[bismarck]

Hi guys,

So I just bought a 645ci late 2004, and found this forum really handy for reading up on stuff before hand so thought I'd join following the purchase. I got a bit of a bargain on the car since there were a few small issues (pdc not working and number(license) plate light warning on dash) but having found what I think are probable solutions to the issues on this forum I intend to go about DIYing it back to full health.

Main point: being a new BMW owner (only had Audis before) I was wondering what mods/upgrades/changes people would recommend for my car. As you'll be able to see from the pictures the previous owner was a bit of a chav(*******) and decided to black out everything on the car. I think the wheels look really good in the anthracite-ish coulour against the black, and I like the tints and blackout grille, but not a fan of the smoked rear lights. Anyway, let me know what you think is worth considering (in all aspects - interior, exterior, entertainment etc)

All the best

 

[petriej]

Looks good! Steering wheel is on the wrong side, though. Might be expensive to fix. :rofl:

 

[Yorgi]

Congrats on the new car, it looks awesome.

Hopefully the lenses are just a window tint film, which will peel off. Love the colour of the wheels.

For mods what were you thinking of? Looks? Performance? Sound? You can add lowing springs, removing the resonators will add a little more sound to the exhaust note (there are 3 canisters in front of the exhaust). Your wheels are great but 20" or 21s will look even better. An intake will make the car sound a lot more aggressive. Many guys like to do lighting upgrades (LED interior bulbs, halo upgrades, fog and HID bulb upgrades) A few people have upgraded the speakers too.

 

[tampamark]

Great car, welcome and congrats! I am with you on the smoked lenses, not my cup of tea either.

Many have upgraded to Carbon Fiber inside trim to replace the wood trim, genuine M6 real CF is expensive, but there are threads about wrapping them which look pretty nice. Not my style but I can appreciate that...

If you have $2500 or more to spend you can upgrade the Idrive to the new CIC based system which features much better graphics, navigation via a hard drive instead of a DVD disc. Search CIC Upgrade and you will see a ton of info on that.

For speakers many (me included) have upgraded the door pillar tweeters since the stock ones are very harsh, really improves the sound. Search for Polk Tweeters and you will see the threads about that. Also, upgrading the center channel speaker if you have the Logic 7 stereo is easy, search Focal Center and you will see that info.

In the DIY subsection above you will find a subwoofer upgrade by 30yrveteran, very nicely done and not terribly difficult.

Performance gains are negligible after spending a ton of money, so I will tell you that there are not any options that will add a bunch of HP. I know the Audi S5 can be chipped and add ~80 hp, not gonna happen in this car.

For body upgrades some put on a CF front bumper bottom lip, from cheap ebay ones to name brand, search bumper lip and you should see them. Also, there are a variety of rear deck spoilers, very few of them do I like since the rear trunk is already overly prominent, it is like J-Lo putting pads in the back of her pants, just too much of a good thing.

Oh yeah, most of us ditch the Ellipsoid rims that are stock.

I am tired of typing, someone else fill in the rest!

 

[castercorey]

Congrats homie! You are going to love it!

 

[pablo645]

Congrats on the new car bismarck. Car looks really sharp. :thumbup: I agree with all that was suggested here by the members. Remember, the 6 is a grand touring coupe and even though it do have some performance attributes, it's not built for total performance. The 6 is a unique car, whicjh is one of the reason we buy it. If I wanted the performance, I would have looked to the ///M line for that. This is a car where you just enjoy the looks and the ride. Plus if you go too fast, who is going to see you in it? . Enjoy the ride and happy motoring.

 

[ECSTuning]

Congrats on the big 6! I've always loved the coupe.

If the tint on the tails isn't just a film it can most likely be sanded off by a paint shop. That'll be a lot more difficult than pealing it off but a ton cheaper than stock replacements.

 

[bismarck]

Firstly just like to say thanks for the great response from everyone, I'm really pleased with the car so far, enjoying the sound of the V8 and all the luxury perks.

Light tints - they don't seem like a film but will inspect closer tomorrow when I get a chance
Performance - from the brief research I've done on the subject it doesn't seem like much would be worthwhile and tbh it's well quick enough for me as it is
Wheels - I quite like how the stock rims look atm, I can imagine I'll get bored in a while so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it
Interior - quite fancy upgrading the dash trim, will have a search around for carbon upgrades, don't fancy a DIY job on them (made that mistake before) but maybe some professional wrap or something along those lines will be good enough
Ride - feels really comfortable at the moment and sits pretty low so won't be changing that in the near future

As cashflow isn't totally abundant right now I'll probably be looking for the lower value kind of things. List I've got so far is:
-Replace PDC sensor
-Remove rear light tints
-Update nav software (hopefully the cheap way)
-Fit new dash trim
-Fit halo headlight upgrades

Any advice on these?

 

[bismarck]

Quick update - discovered that the rear lights don't have a film they appear to have been sprayed so I'll see if I can gently removed the spray without scratching the light but if not try and get some stock ones and pop these on the bay.

 

[ECSTuning]

A good paint and body shop should be able to cut the sprayed on tint off them. The lights might need to be cleared after sanding to bring back the nice clean gloss look.

 

[Mulchman]

Firstly just like to say thanks for the great response from everyone, I'm really pleased with the car so far, enjoying the sound of the V8 and all the luxury perks.

Light tints - they don't seem like a film but will inspect closer tomorrow when I get a chance
Performance - from the brief research I've done on the subject it doesn't seem like much would be worthwhile and tbh it's well quick enough for me as it is
Wheels - I quite like how the stock rims look atm, I can imagine I'll get bored in a while so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it
Interior - quite fancy upgrading the dash trim, will have a search around for carbon upgrades, don't fancy a DIY job on them (made that mistake before) but maybe some professional wrap or something along those lines will be good enough
Ride - feels really comfortable at the moment and sits pretty low so won't be changing that in the near future

As cashflow isn't totally abundant right now I'll probably be looking for the lower value kind of things. List I've got so far is:
-Replace PDC sensor
-Remove rear light tints
-Update nav software (hopefully the cheap way)
-Fit new dash trim
-Fit halo headlight upgrades

Any advice on these?

PDC may be a crimped wire. That's what mine was. Pull the bumper and check it out. I replaced the wire harness for $57 (new BMW part from ECSTuning.com).

NAV disks are on ebay for $30 or $40

Dash trim can be expensive. The carbon fiber stuff is $2k or $3k.

Same with headlight upgrade...Lots of cash :yikes:

 

[MELLOWYELLOW06]

Congrats on the 6

 

[bismarck]

A good paint and body shop should be able to cut the sprayed on tint off them. The lights might need to be cleared after sanding to bring back the nice clean gloss look.

Nice I know a really good place locally, may take it down there and get them on it.

 

[bismarck]

PDC may be a crimped wire. That's what mine was. Pull the bumper and check it out. I replaced the wire harness for $57 (new BMW part from ECSTuning.com).

NAV disks are on ebay for $30 or $40

Dash trim can be expensive. The carbon fiber stuff is $2k or $3k.

Same with headlight upgrade...Lots of cash :yikes:

Ok thanks for the advice I'll fiddle around with the PDC and see what I can work out
I don't think I'll be forking out that kind of cash on the genuine trim or the lights. I'll be having a browse for quotes on professional wrapping. Having never really looked at the headlights I just popped outside and the stock Bi-Xenons and halos look pretty decent so don't feel the need to be messing around with those yet. Nav disk it is!

 

[tampamark]

Is your PDC working but giving you an error on the Idrive? If the system is operational it could be a bad sensor...Mulchman gave you the option with the wire.

First thing you want to do is determine if any of them have gone out. It is not uncommon to have one fail, if it does then the system gives you a PDC Failure error.

Get the car in the open away from any objects, activate the PDC by pressing the button above the gear shifter. These are Ultrasound Proximity sensors, you will need to check every one of them by placing your finger or hand in front of them, when you do this you will hear a very faint ticking sound. Plus the system will beep in the car. You know that it is working when you hear that slight ticking, you may need to get pretty close to hear this.

There are four in the front and four in the rear, if one is not working you will need to replace it. The only way to get to these is to remove the bumper, there are instructions on the forum for bumper removal in that instance. The TIS instructions are below for removing the sensor once you have the bumper off. It is rare but I have seen the PDC control unit go out, it is in the trunk and got water damage (PDC Malfunction - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums)

BMW TIS - 66 20 520 Removing and installing/replacing an ultrasonic transducer at front (Park Distance Control)
BMW TIS - 66 20 540 Removing and installing/replacing a rear ultrasonic transducer (Park Distance Control)

If you do determine that this is the culprit the sensors the 6 guys have had good luck buying them from an ebay seller:

Ebay Listing: BMW Ultrasonic Front Bumper Sensor # 66200306567 | eBay

PDC control parts: http://parts.bmwofsouthatlanta.com/p...209145158.html

 

[bismarck]

Is your PDC working but giving you an error on the Idrive? If the system is operational it could be a bad sensor...Mulchman gave you the option with the wire.

First thing you want to do is determine if any of them have gone out. It is not uncommon to have one fail, if it does then the system gives you a PDC Failure error.

Get the car in the open away from any objects, activate the PDC by pressing the button above the gear shifter. These are Ultrasound Proximity sensors, you will need to check every one of them by placing your finger or hand in front of them, when you do this you will hear a very faint ticking sound. Plus the system will beep in the car. You know that it is working when you hear that slight ticking, you may need to get pretty close to hear this.

There are four in the front and four in the rear, if one is not working you will need to replace it. The only way to get to these is to remove the bumper, there are instructions on the forum for bumper removal in that instance. The TIS instructions are below for removing the sensor once you have the bumper off. It is rare but I have seen the PDC control unit go out, it is in the trunk and got water damage (PDC Malfunction - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums)

BMW TIS - 66 20 520 Removing and installing/replacing an ultrasonic transducer at front (Park Distance Control)
BMW TIS - 66 20 540 Removing and installing/replacing a rear ultrasonic transducer (Park Distance Control)

If you do determine that this is the culprit the sensors the 6 guys have had good luck buying them from an ebay seller:

Ebay Listing: BMW Ultrasonic Front Bumper Sensor # 66200306567 | eBay

PDC control parts: http://parts.bmwofsouthatlanta.com/p...209145158.html

Thanks Mark,

Yea I had read up on possible issues before I bought the car and checked for the clicking and found that one of the sensors wasn't doing it so kind of gambled on it just being a dodgy one of those. I get the PDC failure message so I'll try and change the sensor or, from what Mulchman advised, check for a crimped wire. I read something Yorgi had written in another post that the front bumper shouldn't need to be taken off to replace one of the front sensors and the one that doesn't make the clicking sound is at the front so hopefully I can just pop the grill off and fiddle around. Cheers for the advice

 

[tampamark]

Should be able to switch the sensors around and see if it follows the sensor. If the problem persists at the same location after switch then problem is wire...or something else.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Bimmer App

 

[HerbP]

I don't think that you can get to the 2 center sensors without dropping the bumper. The bumper is quite easy to get off. You can remove all the bolts, pull it forward & rest it on something. You can then troubleshoot the sensors. Be careful with the sensors while removing the wire clips. They can get brittle with age. The harness connector for the sensors will be on the passenger side of the front bumper. My system got damaged while repainting the front cover. I could not find the problem by moving the sensors around, or ohming out the wires. I finally got tired of trying to repair the system. I suspect I have a broken wire, I just can't find it! It's not really that important to me at this time.

Good Luck!

 

[645hamannkit]

I own a 2004 645ci, and i have a PDC malfunction.. and none of then work. And also i have mods so if u need advice or anythin txt me 914 330 3106

 

[bismarck]

Should be able to switch the sensors around and see if it follows the sensor. If the problem persists at the same location after switch then problem is wire...or something else.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Bimmer App

Great idea, it's the kind of logical step I always manage to skip out!