GPS Magnet Phone Holder in dash storage BMW 1 Series

Hi everyone. My name is Francisco. I'm a new member of the forum.
First of all I'd like to say sorry if in any point I come up with some bad english as I'm brazilian and english is not my main language.

Every since I bought my BMW 118i and I saw the in dash storage I wanna badly to come up with some sort of holder for the GPS/phone.

After a lot of thinking I decided that I wanna something clean and easy to remove and that didn't affect the "In Dash Storage" in case I wanna to use again as a storage. After a lot of reserch I decided to use magnets to do the job.

Anyway let's do it.

This is the list of what you will need:
- 2 strong magnets http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/280735752...84.m1439.l2649
- 1 metal holder http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120585164...84.m1439.l2649
- 1 small strong magnet http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-Pcs-Dis...item3cbf82e4b1
- 1 super bond glue

This is my dash into initial state

The first thing you have to do is take the "IDS (In Dash Storage)" out.
To do this you have to take the air grilles out. I'm not gonna get into details how to remove it cause it's pretty simple: 2 hidden screws behind the air vent grilles and 2 screws inside the IDS.


NOTE: When taking the IDS out be careful! There is a wiring cable going into it. (Not sure why) but unplug it just after taking the IDS out.



Once you have the IDS out this is what you will have:


Use the super bond glue to fix it to IDS as shown on photos below:



Once you fixed the magnets on the IDS you're pretty much ready.

Place the small magnet on the magnet holder (no super bond required).



Now stick the little metal that comes with the magnet car holder to your phone and or GPS
(NOTE: I decided to fix it into my iphone case instead fix it on the phone itself - different than what I'm showing on the photo)


Place the metal holder inside the IDS and the magnets will hold it


And then place your phone to it. This is what's gonna look like:



Now just put everything back into the car and you're done.


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My next project is now place a USB/Aux cable extension into the IDS so you can easily charge the phone and control all the music via iDrive on the go. I already ordered the cable just waiting on it to do it. Will let you guys know how I go with this one as well once it's done.

Also just wanna to say that I live in Melbourne - Australia now days and just wanna to say that I'm happy to help anyone who decides to do it but isn't very confident to do it. Also if you didn't understand something please leave your question on the comments below and I'll try to help you as well.

Hope you guys like it. It's a pretty simple and cheap solution and the result is great. (I'm very happy with it at least).

Great idea. I like how you used magnets to make an invisible mount. I'll have to remember that trick.

Thanks mate.

Magnets are great for the job just make sure you use magnets with protection (like the ones I described on material list) cause some magnets won't protect your device (residual magnetism) and that might cause some sort of problem or damage.