NEW GUY! input needed 4 rims, carputer, leather.

[PaliE39]

Hello all! Thought I'd take this opportunity to say hello! I just bought an 03 530i black on sand. prem and cold pkgs but no sport. cpo, 40K miles. i have a couple things in mind for this car and was hoping to get some feedback. first is a rims/susp project and the other is a carputer project. which one should i do first?

for the rims, a friend of mine referred me to a site where he bought CSL replicas for his 330ci that look great. they sell M6 replica's (18" non-staggered) that, using photoshop, would look great on my car. i searched through alot of places and havent found anyone whose done this, so the whole originality thing is a big motivator. i was wondering if my stock, non sport, suspension can handle these rims or if there would be any effect on ride quality? also, i was offered the shocks and springs off an 01 530i with the sport package (he went aftermarket, old ones just laying around) and wanted to know if there were any negatives to installing this on my car, or positives taking into account the rims i'm looking at.

the second project is the carputer thing. a friend of mine has gone through the entire process (quite lengthy and very time consuming) but the finished project is amazing. endless possibilities. has anyone out there installed a computer in their E39? any tips, positives, negatives, or any other tidbits about this project?

One more thing, sorry this is getting quite lengthy. what should i do for leather upkeep. it looks like the leather is just about to start going bad if i dont do anything.

thanks for all your help in advance! oh and i'm sure as you all know (i'm just discovering this for myself) it is GREAT owning a bimmer!

[PutterMcGavin]

Hey Congrats on the purchase! Great color choice too! I recently got a '99 540i/6 Sport with the same color scheme and love it!

I can't say much for the rims, but from what I can tell keep with something simple. These are BMWs and look a million times better with something classy rather than something "bold." I for one am VERY happy with the OEM BMW rims I have (look kind of like the Alpina Turbine rims) and don't plan on swapping them out anytime soon!

If you're thinking about a Carputer then I say GO FOR IT! I had one in my Tahoe that I just sold and loved it! I had a great setup that only ran me about $500 and did anything and everything I asked it to do. It utilized an AMD XP-M chip running at a low 35W, ran at about 1.8ghz, I had 1gig ram and I think an 80gig HD. Let me know if you need help with it. Putting one in an E39 might be a challenge but it can be done. The best example of one that I've seen can be seen here http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePh...Uy=9slraw&Ux=0

For the leather, I'd recommend using Murphy's Oil Soap and scrubbing them down pretty good then applying a leather conditioner VERY liberally! I mean to the point where the seats are close to dripping the conditioner! Rub it in REALLY good and let stand for a while. Go back in and wipe it down and maybe apply some protectant.

Hope that helps! Let me know if I can be of any help!

[PaliE39]

Thanks alot for your help! As soon as I read your post I ordered some of that Murphy Oil Soap and some leather conditioner. I've decided to go with regular BMW rims, just a little larger since mines are only 16's and it doesn't look that good on this size car. I'm gonna go ahead with the carputer project and will start a thread about it with all the steps I take so that if someone else wants to do it they can benefit from my experience. Enjoy that 540 6 spd. I test drove one but it was too much power for me. I would've crashed it coming off the lot :-P

[Master530i]

How much would be carputer projector for E39?..seems to be interesting stuff. I am sure you lose the steering controls for volume?

[oekundar]

With the carputer project, you will certainly lose steering wheel controls...but you would likely be installing a touchscreen, different choices there. Not to mention it will be hard to keep th oem look with it.

Rims...your personal taste there

Leather...different options...

[racerx0911]

that carputer this looks AWESOME...so wish i knew how to get it done...really interesting!

[Pontiacman]

Congrats on your new ride!
I picked up my 540I in Feb 06. 2003 with the sport package and M trim.

I actually need to get some winter rims, what was the website where your friend purchased his rims for?

Also does anyone know where I can get that carputer system and screen? I need that upgrade!!!

[oekundar]

FOLKS...please understand that the carputer will have to be CUSTOM...as in custom computer/laptop as well as screen molded into the dash...you currently can not purchase a unit for your car...

[jonmcc]

use this to keep up your seats, it will seriously make your leather look brand new. way better than anything you can buy at autozone etc., worth every penny...

Ive been thinking about putting the M6 wheels on my car too, but the 19" ones with the graphite paint accents...I keep going back and forth with those and 18" M-parallels and its driving me crazy...if you go with the M6 ones please post pics!

congrats on the 530!
-Jonathan

[PaliE39]

i will be posting a new thread on the carputer project.. it will include some details as to what i'm doing and what's to come.. i'll address some of the issues that arise, so please feel free to learn from my mistakes because i've seen it done and yes it is aftermarket, but it can be done to look very stock and you have endless possibilities.

[oekundar]

Originally Posted by PaliE39

i will be posting a new thread on the carputer project.. it will include some details as to what i'm doing and what's to come.. i'll address some of the issues that arise, so please feel free to learn from my mistakes because i've seen it done and yes it is aftermarket, but it can be done to look very stock and you have endless possibilities.

Quite honestly, I have built one and seen plenty...so I am quite familiar with it. YOu will most certainly LOSE steering wheel control, and integrating the screen into a BMW dash can look very good, but not sure one could achieve a stock look.

I also wouldn't say you have endless possibilities....you are about as limited to what an actual computer can do. NAVIGATION, MP3s, MOVIES, and surfing the web. Not sure what else you mean by endless...but I would be interested to see or hear the details.

Oh...and if you can find a laptop to use as your computer for better stability and less space for using.

[e39dream]

you can retain your steering wheel functions with a custom car pc if you want- the product I used intergrates the PC audio to the stock stereo and lets you change track forward/back, just like with the cd player. it's all out there- if you're a smart cookie. http://www.car2pc.com/

[PaliE39]

when you hack your I-Bus you can code your computer to react to certain environments, or have buttons do certain things. that may not be endless, but its only limitied to what the car can do. a computer can do almost anything if you're pushin the right buttons.

[PaliE39]

oh and good call on the laptop thing, thats the route i will be taking cause it'd be nice to just unplug and take it into work if i need it.

[oekundar]

Gents...I stand corrected. For some odd reason I had not heard of the device e39dream is using. Where do you have your screen mounted?

Palie39,

Best of luck in the project...definitely keep us posted.