PITA E39 Touring Mediabridge install DONE w/ some tips...

[geargrinder]

Well... finally got to the Mediabridge install this week. Turned out to be way more of a PITA than I hoped. My expectations had roller-coastered over last few weeks as I had the box lying around - at first I assumed it'd be a huge hassles, then I watched the BSW vids and thought 'hey that's not too bad'... well in the end yeah it took forever and I sweated my ballz off in the 90 heat in my garage all afternoon yesterday. All said and done probably took me 3-4 hours? Of course as these things will do, now that I know how everything comes apart I could probably do another guys car in 2 hours pretty easily. Maybe less.

Tips from IAMGARY's thread here helped a bit: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1811294 but I thought I'd add some stuff for the next guy looking around for help.

First of all some high level comments:

• If you try to go the BSW way around the passenger side AND you like a super tidy OEM-like cable routing, the cable WILL be too short in a Touring. You have to either sacrifice cable tidiness, or, go another way.
• I went from the cargo area, down the drivers side to the backseat following OEM cable bundles, then across the base of the backseat (under the carpet at the back corner behind your feet in essence), then up the center console. Plenty of length that way. But its a big ballsweaty PITA to get under the center console. More on that later.
• Going the BSW way of the trim under the door sills would work if you don't mind running the cable just loosely diagonally across the cargo area and under the seat. But the backseat on the touring is free of wires of any sort and very sanitary and I didn't want that "ricer stereo shop hack install" look anyplace in my car so that approach was out for me. Also the "just jam the cable under the door sill trim" was a bit hack for me as well. There's not really a great pocket under there. If you pop off all the trim and secure the cable first under the edge of the carpet, that method would be better than the method they use to just 'cram the cable behind the trim with a plastic tool'.
• I STRONGLY recommend for jobs like this making yourself a little cable-fishing tool. I just use a piece of mild steel welding rod - 3/32 I think is what I have going right now. It can be really small but mild steel is good because it's stiff enough to hold shape when you want but soft enough to bend around and make a bit of a wrap around your cable/connector. You could not do this job I did without something and this is how the good-not-hack pros do it. More on this later.
• Small item: They have changed the microphone from the one shown in the videos. The one in the vid looks much nicer by the way. The new one has a crappy clip on it like to clip to a visor. You CAN clip this to a metal bar in the headliner so the mic points out about the same place and it comes out half decently but I do kinda wish we had the other microphone that they've apparently replaced with a cheaper one.

With that said, here's some detailed tips. The back part is only pertaining to Touring install but if a Sedan owner wants a really nice tidy center-console-routed install that part would completely apply as well.

BACK TRIM PANEL AKA I'M A BACKDOOR MAN

• Starting from the back I took off the carpeted side panel on the left side - basically the continuation of the removable panel. 80% of the time in the back was spent getting that out so I could make really nicey nicey routing along the base of that. That was probably overkill, you COULD tuck the wire pretty tidily down along the floor without pulling that out. You also could fish the wire (more on that later) without pulling the trim out probably although you couldn't use the factory wire harness clips the way I did to get a super OEM look. But I admit if I did it again for another car I'd strongly look to avoid these steps...
• To remove that panel takes a bunch of stuff... first, take all the cargo/rear tire panels etc. out
• Once those are out you need to take out 3 or 4 fasteners way in the back directly on the panel itself that are totally obvious including a weird huge Torx pan head thing.
• You need to remove the cargo cover / net 'socket' on that side - 2 torx screws that are a slight PITA to angle to.
• Gray plastic trim that was under the cover socket needs to come out.
• Vertical C-pillar trim needs to come out.
• Left bolster for the rear seat needs to come out.
• Once all that is out, if you take out every obvious screw, that rear panel will remove. Then you can open the plastic wire ties and put your harness along with the stock wires.

BACK SEAT AKA LESS CUSHION FOR THE PUSHIN

• IAMGARY is right about the attachments at the bottom of the seat - the things that are the slider mounts for moving the cargo net / cover to the front. The bolts for those come out easy but are a BITCH to get back in - they need to be lined up just perfectly and for some reason they don't like to cooperate - has to be EXACTLY the right angle - must be something about being super secure so the babies don't go flying through the windshield and get turned to goo when you drive into a brick wall.
• Also you may want to unbolt the anchor for the center seatbelt webbing. That way you can pull the whole seat bottom out completely (otherwise it stays attached. Not too hard but a huge bolt with a zillion threads. Busted out the old 1/2" ratchet for that bad boy.
• Once all that is out you can route the cable down the drivers side under the carpet and into the center of the car.
• Behind the side bolster is a black metal shield covering some other wire bundles - I ran the cable under that. Another "in retrospect" thing is I probably could also have fished through that rather than another 2 nuts removed to take that off completely. Not sure it'd work but if I did it again I'd eyeball the fishing idea.

UNDER THE CARPET AKA MUNCHIN RUG

• Now for the fun part.
• To pull the carpet up enough to run to the center console first you need to loosen the whole center console.
• Remove all the top center con stuff... the wood trim panel, the dumb no-storage slider armrest, etc, etc. The BSW video is right on for this part.
• NOW, keep going. Remove 4 screws in the back holding the center con frame down - two are obvious in the back, the other two are under trim caps on either side.
• Remove 2 screws up front - one right near the emergency-flashers screw that you should have taken out already and one is under the e-brake handle.
• Now the center con should be not completely free but loose enough to pull up at the back by an inch or two. Pull it up without breaking and prop it up using some method. I used wood strips/blocks slid underneath it further up.
• Now turn your attention back to the floor - the plastic sill strips at the door that cover the carpet/gasket seam need to go. The trick to these is they are one of those "remove and install in different ways" pieces. These have 1 screw in the back and 2 fat snap in trim pins underneath. You want to SLIDE THEM off the securing pins to remove. BUT then to re-install, pop the pins out of the car body with pliers and slip them back on the trim, then just pop the trim back in place from above. Do this on both sides.
• You now should have enough slack in the carpet to pull up on it in a manly fashion and get some space under the transmission tunnel. Not much. Just barely.
• Now you want to pull the carpet up and slip something non-sharp down the tunnel to the center console to hold it up enough to get the wire down there. I used a soft piece of wood 1/4 round trim I had lying around. A small dia piece of PVC tubing would be ideal.
• Just slit the carpet a tiny bit under the center console between the 2 scre mounts to allow you to pull the cable through a bit earlier than where it is clamped down the car up at the front. Don't worry this just needs to be a tiny slit and you can make it look very OEM, and it will be way underneath the center console where it will never be seen.
• Slip your wire fishing tool from the console side back out the rear of the carpet, then use blue masking tape to secure the cable connector to it. I also tape the crap out of the tip so it takes the sharp edges off the connector to keep from snagging - basically you want to make a tape-shaped wedge at the front so it slides through smoothly.
• You should now be able to fish the connector and cable through to the center console. This can take some wiggling and in/out in/out technique. If the carpet is too tight you might have to pull up on it or pry with your wood/PVC/whatever thing to give a little more room.
• Once the connector is out the middle of the center con you are golden and you can practically start the celebratory Jack Daniels boilermakers because the worst is behind you. Tuck the cable down the floor in front of the seat so that if anybody else every takes the seat out they'll never know you were in there.

FINISHING IN THE FRONT AKA THE MONEY SHOT

• Routing super tidy up to the front is now child's play with plenty of cable to spare. If you can't figure that out yourself you're way over your head to be reading this far. Just a few things to mention.
• The E39 has TONS of sound insulation everywhere. When you get up behind the HVAC stuff there's some foam blocks behind the ducts - pulling that out and tucking cable behind it works great.
• I ran the Mediabridge to the BSW recommended location and 3M "dual lock"d it to the white plastic frame there (basically a non cloth velcro that works better than the fabric junk - same stuff EasyPass uses for windshield transponders). PLENTY of cable to get there, and also real easy to take the unit out for firmware updates etc.
• NOW IS THE TIME TO TEST IT before you put it all back together. I won't recap the basic BSW instructions for the wiring - I have DSP so made it slightly more complicated. Plug all the stuff in in the passenger footwell and make sure it works. Mine did first try no problems.
• I didn't get the Spec Dock because I prefer a phone holder on the dash up to the right of the steering wheel, so to finish the wiring, I fished the USB across to the drivers side and hid the end behind the side trim panel, and continued with an iPhone cable up out of the center con trim. This worked great, but required some more fun with my cable-fishing tool and pulling out aforementioned foam and then tucking it back afterwards.
• Aside from the mic issue above, the mic install went exactly the same as the BSW video.
• Most issues on re-assembly I mentioned already - most stuff goes back really quickly and easily except for a few little things like those fothermucking cargo net/cover sockets. Note the socket for the cargo cover is slotted for adjustment. Therefore I did it this way - pushed all the way in-board of adjustment, then very lightly snugged the bolts down so it'd hold but move if pushed, then I test fit the cover so it pushed it back into the right spot. Gently removed cover again and fully tightened.

Some pics are below but with the usual issues... Bad focus because apparently my lens was dirty and/or I was shakey-handed.. Inconsistent pics because I'd forget because I was all pissed off at some piece of crap trim problem, and the classic "I took less and less pics as the project went on and I got completely exhausted and just wanted it to be over"...

Speaking of wanting things to be over I want this post to be over and just noticed the pics are all out of order so I'm not going to fix that but will give some captions to help explain. Sorry if it jumps all around... If I get my crap together I'll snap another pic of what the iPod cable looks like coming out the dash...

The black channel behind the seat bolster to run the cable in



The door sill trim w/ the 2 pins that you slide-to-remove and snap-to-install



The blurry fishing rod run through with the connector taped on ready for the big pull through to center console



A really bad pic (flash was supposed to be on) of the wire coming out where the carpet slit is - the worst was over!



Plastic trim under the cargo cover socket that has to go



The cargo cover socket with 2 torx screws and slotted holes for adjustment



C-pillar trim - pops out at top, then slides up off a clip in classic BMW "slide then snap" technique



Plastic trim under the cargo cover all taken out



Evil cargo net/cover socket thing - looks like it'll be so easy to screw back in. NOT.



The super sparse under-seat area - notice no stray wires etc. Apparently my PO transported Xmas trees however as mine had a bunch of weird 10 year old tinsel scraps and some pine needles



Blurry shot of the rear center-con screws taken out - there are 2 side screws going through the trim that I don't have a pic of



The Mediabridge cable lying tidy right up along the center con on the passengers side



The foam that you want to pull out - here the cable has been tucked behind and the foam reinstalled



The connector fished through and the little shelf on which the Mediabridge is now velcro'd (not in the picture) (also not Velcro TM but the 3M Dual Lock stuff)

[Redshift]

I have MB installed in both touring and M5 and both seem to lose connection after a while. Latest firmware. Yours too?

[geargrinder]

Nope Brian - I have great connection for sure with the newer firmware. Firmware was updated probably about 6-9 months ago? So not sure if it's latest-latest...

[Redshift]

I'll try re-updating again and see if that helps. It just loses the link between phone and MB and I have to go back and hit "Mode" til it goes into Bluetooth again. Frustrating especially on trips.

[geargrinder]

I'll try re-updating again and see if that helps. It just loses the link between phone and MB and I have to go back and hit "Mode" til it goes into Bluetooth again. Frustrating especially on trips.

B -

Looks like there's a brand new firmware as of 4 days ago.

http://audiovox.diceelectronics.com/...20-%20BMW/MINI

HTH...

Glad you prompted to check, I'll update today too before I leave on my Xmas roadtrip...

BTW, if this helps, I only use mine with one iPhone device - in case it's fussy about what kind of device it is...

[Redshift]

iPhone 5s for me. Same behavior with the 4s I had earlier. Could be based on distance to unit (on the touring mine is in the rear left side storage area near the electronics).

[geargrinder]

Yeah I bet it's the distance. I have mine up in the 'module rack' behind the glove box obviously... good proximity to the phone. Maybe you can relocate it to move it up/around and get a better signal?

[Redshift]

Yeah I bet it's the distance. I have mine up in the 'module rack' behind the glove box obviously... good proximity to the phone. Maybe you can relocate it to move it up/around and get a better signal?

After reading what you did to relocate yours, I think I'll deal with it LOL

Dunno why my sig won't show up properly. It's within the specs listed on the sig input page Image shows up fine off the forum.

[geargrinder]

B - I went over the top being @n@l compulsive. You can do it 10x easier if you just stuff the cable down the sills the way Bavsound / Dice / etc. etc. all say to do it. You might want to try that - just need to run wire across the back under the load floor, under the seat, then stuff down the passenger side sills under the trim. Pretty easy. It's the way I did it in my M3 and doesn't take much time at all...

[Redshift]

Yeah, I may consider it. Trunk is all apart right now anyway for all the suspension and steering stuff.