-
Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
BMW e90 AW LCI
- Thread starter Riaad
- Start date
Riaad
Events Organiser
BeemerFanatic said:
Thanks bro...last detail was in December (due for another mild detail soon), there is a pic in this thread...
Riaad said:Had the car detailed at Supertech (3rd time I have used them, pretty happy with the workmanship especially once you consider the price and convenience of the service). After a wash, clay, polish and wax...this is the outcomeraise:
Reflection is always good...
SubLoaded said:Looking good bro
Time to drop her now :tiptoe:
haha must resist the temptation:tiptoe:
Kameelzn14
Member
Very nice wright up, your car is super clean
Riaad
Events Organiser
Wow, what happen to 2018:slow:...I guess with all that 330i searching I did...there was not any time to update this thread:bangdesk:
As previously mentioned, my current place of employment has a non splitter friendly ramp which enters the basement parking...I could not stand letting the car bake in the sun after the whole badge flying away situation:rage: So I made my own arrangements and decided I will park in the tenants parking:idea:
So I now have a nice 'private' parking area that's undercover:smilebounce:
Moving on to April 2018...after suddenly coming to a realisation that I had not changed the air filter at my last service:faill:...I immediately fitted an oem filter and whilst I was busy...changed out the pollen filter.
Skipping forward to the fun stuff (May 2018)...Finally pulled the trigger on the MTX TX.6 BMW kit:smilebounce: Since I had a sub previously installed..I already had the required accessories (oem tweeter sails, wiring, line out converters,etc), however, the Alpine pmx-f640 amp decided to burn out...I had no option but to source another amp, but this time around, I wanted to keep the install oem, So I searched for an amp that fits the stock location in the e90 which meant I also had to source the slim trim piece to cover said area. The JBL GX-A604 met the fitment and budget requirements:thumbs:
Did a test fit, stuck some velcro tape just to keep the amp in place...with everything wired up...its pretty snug, I also stuck some sound deadening to reduce any vibrations from driving...
Quick Review of the MTX kit
Items:
1). MTX TX.6 BMW
2). JBL GX-A604
3). PAC PDLC21 Powered Line out converter
4). Kicker CK8 wiring kit
5). STP sound deadening
The speakers are of a good build quality and are extremely lightweight thanks to Neodimium magnets (I suppose). From what I gathered, they are not "plug and play", yes the speakers fit the stock locations with no hassles, but the underseat sub connectors have to be cut...well, unless you run a whole new set of cabling.
The JBL amp offers good sound quality as one would expect, thus far, I have had zero issues with the amp, heat management is good (in fact, its way better than the Alpine amp mentioned above..even though it is in a rather tight space). After running in the underseat subs, they can definitely handle more power than the JBL amp can dish out, also, the GX-A604 does not have an adjustable crossover for the front channels...so I am stuck with the basic crossover points.
The PAC lineout works great, it has signal sensing so turns on when the radio powers up and has a gain adjustment so the volume of the radio matches that of the amplifier which is great cause my rear speakers are powered off the radio.
Not much to say about the Kicker wiring kit...other than its quality, you can feel the weight of the cables compared to the cheaper autostyle kits.
The sound deadening...well I did not want to regret not adding this, used 3 sheets in total...front doors, underseat sub enclosures, and abit around the amplifier...I must say, it does make a difference, the cabin is quieter ...You notice the difference a lot when the tunes are bumping (for lack of a better word) and you close a window and its almost total noise isolation. Also, even though the sound inside the car is way louder than the stock system..its quiet soft if you stand outside and the doors are shut.
Overall Review
The kit sounds great...you can not compare it to the base sound, highs are not too harsh and the bass is good, in my opinion...its a balanced sound experience, In terms of bass performance, I would say its slightly better than the logic 7 underseat subs:fencelook: . The system does lack the bass provided by a proper sub, personally, I think its more than sufficient:=):
For the money, I do think you can get better quality speakers, which will require some custom fabrications and a much better amp...therefore resulting in a higher budget, if you are just tired of the dismal base sound ...then I can highly recommend this kit.
Moving on...during the course of the year...
Attended a few events...
I had a new battery installed, my rear Pilot Sport 2s had zero life remaining and after many phone calls...I had to settle for Pilot Sport 3 rfts. Had them fitted at total wheel rebuild (other tyre shops dent my wheels whilst struggling to remove the rtfs)...even thought the guys at TWR were very careful...by masking the rims before prying the old tyres off...I did end up with two minor chips...which they repaired no questions asked:thumbs:
Had an alignment and camber adjustment at BMW afterwards and whilst the oil service special was on...I took advantage of it. There was also the blower motor wiring recall that was carried out on the car at the time.
Oh, also got first place in my class at dyno night:woot:
I hit some mileage milestones :smilebounce:
And I ended the year off with another South Coast trip:mah-(chilling):
And that brings us to 2019:hammerhead:
Front Brake pads were on the way out, I replaced them with Textar pads also changed the sensor...What was weird, I was able to reset the service indicator before changing the sensor this time:thinker:
Something that has always annoyed me are the infamous e90 melted handles, which started melting like 3 years back...Generally I dont carry passengers and my SO is aware of the handle situation...I never got down to replacing them cause there isnt a handle on the drivers door (and after checking the cost at the stealers:skit, but on the rare occasion I had to take a passenger...It has always been rather embarrassing, and because its human nature to reach for the handle, telling them not to touch never worked:dunnoanymore:
So after the revised (does not require the handles to be plastic welded) replacement kit became available online...I took a chance and ordered a full set...it took a rather long to arrive from China...and I finally made some time today to fit them:smilebounce:
Looks oem, and feels good...no more stickiness :bravo: I will put together a separate thread with links to the items and installation process:thumbs:
And look what was also in the shipment:fencelook:
Still to be fitted:hammerhead:
Lastly, the new garage mate:smilebounce:
Another long post as usual...Happy Scrolling:chef:
As previously mentioned, my current place of employment has a non splitter friendly ramp which enters the basement parking...I could not stand letting the car bake in the sun after the whole badge flying away situation:rage: So I made my own arrangements and decided I will park in the tenants parking:idea:
So I now have a nice 'private' parking area that's undercover:smilebounce:
Moving on to April 2018...after suddenly coming to a realisation that I had not changed the air filter at my last service:faill:...I immediately fitted an oem filter and whilst I was busy...changed out the pollen filter.
Skipping forward to the fun stuff (May 2018)...Finally pulled the trigger on the MTX TX.6 BMW kit:smilebounce: Since I had a sub previously installed..I already had the required accessories (oem tweeter sails, wiring, line out converters,etc), however, the Alpine pmx-f640 amp decided to burn out...I had no option but to source another amp, but this time around, I wanted to keep the install oem, So I searched for an amp that fits the stock location in the e90 which meant I also had to source the slim trim piece to cover said area. The JBL GX-A604 met the fitment and budget requirements:thumbs:
Did a test fit, stuck some velcro tape just to keep the amp in place...with everything wired up...its pretty snug, I also stuck some sound deadening to reduce any vibrations from driving...
Quick Review of the MTX kit
Items:
1). MTX TX.6 BMW
2). JBL GX-A604
3). PAC PDLC21 Powered Line out converter
4). Kicker CK8 wiring kit
5). STP sound deadening
The speakers are of a good build quality and are extremely lightweight thanks to Neodimium magnets (I suppose). From what I gathered, they are not "plug and play", yes the speakers fit the stock locations with no hassles, but the underseat sub connectors have to be cut...well, unless you run a whole new set of cabling.
The JBL amp offers good sound quality as one would expect, thus far, I have had zero issues with the amp, heat management is good (in fact, its way better than the Alpine amp mentioned above..even though it is in a rather tight space). After running in the underseat subs, they can definitely handle more power than the JBL amp can dish out, also, the GX-A604 does not have an adjustable crossover for the front channels...so I am stuck with the basic crossover points.
The PAC lineout works great, it has signal sensing so turns on when the radio powers up and has a gain adjustment so the volume of the radio matches that of the amplifier which is great cause my rear speakers are powered off the radio.
Not much to say about the Kicker wiring kit...other than its quality, you can feel the weight of the cables compared to the cheaper autostyle kits.
The sound deadening...well I did not want to regret not adding this, used 3 sheets in total...front doors, underseat sub enclosures, and abit around the amplifier...I must say, it does make a difference, the cabin is quieter ...You notice the difference a lot when the tunes are bumping (for lack of a better word) and you close a window and its almost total noise isolation. Also, even though the sound inside the car is way louder than the stock system..its quiet soft if you stand outside and the doors are shut.
Overall Review
The kit sounds great...you can not compare it to the base sound, highs are not too harsh and the bass is good, in my opinion...its a balanced sound experience, In terms of bass performance, I would say its slightly better than the logic 7 underseat subs:fencelook: . The system does lack the bass provided by a proper sub, personally, I think its more than sufficient:=):
For the money, I do think you can get better quality speakers, which will require some custom fabrications and a much better amp...therefore resulting in a higher budget, if you are just tired of the dismal base sound ...then I can highly recommend this kit.
Moving on...during the course of the year...
Attended a few events...
I had a new battery installed, my rear Pilot Sport 2s had zero life remaining and after many phone calls...I had to settle for Pilot Sport 3 rfts. Had them fitted at total wheel rebuild (other tyre shops dent my wheels whilst struggling to remove the rtfs)...even thought the guys at TWR were very careful...by masking the rims before prying the old tyres off...I did end up with two minor chips...which they repaired no questions asked:thumbs:
Had an alignment and camber adjustment at BMW afterwards and whilst the oil service special was on...I took advantage of it. There was also the blower motor wiring recall that was carried out on the car at the time.
Oh, also got first place in my class at dyno night:woot:
I hit some mileage milestones :smilebounce:
And I ended the year off with another South Coast trip:mah-(chilling):
And that brings us to 2019:hammerhead:
Front Brake pads were on the way out, I replaced them with Textar pads also changed the sensor...What was weird, I was able to reset the service indicator before changing the sensor this time:thinker:
Something that has always annoyed me are the infamous e90 melted handles, which started melting like 3 years back...Generally I dont carry passengers and my SO is aware of the handle situation...I never got down to replacing them cause there isnt a handle on the drivers door (and after checking the cost at the stealers:skit
, but on the rare occasion I had to take a passenger...It has always been rather embarrassing, and because its human nature to reach for the handle, telling them not to touch never worked:dunnoanymore:So after the revised (does not require the handles to be plastic welded) replacement kit became available online...I took a chance and ordered a full set...it took a rather long to arrive from China...and I finally made some time today to fit them:smilebounce:
Looks oem, and feels good...no more stickiness :bravo: I will put together a separate thread with links to the items and installation process:thumbs:
And look what was also in the shipment:fencelook:
Still to be fitted:hammerhead:
Lastly, the new garage mate:smilebounce:
Another long post as usual...Happy Scrolling:chef:
Riaad
Events Organiser
Wow, what happen to 2018:slow:...I guess with all that 330i searching I did...there was not any time to update this thread:bangdesk:
As previously mentioned, my current place of employment has a non splitter friendly ramp which enters the basement parking...I could not stand letting the car bake in the sun after the whole badge flying away situation:rage: So I made my own arrangements and decided I will park in the tenants parking:idea:
So I now have a nice 'private' parking area that's undercover:smilebounce:
Moving on to April 2018...after suddenly coming to a realisation that I had not changed the air filter at my last service:faill:...I immediately fitted an oem filter and whilst I was busy...changed out the pollen filter.
Skipping forward to the fun stuff (May 2018)...Finally pulled the trigger on the MTX TX.6 BMW kit:smilebounce: Since I had a sub previously installed..I already had the required accessories (oem tweeter sails, wiring, line out converters,etc), however, the Alpine pmx-f640 amp decided to burn out...I had no option but to source another amp, but this time around, I wanted to keep the install oem, So I searched for an amp that fits the stock location in the e90 which meant I also had to source the slim trim piece to cover said area. The JBL GX-A604 met the fitment and budget requirements:thumbs:
Did a test fit, stuck some velcro tape just to keep the amp in place...with everything wired up...its pretty snug, I also stuck some sound deadening to reduce any vibrations from driving...
Quick Review of the MTX kit
Items:
1). MTX TX.6 BMW
2). JBL GX-A604
3). PAC PDLC21 Powered Line out converter
4). Kicker CK8 wiring kit
5). STP sound deadening
The speakers are of a good build quality and are extremely lightweight thanks to Neodimium magnets (I suppose). From what I gathered, they are not "plug and play", yes the speakers fit the stock locations with no hassles, but the underseat sub connectors have to be cut...well, unless you run a whole new set of cabling.
The JBL amp offers good sound quality as one would expect, thus far, I have had zero issues with the amp, heat management is good (in fact, its way better than the Alpine amp mentioned above..even though it is in a rather tight space). After running in the underseat subs, they can definitely handle more power than the JBL amp can dish out, also, the GX-A604 does not have an adjustable crossover for the front channels...so I am stuck with the basic crossover points.
The PAC lineout works great, it has signal sensing so turns on when the radio powers up and has a gain adjustment so the volume of the radio matches that of the amplifier which is great cause my rear speakers are powered off the radio.
Not much to say about the Kicker wiring kit...other than its quality, you can feel the weight of the cables compared to the cheaper autostyle kits.
The sound deadening...well I did not want to regret not adding this, used 3 sheets in total...front doors, underseat sub enclosures, and abit around the amplifier...I must say, it does make a difference, the cabin is quieter ...You notice the difference a lot when the tunes are bumping (for lack of a better word) and you close a window and its almost total noise isolation. Also, even though the sound inside the car is way louder than the stock system..its quiet soft if you stand outside and the doors are shut.
Overall Review
The kit sounds great...you can not compare it to the base sound, highs are not too harsh and the bass is good, in my opinion...its a balanced sound experience, In terms of bass performance, I would say its slightly better than the logic 7 underseat subs:fencelook: . The system does lack the bass provided by a proper sub, personally, I think its more than sufficient:=):
For the money, I do think you can get better quality speakers, which will require some custom fabrications and a much better amp...therefore resulting in a higher budget, if you are just tired of the dismal base sound ...then I can highly recommend this kit.
Moving on...during the course of the year...
Attended a few events...
I had a new battery installed, my rear Pilot Sport 2s had zero life remaining and after many phone calls...I had to settle for Pilot Sport 3 rfts. Had them fitted at total wheel rebuild (other tyre shops dent my wheels whilst struggling to remove the rtfs)...even thought the guys at TWR were very careful...by masking the rims before prying the old tyres off...I did end up with two minor chips...which they repaired no questions asked:thumbs:
Had an alignment and camber adjustment at BMW afterwards and whilst the oil service special was on...I took advantage of it. There was also the blower motor wiring recall that was carried out on the car at the time.
Oh, also got first place in my class at dyno night:woot:
I hit some mileage milestones :smilebounce:
And I ended the year off with another South Coast trip:mah-(chilling):
And that brings us to 2019:hammerhead:
Front Brake pads were on the way out, I replaced them with Textar pads also changed the sensor...What was weird, I was able to reset the service indicator before changing the sensor this time:thinker:
Something that has always annoyed me are the infamous e90 melted handles, which started melting like 3 years back...Generally I dont carry passengers and my SO is aware of the handle situation...I never got down to replacing them cause there isnt a handle on the drivers door (and after checking the cost at the stealers:skit, but on the rare occasion I had to take a passenger...It has always been rather embarrassing, and because its human nature to reach for the handle, telling them not to touch never worked:dunnoanymore:
So after the revised (does not require the handles to be plastic welded) replacement kit became available online...I took a chance and ordered a full set...it took a rather long to arrive from China...and I finally made some time today to fit them:smilebounce:
Looks oem, and feels good...no more stickiness :bravo: I will put together a separate thread with links to the items and installation process:thumbs:
And look what was also in the shipment:fencelook:
Still to be fitted:hammerhead:
Lastly, the new garage mate:smilebounce:
Another long post as usual...Happy Scrolling:chef:
As previously mentioned, my current place of employment has a non splitter friendly ramp which enters the basement parking...I could not stand letting the car bake in the sun after the whole badge flying away situation:rage: So I made my own arrangements and decided I will park in the tenants parking:idea:
So I now have a nice 'private' parking area that's undercover:smilebounce:
Moving on to April 2018...after suddenly coming to a realisation that I had not changed the air filter at my last service:faill:...I immediately fitted an oem filter and whilst I was busy...changed out the pollen filter.
Skipping forward to the fun stuff (May 2018)...Finally pulled the trigger on the MTX TX.6 BMW kit:smilebounce: Since I had a sub previously installed..I already had the required accessories (oem tweeter sails, wiring, line out converters,etc), however, the Alpine pmx-f640 amp decided to burn out...I had no option but to source another amp, but this time around, I wanted to keep the install oem, So I searched for an amp that fits the stock location in the e90 which meant I also had to source the slim trim piece to cover said area. The JBL GX-A604 met the fitment and budget requirements:thumbs:
Did a test fit, stuck some velcro tape just to keep the amp in place...with everything wired up...its pretty snug, I also stuck some sound deadening to reduce any vibrations from driving...
Quick Review of the MTX kit
Items:
1). MTX TX.6 BMW
2). JBL GX-A604
3). PAC PDLC21 Powered Line out converter
4). Kicker CK8 wiring kit
5). STP sound deadening
The speakers are of a good build quality and are extremely lightweight thanks to Neodimium magnets (I suppose). From what I gathered, they are not "plug and play", yes the speakers fit the stock locations with no hassles, but the underseat sub connectors have to be cut...well, unless you run a whole new set of cabling.
The JBL amp offers good sound quality as one would expect, thus far, I have had zero issues with the amp, heat management is good (in fact, its way better than the Alpine amp mentioned above..even though it is in a rather tight space). After running in the underseat subs, they can definitely handle more power than the JBL amp can dish out, also, the GX-A604 does not have an adjustable crossover for the front channels...so I am stuck with the basic crossover points.
The PAC lineout works great, it has signal sensing so turns on when the radio powers up and has a gain adjustment so the volume of the radio matches that of the amplifier which is great cause my rear speakers are powered off the radio.
Not much to say about the Kicker wiring kit...other than its quality, you can feel the weight of the cables compared to the cheaper autostyle kits.
The sound deadening...well I did not want to regret not adding this, used 3 sheets in total...front doors, underseat sub enclosures, and abit around the amplifier...I must say, it does make a difference, the cabin is quieter ...You notice the difference a lot when the tunes are bumping (for lack of a better word) and you close a window and its almost total noise isolation. Also, even though the sound inside the car is way louder than the stock system..its quiet soft if you stand outside and the doors are shut.
Overall Review
The kit sounds great...you can not compare it to the base sound, highs are not too harsh and the bass is good, in my opinion...its a balanced sound experience, In terms of bass performance, I would say its slightly better than the logic 7 underseat subs:fencelook: . The system does lack the bass provided by a proper sub, personally, I think its more than sufficient:=):
For the money, I do think you can get better quality speakers, which will require some custom fabrications and a much better amp...therefore resulting in a higher budget, if you are just tired of the dismal base sound ...then I can highly recommend this kit.
Moving on...during the course of the year...
Attended a few events...
I had a new battery installed, my rear Pilot Sport 2s had zero life remaining and after many phone calls...I had to settle for Pilot Sport 3 rfts. Had them fitted at total wheel rebuild (other tyre shops dent my wheels whilst struggling to remove the rtfs)...even thought the guys at TWR were very careful...by masking the rims before prying the old tyres off...I did end up with two minor chips...which they repaired no questions asked:thumbs:
Had an alignment and camber adjustment at BMW afterwards and whilst the oil service special was on...I took advantage of it. There was also the blower motor wiring recall that was carried out on the car at the time.
Oh, also got first place in my class at dyno night:woot:
I hit some mileage milestones :smilebounce:
And I ended the year off with another South Coast trip:mah-(chilling):
And that brings us to 2019:hammerhead:
Front Brake pads were on the way out, I replaced them with Textar pads also changed the sensor...What was weird, I was able to reset the service indicator before changing the sensor this time:thinker:
Something that has always annoyed me are the infamous e90 melted handles, which started melting like 3 years back...Generally I dont carry passengers and my SO is aware of the handle situation...I never got down to replacing them cause there isnt a handle on the drivers door (and after checking the cost at the stealers:skit
, but on the rare occasion I had to take a passenger...It has always been rather embarrassing, and because its human nature to reach for the handle, telling them not to touch never worked:dunnoanymore:So after the revised (does not require the handles to be plastic welded) replacement kit became available online...I took a chance and ordered a full set...it took a rather long to arrive from China...and I finally made some time today to fit them:smilebounce:
Looks oem, and feels good...no more stickiness :bravo: I will put together a separate thread with links to the items and installation process:thumbs:
And look what was also in the shipment:fencelook:
Still to be fitted:hammerhead:
Lastly, the new garage mate:smilebounce:
Another long post as usual...Happy Scrolling:chef:
Nice write up bro.
Heard the sound in this car. Sounds great (esp when compared to the base Vivo sound that BMW and VW teamed up to give usmgwaiting: )
Better than logic 7? I don't think so. That's pretty much the only thing I miss from my E90; but it was definetly worth the price seeing that u don't have ski-pass.
On the door handle side - I wonder why BMW didn't use the E92 handles in the LCI sedan (at least). Those didn't ever have any issues... Questions that won't be answered...
And as for that E46. No comment. That car is basically a meme to the entire forum :biglol:
Heard the sound in this car. Sounds great (esp when compared to the base Vivo sound that BMW and VW teamed up to give us
mgwaiting: )Better than logic 7? I don't think so. That's pretty much the only thing I miss from my E90; but it was definetly worth the price seeing that u don't have ski-pass.
On the door handle side - I wonder why BMW didn't use the E92 handles in the LCI sedan (at least). Those didn't ever have any issues... Questions that won't be answered...
And as for that E46. No comment. That car is basically a meme to the entire forum :biglol:
Dirtydeedsman
Active member
SubLoaded said:Nice write up bro.
Heard the sound in this car. Sounds great (esp when compared to the base Vivo sound that BMW and VW teamed up to give us
:roflol:
A Big Thanks goes out to KPM_330 for the OEM AW slimline spoiler...perfectly contrasts the car on the whole and complements the gloss black diffuser raise:
All in time to attend the SaBeemer Breakfast Run...
And lastly, used the car to the South Coast for the Christmas Weekend...
2017 was a good year in terms of visual mods, overall reliability has been good and just yesterday I hit 80k kms...hopefully 2018 goes well:tiptoe:
once again, hope you guys enjoyed the scroll :ty:
[/quote]
Please organise the OEM AW slimline spoiler for me gents, looks Tops :bravo:
raise:
All in time to attend the SaBeemer Breakfast Run...
And lastly, used the car to the South Coast for the Christmas Weekend...
2017 was a good year in terms of visual mods, overall reliability has been good and just yesterday I hit 80k kms...hopefully 2018 goes well:tiptoe:
once again, hope you guys enjoyed the scroll :ty:
[/quote]
Please organise the OEM AW slimline spoiler for me gents, looks Tops :bravo:
Riaad
Events Organiser
:biglol: @lavishkid thanks for the thread bump, will keep an eye out for one... OEM is difficult to source though:thumbs:
Kameelzn14
Member
Mind if I ask what globes you used in the fogs, is it halogen bulbs that give off a white look or are they led bulbs. I'm also looking at changing mine but not sure weather to go led or a decent halogen bulb. Seen some led bulbs that flicker a few times on start up and I wasnt a fan of that.
Kameelzn14
Member
Riaad said:
Thanks for the info, will be looking into it for the new year
///M Individual
Well-known member
Car looks very nice bud.
Need to hear it at the next event....also considered the Mtx kit.
Need to hear it at the next event....also considered the Mtx kit.
Riaad
Events Organiser
Been awhile since I last updated this thread, unsurprisingly...there isnt much to update...
Ticked over 100k kms at the end of 2019.
And with this milestone, came a full service.
next up, "installed" a gloss black start button trim...subtle, but definitely brings out the look of the Red Start button :thumbs:
Thats about it :fencelook: , she has been as reliable as ever, and I do my part with regular washes, treating the interior and protecting the paint... Currently she has 102k kms, and sits with a trickle charger for the locked down, I try to go for a drive every now and then...just to keep things flowing.
on to some lockdown cleaning pics...
:chef:
Ticked over 100k kms at the end of 2019.
And with this milestone, came a full service.
next up, "installed" a gloss black start button trim...subtle, but definitely brings out the look of the Red Start button :thumbs:
Thats about it :fencelook: , she has been as reliable as ever, and I do my part with regular washes, treating the interior and protecting the paint... Currently she has 102k kms, and sits with a trickle charger for the locked down, I try to go for a drive every now and then...just to keep things flowing.
on to some lockdown cleaning pics...
:chef:
