2016 Individual M4 Silverstone / Amaro Brown w/ Interior Customizations & Mods

[buddster]

My goal was to straddle the line between sophisticated and mean. Classy and aggressive. ½ Bruce Wayne, ½ Batman. So I modded conservatively and took advantage of the excitement period right after delivery to get pretty much everything done at once. I’m coming from an E92 M3 and IMO, words can’t describe how much better of a car this is.

The Car
- All boxes ticked (except rear sunshade)
- Gloss black grill surround & side markers (port installed)

The Interior
- Amaro Brown full leather with Platinum contrast stitching, leather wrapped center console, knee pad, hand brake and gaiter. All are Amaro brown with contrast stitching. The door handles were done with Platinum stitching as well.
- Piano Black trim
- Alcantara Headliner, pillars and rear deck
- M-Performance Pedals (port installed)
- M4 Embroidered floor mats

The Exterior
- Painted keyhole cover & reflectors
- “eBay special” rear diffuser, custom painted gloss black
- Beeds ceramic coating applied to body, wheels, trim, rubber (Glossangeles)
- Huper Optik KLAR 85 Tint – All windows and windshield (STM Tint)

Other Mods
- KW HAS kit
- 15mm Front, 12mm Rear Spacers
- Macht Schnell EVC Exhaust Valve Controller
- BAVsound Stage 1 Speaker System
- Coding – a long list

After 1200 mile service
JB4

The Build
I took delivery at Long Beach BMW (Khoi Diep was my CA) and left all plastic covering on the car. Next day, I took it to EAS for some install magic before handing it off to Ian Howard at Glossangeles. Ian is a spectacular detailer and we peeled the wrap and went to work. He applied Beeds Ceramic coating to the whole exterior including the brake calipers and the interior trim as well. The car feels like glass.

Tom and crew at EAS finished the install with the Alcantara Headliner which was the final piece of the interior upgrade puzzle. Materials make a huge difference. The good news is that it looks amazing – the bad news is that it doesn’t photo well.

The BAVsound was a major upgrade over the HK system as well. Sound is important to me and this was a difference maker. Smoother, more detailed, less harsh and no more listener fatigue. I bought the ebay diffuser for two reasons – to maintain the rear kick function of the trunk and to match the rest of the gloss black on the car. Since it’s fiber reinforced plastic and not carbon fiber, it works nicely. Cosmetically, carbon would have been “off”, so it was a win-win.

The Macht Schnell EVC is pricey, but good. I turned active sound off immediately – money well spent. On the KW HAS setup, I went with a conservative drop. “OEM plus” is about how I’d describe it. It’s still very comfortable too and I didn’t notice it being much stiffer than stock.

The painted keyhole cover and front reflectors round it out. It’s all subtle. I wanted it to look like it could have rolled off the production line like this and non-M enthusiasts probably won’t know the difference. Nothing stands out as “aftermarket” which was part of my goal. Even the tint is totally clear and looks OEM as I happily sacrificed some heat reduction to maintain factory looks. There’s a bit of a story behind this car, but feel free to skip to the fun stuff – the pics. The pics were taken in West LA.


The Story
Coming from an Individual E92 M3 with a Platinum interior, I wanted to top it. Prettier, faster and meaner. My inspiration was the 4 Series Concept Coupe which was Liquid Metal Silver with a custom brown interior. I thought about trying for the same thing and even inquired about it, but to simplify and keep costs down, I settled on the closest alternative of Silverstone / Amaro Brown. Same concept, but colors that were available.

Unfortunately, even in full leather individual interiors, BMW now uses plastic center consoles. Weak. My E92 had a fully wrapped console and it “connects” the leather dash with the leather seats. IMO, a plastic console is way out of place in a car like this. So I started designing the interior I wanted, patterning much of it after the Concept Coupe. Black handles with contrast stitching, Amaro knee pad, handbrake etc…

The Concept has contrast stitching on the back side of the dash and the tops of the doors, so I tried for that and was denied. BMW said it would be a reflective hazard. Hmmm… OK. If you look at the individual interior on the E92, the dash trim pieces are painted the same color as the leather. They match and it looks really uniform. Not so for the F82. Amaro brown leather is surrounded by black trim pieces. On the Concept Coupe, they painted all of the trim pieces to match the leather, just like on the E92, so I asked for that as well – denied. Bummer - that would have capped it off nicely. So I took what I could get.

On a side note, for anyone nuts enough to go through this, it took about 9 months to work through this with Individual, but it shouldn’t have. Suffice it to say that Individual is not all that well organized and are even less communicative. It should have taken about two weeks. Anyway, be prepared for a lengthy, communication-impaired process if you want to do some really different stuff. By the time I got pricing and approvals for everything, it was too late to get a 2015, so I had to order a 2016. I started the process last summer when the F82 was introduced and just took delivery three weeks ago. There’s some good people at Individual, they just need to get organized.

Lastly…
Huge thanks! And appreciation for those who helped me out. Tom at EAS and their crew for busting their ass on the installation. The headliner was pretty insane. Ian at Glossangeles and Hann at STM – they really know their craft. If you were on the Dionysos Leader, the wait was excruciating, but worth it. There’s a ton of forum members who helped me (usually unknowingly) with a bunch of details and lots of valuable info.

[buddster]

A few more pics...

[EdM5]

stunning.
Love this colour,

[W///]

Well you've definitely reached your goal, the car is stunning. I absolutely love color combos like this! Congrats

[AlphaOmega4]

Looks amazing!!

How it's the quality of the eBay diffuser?

Mind sending me a pm of the name you bought it from on eBay.. Id like to order one..

[Blindside_137]

Well done!

[AlexN]

Wow, the car is amazing, and you've definitely hit your goal with that interior.

[Needsdecaf]

Fabulous! I've been talking to Individual as well, and feel your pain. Can you list a complete list of interior parts that you modified? It's hard to keep track. You can PM me if you want to.

Thanks

[brianeck]

Love the handbrake boot and the center stuff being AB as well. I'm very jealous

[SROC3]

Nice color! beautiful!!

[997CABOVA]

Sweet combo definitely sporty but classy Mr Wayne

[ciaranob]

Originally Posted by buddster

A few more pics...

Very cool - have a lot of similar upgrades in my car (and a bunch to boot) but def not the full Amaro center console - that is sweet - had the trim piece that surrounds the buttons done in Amaro by local shop after the fact and like the look a lot. Balanced out the Piano Back trim by getting the shift knob and surround done in PB also - crappy pics, looks great in person.

Recall also being in lengthy talks with Individual in April 2014 and definitely a drawn out process back then - hopefully has improved since.

Great job - car is a beauty!

[khanyam4]

Love it, all class.

[GOLFFRR]

Love it!

[swagon]

Classy as hell, and different from the rest on here, too if you think about it. No CF diffuser, no CF this, no CF that.

Less is more and the devil is in the details.

You done good, mate.

[Bokke]

Great looking car!! SS + CCB !

[AlpineE92M3]

Friggin gorgeous!!

[haynstyleM2]

Car looks great! Nice pics.

[SakhirM4]

Beautiful M4 I would rather have the CF than Piano Black, but still beautiful.

[buddster]

Thanks guys - appreciate the kind words.

How it's the quality of the eBay diffuser?

It's decent, but not spectacular. The fit wasn't perfect and the finish sucked but I didn't care since I was getting it painted anyway.

Classy as hell, and different from the rest on here, too if you think about it. No CF diffuser, no CF this, no CF that.

Thanks man. Yeah, not a fan of CF, it's a bit overdone. Just went to the LA car show and it seems like a lot of new models from various manufacturers are using a lot more gloss black nowadays.

Can you list a complete list of interior parts that you modified?

Yes! Check out the pic. Here's the details on the center console.

[jonze]

Outstanding results. I'm loving the center console especially. Thanks for sharing your pics and the prices. Sometimes people act like that'd be "pulling a Snowden."

[Its_lobelt]

Stunning is all I can say. Love that interior color. Well done!!!