Taking a dookie on this sub again.

Hey gang!

I’m trying to make my interior feel bespoke, individual, unique, and luxurious. When I first got this car, I had a specific vision:

-B/W houndstooth seat centers
-black headliner and pillars
-aluminum pedals (this photo was taken before I installed them. I do currently have aluminum pedals and an M Performance dead pedal)
-satin carbon fiber trim (wrapped in 3M by yours truly)
-re-wrapping the steering wheel with bumps at the 10 and 2 o’clock position, smooth leather at 12 and 6, perforated at 9 and 3, and black stitching. Retain the black and chrome trim
-brushed aluminum F-style shifter
-aluminum iDrive controls
-aluminum window switches

But I kind of realized that, everyone sort of does this. I’m considering taking a new direction. I want to lean into a refined luxurious style and step away from a sportier one. I stopped looking at my car as an M3 competitor, and started looking at it as a luxurious grand tourer with ridiculous straight line speed, and want to try to encapsulate that experience and feeling.

My new concept is a lot of the same stuff that I wanted/already did, but:
-satin black center console
-black oak grain dash and door trim (vinyl wrap)
-BMW Individual steering wheel with ring and badge

Yes the second photo is AI, I just don’t want to spend tens of hours and thousands of dollars doing it only to realize I don’t like it, but I do find the rendering incredibly helpful. Just wanted to get some opinions from the community! What do you guys think? Beautiful? Tacky? Perfect? Lacking? What can be improved?

Thanks ahead!

So I’m getting multiple symbols on dash and idrive. Red car on a lift with message saying brake pads are worn, shoes front and rear in the status page of idrive. Both came on at the exact same time last week. Also a constant red “brake” on the dash, like you would see with the parking brake on.

Anyways, I ordered a new set of Hawk pads and was taking the old pads off the front left (where front sensor is), and low and behold the pads still have tons of life left (8-9mm at least). Sensor in the front looks in good condition too, not worn down or damaged. Also checked brake fluid reservoir and it’s at the max.

Brakes, rotors, and fluid were all replaced 20k miles ago.

I’m just stumped as to why I’m getting all these indications. Any ideas on troubleshooting?

I have replaced the AMP and the head unit and can’t for the life of me figure out what the issue is or find any videos… hopefully someone on here has an answer. The fiber optic works to the new amp but after the amp seems to be not working. Is that a problem? Also not sure if the part that the fibre optic connects to after the amp is important or not?

334, Anyone knows how to put on the DSC again?

Yesterday I broke my abs sensor harness ? I took one from the scrapyard but seems it didnt work (no signal from the abs sensor). Is doing splices for abs sensor bad ? Do i need to replace the whole cable or they generally work and i did it badly. I ordered a whole new sensor with a harness and willing to do a splice again but is it worth it

The good old coin test after 188TKM

Title says it all, should I go lower? I’d like to drop another inch so it’ll tuck the same as the rear, but my front coilovers are maxed. Car is xdrive, on ECS coilovers and on 18s, so if anyone has recommendations please lmk.

3rd bmw i’ve had and by far the cheapest i’ve bought got this bad girl for 1200 running and driving 07 328i zf6 180k miles

Anyone heard that sound before? And can enlighten me. Could it be the alternator going bad? A pulley? They seem alright and tight. Hard to tell 100% but the sound seems to come out oil filter casing. With my stethoscope on oil filter case it very loud..

I just changed my window regulator on my rear driver door and the headlight on my car. After it worked perfect and then about an hour later after driving it around the locks no longer lock or unlock with the key, the key fob isn’t dead because the lights to show it’s locked or unlocked still turn on and off it’s literally just the locks on EVERY door no longer move with the press of the key even with the lock and unlock all button inside the car it doesn’t work or make anything happen what could cause this?

Hi everyone, I’ve recently had the inner and outer tie rods (seized) replaced on my BMW E92 330i M Sport, followed by a four-wheel alignment. The alignment report shows all readings in the green, but the car still gradually drifts to the left on most roads, including relatively flat, straight roads. It starts going left after about 20MPH but even at lower speeds I have to fight it a little.

To keep the car going straight, I have to hold the steering wheel slightly to the right.

All tyres have 5-6mm tread depth.

Could this still be an alignment issue despite the readings being within spec? I’m wondering whether a discrepancy (40’) between the front left and right camber readings could cause this, even if both are technically within tolerance, or whether I could have a bent suspension component affecting the alignment. The camber pins are still present under the bonnet and seem to have never been touched so I assume they’re in factory position.

Should I take it back to that garage for a recheck or maybe look for another opinion elsewhere? I am in the UK.

Finished result followed by before / after pictures.

The factory headliner on my 2011 335d had started sagging this year, 15 years old. I decided to get it reupholstered.

I removed the headliner and all trim myself. I transported all pieces to a local auto upholstery shop to have them reupholstered. I am very happy with the result, but it's a large amount of work for something that is ultimately non-functional. It took about a month from start to finish, taking my time. The car was not drivable due to the removed front seats, although I could have put them back in to drive it if I needed to.

Also, shout out to this guy's videos. Key resource in removing all of the interior trim without breaking them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgc4WEXd06g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UBf9sDtufw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLt-6ouliz4

Hi guys, I’ve had this 325i for about a month or so now and its had one code for a retarded camshaft (I cleaned the vanos solenoid sensors and it sorted the problem). Suddenly yesterday while doing a little burnout and the car suddenly jolted and everything cut out for less than half a second.

Suddenly after that the engine light came on, it was pretty rough on idle and was driving with VERY reduced power. I was driving it and it feels like it was driving with less than 100hp.

I got my code scanner and it showed there were some manufacturer codes that mine can’t read. I have booked to take it to a garage who know they can scan these

I’m kind of looking for ideas of what it could possibly be before I have to risk driving the car to a garage, feel free to ask questions for more details if theres stuff I’ve missed out on!

Thanks everyone :)

I replaced my valve cover and gasket 6 months ago - things were OK for a few months then got some oil smell. I realized I'm an idiot and completely missed one of the bolts at the back. I torqued that down and it was fine for another 2 or 3 months. Suddenly I'm getting an oil smell again and some smoke that looks like it's from the passenger side (US car - LHD). I was going to replace just the gasket with OEM but then remembered that the Mahle came with a 1 year warranty. If this were you, would you buy an OEM gasket, or would you have the whole cover/gasket replaced? Doing the work myself again, which I'm not looking forward to, but I'll be more careful this time. I had already done the OFHG and that isn't leaking so I'm pretty sure it's the valve cover gasket. I do see some oil often on the metal shields beneath it, but I know those are two-ply and oil gets trapped in them and released when heated up, so tough to say where exactly the leak is but I'm thinking it must be the valve cover (the gasket shows some light weeping in the visible areas

I've noticed a bit of a wobble that can be felt at low speeds mostly when I park in the underground garage. There is no clunk noise or anything like that. I did notice the suspension feeling a bit lighter, but not much. Pushing down the rear end did not give me any signs, no noise and car lifts up normally. I also heard more rolling noise when driving at higher speeds.

Trying to determine if this is a rear suspension issue or maybe just worn tires. Did not put a lot of mileage on these tyres - under 20k kilometres, but the tyres will be 6 years old in 2027. And I also had one of the tyres repaired for a nail like 6 months back.

In the first pic is left side and in the second the right side view.

Would appreciate any opinions.

Hi everyone,

I have a 2011 BMW E92 325i with the N52 engine, currently at approximately 112,640 km (70,000 miles).

I’ve noticed that my engine consistently idles at around 800–850 RPM, even under the following conditions:

Engine fully warmed up
A/C turned on
Transmission in Park or Neutral
Idle is stable, with no noticeable RPM fluctuations
I checked the live data using BimmerLink and confirmed the following:
Actual engine speed: 847 RPM
DME target idle speed: 840 RPM
Engine oil temperature: 101°C
Coolant temperature: 81°C
Battery voltage: 14.34 V
Air mass: 22.19 kg/h
Oil pressure: 1.76 bar

The interesting part is that the engine is following the DME’s requested idle speed almost exactly.

My questions:

Is a target idle speed of 840 RPM normal for a fully warmed-up N52?

What conditions would cause the DME to request a higher idle speed with the A/C off?

Could this be related to battery management, adaptations, or previous coding?

Has anyone experienced this on an E90/E92 with the N52?

I’m not experiencing unstable idle. I’m mainly trying to understand why the DME is requesting 840 RPM instead of approximately 650–700 RPM.

Any insights or suggestions on which parameters to check with ISTA or BimmerLink would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Hey everyone,

Looking at picking up a 2008 E92 325i in Australia. It’s stock, has a good interior, and features an automatic with paddle shifters. Not sure how many Kms currently.

The catch is it’s been sitting parked for a year and its rego expired last month (Sept 2026). Assuming it will need a tow, battery, tyres, brake rotor refresh, and a Victorian Roadworthy (RWC) before hitting the road.

My questions:

1. What is a fair offer for an unregistered, non-running E92 sitting for 12 months in Aus?
2. What specific things should I look out for on a car that has sat outdoors for a year (This is my first car so would like to know as much as possible as to what to look out for)?

Hi all,

Last night I swapped the intake manifold on my N52B25 to one with two DISA's instead of one. To my understanding, this makes it mechanically identical to the N52B25 325i.

When I was researching this swap, the coding aspect of it in forums seemed largely glossed over or made to seem far simpler than it actually is for someone with no prior BMW knowledge.

Is there anyone here that would be able to assist me by walking me through the process as well as where to find the correct data files as well as what edits to make.

I am willing to pay something if anyone can conclusively help me. I chatted to a couple of local BMW coders near me but none were very confidence inspiring

Thanks in advance!

got it saturday, still can’t believe it’s mine.