not which wheels are doing the driving.

Originally Posted by XtrlRulz

LOL, i havent realize that, but what can i do ? Stay at the E46 ? ,, at least i will be upgrading to the new model, but lets focus on this one.. :P 1 step at time..

That's what I did, got ANOTHER e46.

And PPPBBBTTTT! to all you Xi haters

Yeah you probably won't need the AWD down in Miami, but ya never know. I do remember a certain smolckster that got caught unaware with some Alabama snow. You didn't mention the mileage? Anywhere above 75k and I suggest you closely inspect your front outer CV boots, the trend seems to be that they fail around 80-100k but it's a time consuming repair for a small item.

Enjoy the Xi, I have both the RWD and the AWD and both are great vehicles to drive regardless of the weather conditions.

I bought it with 170,000 Miles, the previous owner ( which was the only owner since 2002, the year of the car ) check everything at the BMW dealer... i got the car fax of the car, which shows everything already change/fix at the car that could fail , im impress on how welll taken car was the car...

.... regardless that i brought the car to the repair shop and they said,, EVERYTHING is like the car got only with 50+....

Originally Posted by jonathan2263

Fixed.

LOL! Yeah you are right, BUT, My other vehicle (1st gen Acura MDX) has AWD, and there have been a few times that it has saved my a$$. It's like a gun, you don't need it often, but when you do, there is no substitute! At least 4WD is semi useful when the snow flies!

Originally Posted by Gryphon

That's what I did, got ANOTHER e46.

And PPPBBBTTTT! to all you Xi haters

Yeah you probably won't need the AWD down in Miami, but ya never know. I do remember a certain smolckster that got caught unaware with some Alabama snow. You didn't mention the mileage? Anywhere above 75k and I suggest you closely inspect your front outer CV boots, the trend seems to be that they fail around 80-100k but it's a time consuming repair for a small item.

Enjoy the Xi, I have both the RWD and the AWD and both are great vehicles to drive regardless of the weather conditions.

It's not that I hate Xi's, it's just that I look down on them with a palpable air of superiority...

Originally Posted by jonathan2263

As Colin Chapman would say, "light is right." every sport I've been involved in since I was a kid, I've understood that going as light as possible made everything better. Same thing works for cars, and besides, RWD is just more fun to drive. And anyone who grew up and learned to drive in Western New York can tell you that grip on snow is about tires and good sense, not which wheels are doing the driving.

Where in Western NY did you learn to drive? I'm from Jamestown NY originally.

Originally Posted by jonathan2263

It's not that I hate Xi's, it's just that I look down on them with a palpable air of superiority...

Just as a point of reference, in 2002 the 325i, Xi and iT with one driver and a full tank of gas weighed as follows:

2002
325i 3,219 (242)
325Xi 3,461
325 Wagon 3,362 (99)

An "i" weighed 242 lbs less than an Xi, and the wagon weighed 99 lbs less than an Xi.
The wagon is a little taller too.

So Johnathan, notwithstanding your almost unearthly driving abilities, I doubt you're crushing an Xi performance-wise.

There is certain roads that you must have AWD or 4WD. Ex. When you're going up a mountain to a ski resort.

LoL ... now my topic change up from the E46 XI with a few mods to a discussion about the XI or I lol heheh.. interesteing..

btw, thanks for the reference of the Weight, today i changed oil/filter and found that the bimmer runs smoothly... but it give me around 20 miles per galon...