[Mr. Hankey]

Originally Posted by BroDoze

Great post(s)! Thanks! Got my 2000s waiting for my car!

Smart Man! I should have done this from the get go, I feel like my car forced me to make the right decision, so at least I got smart by 3000 miles!


Just had to shuttle my daughter to and from a party - 1 hour of driving and these are still better than stock. I also learned that I would brake lightly for longer to avoid the screeching and it is going to take me a while to not unconsciously do this as these don’t squeak at all. Nada. Going to have to re-learn how to brake…and that’s not a throwaway comment, it’s legit weird to me that these don’t squeak!

Also if you’re going to install them yourself…the paint can thing mentioned in the video—I used about an 8” talk box and that is needed to hold the caliper and keep it from falling and hanging by the hydraulic line.

[Mr. Hankey]

Initial iSweep 2000 Review

I drove a 400 mile trip yesterday. I am slowly get used to this car not squealing with braking, but it is amazing! Not a peep out of the iSweeps.

Also as a result of something Carefree mentioned in a post I'm getting better at not putting my parking brake on when parked in my flat garage. Years of undoing a habit there, but I'm trying man! It was using the parking brake on a wet rotor after a rainstorm that led to the delaminated rear pad. But that delaminated rear pad led me to the iSweeps...you know what they say...a butterfly farts somewhere around the world and Mr. Hankey buys a set of iSweeps...or something to that effect.

They definitely brake better than the stock pads. On threshold braking they will get ABS to kick in sooner than the stock pads did for sure, but they are very forgiving and easy to modulate and I am already used to them so not worried about accidentally kicking in ABS (and who is threshold braking on the street other than something unexpected jumps out in front or you? I just like to know how they will act in case, and if you haven't done that in your cars, find an empty road and do some full-on emergency stops from 35 - 45 - 55 so you have the memory of where ABS kicks in, when it kicks in back off the brake ever so slightly so it turns off, will save you a few feet of stopping distance over relying on ABS alone - OK off soapbox, sorry).

Dust is brown-colored like the stock pads. If the stock pads are considered "Heavy dusting" I would classify these (iSweep 2000s) as "Low to Moderate dusting" after this trip. Honestly I don't care about dusting, no squealing, great performance. These are great pads, can't believe I didn't do them sooner! No longer cursing BMW every time I come to a stop, I love this car!

Also here's a fun fact that some might not know. The front brake ducts open into the wheel well but there is a plastic cover that BMW puts in there. If you do a track day you should remove these for better airflow....turn your wheel to full left and take out the left one then repeat for the right side. While I had the wheels off I popped these off and took a picture. Also found a couple collected sticks on one side.





As you can see there is some damage to the cover already, presumably from stuff flying off of the tire, as the tire doesn't even come close to rubbing here.

My question for the group is: Why not just leave these open all the time? . I guess a rock could get in there and damage something...but if you have a grill up front over the duct inlets then you could just take these off and leave them open...hmmm....

[TallGibbs]

Mr. Hankey RE: why not keep the brake duct coolers "open" all the time? My assumption/answer is this: the OEM stock pads need to get temperature up to a certain operating window for more optimal performance. Although the pads are "G-G" temperature rated (high coefficient of friction at both cold and warm temps), they will perform better in their desired operation window (and have less squealing).

So, if you leave the cooling duct open all the time, your street braking will have even colder temp pads and unlikely to get the pads into their designed operating window. Whereas at the track, the pads are almost always going to be exceeding their operating temps (depends on track config, of course) so the cooling ducts help to cool the pads back down.

I agree with you that damage protection is a side benefit of keeping the brake cooling duct closed (similar to putting mesh over all the radiators....you trade off protection of the equipment for lowered peak cooling ability).

[TallGibbs]

I should also add, the J866 friction rating on the OEM pad of "G-G" looks at the "normal" and "hot" rating. "Normal Friction Coefficient" is defined as the average of 4 points on the fade curve located at 200F, 250F, 300F and 400F". So, for the bottom end rating on this test, the brakes have to be at least 200F and goes up the 400F before even entering the "hot friction ratings" zone.

This helps provide some context as to why the cooling duct may keep your brake pads too cold on the street use.

[Mr. Hankey]

Originally Posted by TallGibbs

I should also add, the J866 friction rating on the OEM pad of "G-G" looks at the "normal" and "hot" rating. "Normal Friction Coefficient" is defined as the average of 4 points on the fade curve located at 200F, 250F, 300F and 400F". So, for the bottom end rating on this test, the brakes have to be at least 200F and goes up the 400F before even entering the "hot friction ratings" zone.

This helps provide some context as to why the cooling duct may keep your brake pads too cold on the street use.

That is fantastic info TallGibbs! I clearly haven't gone into that level of detail on this, but makes perfect sense, covers will stay on!

[Mr. Hankey]

Door Rattles - SOLVED! - Door locking pins

So I finally got around to this. I've had some seriously annoying door rattles with the M2. Not always reproducible but would be a relatively loud vibrating plastic sound/occasional buzzing on roads that have rougher "texture" lets say. Driver side door is particularly annoying. Pushing EVERYWHERE on the door panel didn't help. If I elbowed the door panel, it would occasionally stop meaning something was loose inside the door panel. Occasionally I'd have a similar rattle from the passengers side, but was more annoyed by the driver's side which seemed close to my ear. Driving the same road day to day it would be vibrating some days and not on others...

Then I figured out what it was - the door lock pin...yes that little plastic nubbin was vibrating in the plastic sleeve that it comes out of. If I unlocked the doors, vibration gone. Put a little pressure on the thing, vibration gone. The Culprit:




So for a mere $73.08, this extremely annoying rattle is fixed, and I must have easily added 3 HP to the car. Solution, these guys:



Meaningless ///M badge-ry? HELL YES. Functional? I am happy report they are not just decorative, but very functional, door rattles have been re///Medied.

I will say with the install the instructions say to pull up OR twist the plastic lock pins counterclockwise...the M2 does not have threaded door locking rods that the lock pin is on, so it doesn't unscrew. Instead it is swedged (I.e. jammed, shoved, forced) on there. Take some pliers and spin few times with mild upward force and they will come off. OHHH - ROLL THE WINDOWS DOWN SO YOU DON'T SCRATCH YOUR TINT OR WORSE BREAK ONE WHILE DOING THIS!

The ///M lock pins are aluminum, so thats nice, and they just slide on (hold your inside door handle open while push-spinning them on), but the key for me is getting them down enough so that when the car is locked the flared part of the thing is up against the plastic sleeve on the door card. In short....no more rattles:

Unlocked:


Locked:


Here are the instructions, I tried the silicone strip and my hands but wasn't strong enough on my own to get the plastic lock pin off, so some pliers over the silicone strip did it:



Finally I figured out why my drivers side lock pin was rattling so much before this. The lock rod that goes from the lock pin to the lock actuator clicks in with a little yellow adapter at the end of the lock rod, mine wasn't clicked in all the way and turns out there was about 1/4 inch of play in my pin when installing things and it would occasionally get too low in the sleeve, allowing it to vibrate. So I popped the door card open in the back to have a look and sure enough had to click the thing into place on the driver's side only...probably why mine was rattling (it would fall in a bit) from time to time unpredictably In any event, problem solved.

I have 1 more annoying rattle coming somewhere from the left of the glovebox. Isn't my screen or anything in the glovebox like others have reported...also intermittent vibration on "more textured" roads. Not worried about that fight today...I'm just happy the lock pin rattle is fixed. Had I just popped the driver locking rod into position (wasn't completely installed from factory) that might have fixed it. But heck, I now have lightweight aluminum ///M locking pins!

At least 3 more HP with the cars energy all directed forward, not into rattly bits!

Thanks for reading, I'm getting a beer. Job. Done.

[Mr. Hankey]

Removing G87 Door Panel



Posting this here because I couldn't find a good resource on how to do this. There are 3 Torx screws needing to be removed. Then it is held on by clips. Use a trim removal tool (a beefy one) and pop some of the clips down low (the panel has notches for this), then use your hands and start from the bottom and pop up the sides. That got me a start at least. It doesn't seem that you need to remove the handle like in other BMWs to get the panel completely off, I just needed to see what was going on with my lock rod and discovered that it wasn't installed completely and was loose, and it popped right in.

[Mr. Hankey]

Winter Tire Setup

tl;dr:
- Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5s 275/35 19 square setup on a square wheel setup (stock 19” rims all around).
- No spacer in the front
- 10 mm spacer in the rear (no rubbing without it, just don't want it too tucked as I'm running a narrower rim and tire than stock)
- MP HAS lowering springs down almost the entire way (1 full turn up)
- No rubbing

Temps are getting down into the 20s here consistently so I switched my summer tires over to my winter setup. Having run both Michelin PS4S and now the Pirelli P-zeros, I find they work OK down to about 27F degrees, then all bets are off. They are both fine to 40 degrees, then below that I really don't push them into turns and leave extra braking distances and have been fine for years driving that way. I also don't like to drive winter tires in temps above 50 degrees much if I can help it, probably doesn't hurt them but prefer to save their traction for the colder temps they are designed for. So we've hit the sweet spot of consistently below 50F and in the teens to 20F degrees in the mornings, time to switch tires.

I love studless tires for winter. I try not to drive in active snow (have a SUV for that) but Nokian makes great performance winter tires. These do fine in 2-3 inches snow, but if you are frequently driving in snowy conditions often then I'd go studded winter. I pretty much drive when things are cold and dry, and if stuck in a snowstorm know I'm OK and these do very well with the patchy areas of ice one would encounter in winter, usually in parking lots.

I am running Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5s 275/35 19 square setup on a square wheel setup (stock 19” rims all around). I have the BMW MP HAS on the car lowered 1 full turn from the bottom (basically all the way down). Nokians are tough to beat in winter conditions.

On my prior M3 I ran the same size tires but on the stock staggered rims, so the rears were stretched, and every 2 years I'd rotate the rear tires to the front rims and the fronts to the back, this way with a square wheel setup I can just rotate them season to season.

I wasn't sure how far tucked in the rear wheel would end up seeing as it is now a 275 on a 9.5" rim so I ordered a set of 10mm and 13mm spacers. I figure that the front tire is on the stock rim with stock offset so that would look the same as stock - and it does. Wasn't sure about the rear.

For winter I'm less concerned about "stance" of the car and prefer the fronts be tucked in so they throw less snow/sand/salt/cinders...etc down the side of the car, but given the narrower rim and tire still didn't want the rear to look "anemic".

I first mounted the fronts with 10 mm and the rears with 13 mm spacers to see how it looked. BAD NEWS: the fronts on the 10 mm spacer rubbed the front liner by 2-3 mm easily. Without the spacer they have 2-3 mm of clearance and don't rub. So no spacer up front and the tires are nicely tucked in, but not too far, the lowering springs help make it look out. On the 10 mm, the lower 1/3 of the tire stuck out from behind the wheel well:

10 mm FRONT - RUBS THE LINER


10 mm FRONT - RUBS THE LINER


13 mm Spacer in the rear did its job but the bottom of the tire stuck out a bit, still tucked but the lower bumper cover is definitely in the splash zone.

13 mm REAR


13 mm REAR


The rubbing of the front tire on the 10 mm spacer was immediate with turning the steering wheel - it wasn't just a "full lock in reverse" rub that some are having, it is in complete contact with the front liner fins, and would take quite a bit of modifying them to make it work, and the tire wasn't as tucked as I would have liked for winter driving.

So I took off the spacers on the front completely, and put the 10 mm spacers on the back - Goldilocks here loves this setup. No rubbing whatsoever, 2-3 mm of gap to the front liner. Car drives great, the 19s in the back feel good, I'm sure its the more compliant sidewalls these winter tires must have over stockers, but makes me consider running a 19" summer tire out back more than I have:

No Spacer Front, 10 mm Spacer Rear


No Spacer Front, 10 mm Spacer Rear


No Spacer Front, 10 mm Spacer Rear


No Spacer Front, 10 mm Spacer Rear


Anyhow I'm good to go. I didn't adjust the spring height. Happy Winter everyone.

[ourlee]

Love your pics and info. Thanks. I’ll probably do the same but with 826s. Cheers

[mdrobc13]

Originally Posted by Kevin_The_Clean1

That IND front painted piece makes the M2 look much nicer IMO.

Agree...did the same for my car also. Zunsfort blue. Makes the front end much more cleaner IMHO.

[Mr. Hankey]

Originally Posted by mdrobc13

Agree...did the same for my car also. Zunsfort blue. Makes the front end much more cleaner IMHO.

It is amazing to me how that simple little add of color completely transforms the front of the car, looks great!

[Mr. Hankey]

Someone in a parking lot decided the M2 needed some remodeling. Needs a new mirror and a door skin. Maybe its more aerodynamic now?

[Mr. Hankey]

Pic from picking her up from the body shop. Someone in a parking lot who doesn't know how to park swiped my driver's door and mirror. Left a pretty big dent. I guess the one good thing I can take away from this is the lock post/rod has an adapter that was broken in mine, likely causing the lock pin rattle in my car. $1.86 part. No rattle anymore as the shop replaced that connector (the M-lock pins pretty much fixed it but needed occasional tightening). They did a great job color matching and blending, I'm really impressed.


Other thing I learned - I don't think I'll ever wrap a car again other than some front impact areas. The bodywork repair including the mirror was $5000. Re-wrapping the front fender, rear quarter panel, and door - $2500. Turns out STEK does not help vs a Ram 1500!

Anyhow she was gone for 2.5 weeks and glad to have her back. Now I REALLY don't care what happens to it. Bodywork on the Carfax, f*ck.

God I love that IND painted center section.

[BroDoze]

Ugh. I hate hearing these stories. Glad you have it back.

[Mr. Hankey]

Originally Posted by BroDoze

Ugh. I hate hearing these stories. Glad you have it back.

Bro - hope you're loving your car!

[Mr. Hankey]

KUDA Phone mount with Pitaka Magnetic Charger
With my 2 prior F80s I have had Kuda phone mounts installed with magnetic attachments. Doesn't use up a cup holder, and if I throw my phone on the passenger seat or in the cupholder for whatever reason, I seem to always forget to take it. Getting old is fun, I'm starting to make up some challenging easter egg hunts for myself .

I'm happy to have cupholders in the M2 but their location is a little cramped. I did get the built in phone charger option in center console and just have to agree with everyone on here what a piece of sh!t...phone shuts down because it overheats and it doesn't really charge, just loses charge a bit slower than it would have.

SOOO..went back to KUDA. There used to be a distributer for them in the USA but they are no more...was able to order one direct from Germany and it was here in 3 days.

It's a fiberglass custom fitted shell with textured vinyl wrap that fits with the car (they also have leather but the vinyl matches well). I mounted a Pitaka Qi MagSafe charger that is VERY secure. I know this isn't for many on here but since I'm in this car pretty much exclusively by myself I don't care. The convenience of the thing is huge for me, as it keeps the cupholders free (not hitting my hand on a mug while shifting), and the phone in a location that is easy to see, easy to grab, and phone charged. I'm very happy with this.

Got the mount, cut a hole to fit the Pitaka magnetic mount and just used the tightener on the ball mount to secure it to the KUDA.

I'm going to route the USB-C cable into the KUDA and out the back of it and into the console...that USB-A port between the cup holders easily charges the phone through the magnetic mount. I am ...

Mounting - you need to use a plastic pryer and pop out the volume module, there is a metal tab on the KUDA that goes onto that opening, then pop the unit back in which traps the tab. There is 1 screw needed in the glovebox side where the hole will never be seen (its way up in there) to secure the outer part of the KUDA. Again I know this solution isn't for most, but for me I am just used to this and this is my DD.

Note: The KUDA doesn't come with any holes in it, the hole there is one I drilled with a step drill bit...

The mount is made for the BMW 3 series, but fits the M2 just fine. Link to order the mount from Germany (again mine showed up in 3 days!): KUDA Phone Mount for BMW 3, since 2019

[Mr. Hankey]

Zunsport Oil Cooler

Had the car up on the lift today. 9 Month check including 1 winter of driving here in New England and the thing is in perfect shape. No nicks or dents, completely stable.

The thing in front of it on the bumper cover is the Sto-n-sho front license plate holder.

[CactusDweller]

Does that Kuda mount attach to a pre-existing hole on the glove box side or is drilling required?

[Mr. Hankey]

Midpipe - ER Resonated

NOTE: Thanks to BMW DIY Guy's great videos. He posted an install video for this particular Midpipe which is excellent: BMW DIY Guy: ER Midpipe Install

For interest, my midpipe weighed 42-1/4 pounds.

Since this is my DD I would like a little more exhaust noise, and hopefully a bit more real noise in the cabin. I like the smooth tone of this car better than my S55/F80, so I don't want to introduce the raspiness or rattles that had. My problem is I have a very low ground clearance and didn't want a lower brace than the stock brace. I like the current tone of the car (although hard to know how much of this is the ASD, I suspect a lot). Midpipe IMO is the way to go to accomplish this. I think unlike the early F80s the rear muffler is pretty smooth on this, so I can replace that later if I find it necessary.

Going with the ER resonated midpipe. It is on the way and should land this week. I'm hoping it adds more volume and hopefully some growl with the H-pipe...I don't care what the car sounds like outside, I want to hear it inside...I know downpipes are likely the answer here, but mid is an easy start, and have another car project taking a lot of resources right now...

Anyhow put her on the lift today and took my midpipe out cut at the middle set of dimples in back. BMW DIY guy has a video for the AA as well as ER midpipe installs, cuts made in the same place for both.

I used a Milwaukee Hackzall with 6" metal "The Torch" blade and it cut like butter. I marked the middle dimples with high-vis automotive tape. With the 6" blade not much risk of hitting the heat shielding. Used a die grinder to smooth off the cuts....

And so now I wait on the midpipe to arrive.

[Mr. Hankey]

Originally Posted by CactusDweller

Does that Kuda mount attach to a pre-existing hole on the glove box side or is drilling required?

On the glovebox side a single screw into the plastic way up top on the inside lip of the glovebox...isn't seen, even if you remove it. It's a self-tapper, no drilling required...getting the metal tab onto the front side is the tricky part...this thing just makes phone placement so convenient, even got one for the wife's X5 and she's in love because she has crap everywhere in every cubby...so at least her phone has a spot...

[Mr. Hankey]

ER Resonated Midpipe

This arrived today. I took off the stock exhaust yesterday - see above. Removing the exhaust took me about 45 minutes. Installing this exhaust took again about 45 minutes.

I've installed a lot of exhausts and this is the highest quality exhaust piece I've ever installed. Materials and welds are perfect. Perfect finish even though it's going on the bottom of the car. Perfect fitment. Quality +++. I would have zero issues buying anything from ER, great job guys!!! I am extremely happy with it.

I weighed my midpipe that came off the car and it was 42.25 pounds and the ER midpipe with clamps was 33.4 pounds. This was inexact with me holding them and standing on a scale so I used the most conservative numbers I got for each so easily 8 pounds saved, probably closer to 10, but point being not heavier than stock with the resonated ER midpipe.

The only minor detail I have with it is the pipe is cut with what looks like a bandsaw prior to shipping so it fits in a box. They had obviously deburred the outer part of the cut sections, but there was some rough areas inside all 4 cut ends so I used a die grinder to smooth them off, because, you know, OCD. I'm sure the slip joints create more turbulence than the burrs, but I did what I could.

Install was easy. I had no issues with fitment to the downpipes or the gaskets...they bolted right on and down. Clearance was easy to not have any areas rubbing (installed everything loose initially, but didn't need to move things much). The slip joints are 3.5 inches so you can see my pencil mark of about 1.5 inches there on the one picture so that they were relatively evenly applied to both ends of the joint.

Clearance to the stock exhaust bracket isn't an issue.

Sound - I am VERY happy with this. Running stock DPs, and Stock rear muffler. In efficient it really doesn't sound much different than before but with the canDO+ unit my car always starts in Sport and that is NOTICABLY louder. NO RASP (or at least what I consider to be rasp), much more aggressive tone inside and out. In Sport+ this is louder than my F80 with the titanium MPE and valves open. No drone. No rasp, more aggressive and louder sound. I am a very happy boy.

Midpipe is the way to go....tone of the exhaust seems on par with the tone of the car before, just louder, louder burbles, and better sound in the cabin that isn't overpowering. With it in efficient it is quiet, so clearly neighbor friendly.

I guess valve controller is next for me, and I have plans for that...to be continued.

[IMS M3]

Originally Posted by Mr. Hankey

canDO+ VERSION 1.6 -- My Settings

So using the above information here is how my canDO+ unit is programmed. I have 11 'associations' with Engine start and turning off M1 or M2 modes in my car being the biggest ones to get the car to consistent, non-stock, settings:

1. Engine Start
- Engine Sport
- Shift Assist. On
- Chassis Comfort
- Steering Sport
- DELAY 1 sec.
- Brakes Sport
- DSC ON
- DELAY 100 ms
- A/C On (this just forces the compressor switch on)
- AIR Sync On (syncs driver and passenger temps, you know OCD)
- M Sport Mode

2. M1/M2 Disable
- DELAY 500ms (found I needed this delay when turning M1/M2 off)
- M Sport Mode
- DELAY 100ms
- Engine Sport
- Shift Assist. On
- Chassis Comfort
- Steering Sport
- DELAY 1 sec.
- Brakes Sport
- DSC On
- DELAY 100ms
- A/C On
- AIR Sync On

3. M2 Enable
- M Sport Mode

4. M1 Enable
- M Road Mode

5. HOME Touch (Waze is set as my first shortcut, this picks that shortcut and launches CarPlay to waze)
- CONTROLLER Up
- DELAY 500ms
- CONTROLLER Press

6. MEDIA Touch
- SEAT Driver Max (turn on driver seat heater on high)

7. TEL Touch
- SEAT Driver Off (turn off driver seat heater)

8. MAP Touch
- SEAT Passenger Max (turn on passenger seat heater on high)

9. NAV Touch
- SEAT Passenger Off (turn off passenger seat heater)

10. BACK Touch
- A/C Max On (turn on MAX A/C)

11. OPTION Touch
- A/C Max Off (turn off MAX A/C)
- A/C On
- AIR Sync On (OCD causing eye twitching here again, haha)

Finally here is how things are mapped on my iDrive. To activate these that are scribbled on the picture I just need to touch the button, I don't need to press it at all. It is intuitive. Home for example if I press it, will take me to iDrive home. If I'm in the BMW side of things and I simply touch the home button it will run "controller up" and "controller press" to choose my first shortcut, which is Waze and it will open CarPlay...So I can easily switch between CarPlay and BMW side of things this way. Seat heaters on and off are setup intuitively, and Max AC/Max AC off is the same:



I still have touch settings available on the DSC button, M Mode button, and Setup Button. I also still have settings available with long presses of the iDrive buttons...

I start my car and it automatically sets my drive settings and fires up the M Sport Displays. My M1 and M2 settings are saved in iDrive so I just use the M Road display in M1 in case I want the map in that screen, and M Sport display for M2. Whenever I inactivate M1 or M2 the car will again go into my preferred base drive settings with M Sport Display.

I don't need to dig into the climate settings to turn on or off the seat heaters for driver or passenger. I can easily turn on Max AC and turn it off. I can easily switch between CarPlay world and iDrive world...ALL WITHOUT EVER GOING INTO ANY MENUS OR INTERACTING WITH A SCREEN. So those buttons I dearly missed when I got the car, no longer an issue. Get in, startup and drive off. Amazing.

Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any...also any other canDO+ users with ideas? I'd appreciate hearing them!

Wow, this is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this.