Clown Nose

My dealer didn't even balk when I asked him to activate it without the alarm.

I recommend you make it clear that you know they can do it and expect it to be done, and that otherwise you will take it to another dealer for servicing.

That may not matter to the individual who sold you the car, but it surely may matter to the manager of the service department who will be losing business or the manager of the entire dealership.

Just let the right people know.

-DJ330xi

Yeah to be honest I have no idea about this "clown nose" red thing stuff, I have a '92 525i. But, when it comes to letting the right people know, i wholly agree. I get service done at Thompson BMW. They will do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to make you happy. I am 17, I bought a used 525i 5Spd from them, they treated me (a 17 year old) like everyone else, offering warranty stuff, they even did the 100k service free of charge, i talked them down in price of the car... It's not you, it's the dealer. Like, a lot of people say "I am no good at haggling" well that's untrue, you're the customer. The dealer's job is to provide you with satisfactory or (in my experience with Thompson BMW) better service. Seriously consider talking to the management at your local dealer. You can often go right to the service department and page a rep. Another good strategy is to go straight into the showroom and ask to speak to the manager (not sure if you've confronted the manager when buying your car, but I did). This will assure you that you will speak to the manager because there will more than likely be other people in the showroom either going through the paperwork or expressing interest in the dealer and automobile. Good luck.

The sad thing is that it was the service manager that told me I could not do this. I am on good terms with everyone else in the shop. I really like the guys there in fact. The other day they bent over backwards to help me track down some info on an unusual request. When I made the appointment for an oil change at 2,000 miles I informed them that I wanted to have the clown nose programed and they didn't seem to think that there would be any problems. So today when I pick the car up the service manager is there and he tells me that it is impossible. Oh well on to the next dealer. Any suggestions in St. Louis?
Thanks

Could you (mom has a 325i but I don't mess with it) tell me what the clown nose does?

It's the red round thingy under the rear view mirror. It houses the blinking light for the alarm and if you don't have an autodimming mirror, twist it and it flips the mirror for night driving polarity.

And if you squeeze it, it makes a honking noise..:lmao: j/k!

The clown nose is slang for the red light that is under the mirror. Even if you don't have an alarm your dealer should be able to program it so that it blinks when you lock the car. If it isn't blinking people know that you don't have an alarm on.

Gotcha, i knew what it was, just didnt know what it was used for.

I may be wrong here but...
I don't think the clown nose blinks without an alarm. :dunno:
If it does blink, I can see why BMW resists in doing it. There may be a liability issue here. Otherwise, why lie over something so trivial? Try asking them to change some options in your key and see if they refuse that. They are making $80 an hour for a simple request, aren't they?

You want them to program it so that the corner lights will signal when you activate the locks.

chewyb said:

The clown nose is slang for the red light that is under the mirror. Even if you don't have an alarm your dealer should be able to program it so that it blinks when you lock the car. If it isn't blinking people know that you don't have an alarm on.

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Try Bimmers-R-Us down on S. Kingshighway. The owner, Greg Stroud, is a real nice guy and seems eager to please. He might be able to do it.

chewyb said:

Has anyone here had their clown nose on the mirror activated w/o alarm in the St. Louis area? I went to autohaus today and they told me that it was impossible to do this unless I had the alarm. I know this is b.s. I even handed them the printout from this forums instructions on how to do it. This is super annoying to me. I don't mind if they tell me that they won't do it. What I do mind is them telling me that it is impossible to do it at all. Lies all lies I hate when people don't deal with you straight forward. I hope that any real concerns in the future are not dealt with in this same manner. So if anyone from St. Louis has had better luck with the clown nose I would love to know where you went.
Thanks

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My saleman programmed mine without me even having to ask him:thumb:

(I had the instructions with me, and was going to ask them do it, but they did it anyway :thumb: )