Any mods

BMW i3 Forum

Help Support BMW i3 Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Traffic jam assist retrofit. It allows the adaptive cruise control to also steer the car under certain circumstances- good lane markings, car in front of you to track, speed below 35MPH (unless you code to allow higher speeds). A somewhat limited form of self driving designed to alleviate stress from commuting.
 
I transport my folding recumbent trike in the back, and over time, it ended up nicking the paint on the rear bumper cover. I picked up an OEM bumper cover (well, my sister did in England and shipped it to me) that fits like a glove, covers the top edge and outer edge and protects things well. Other than that, I bought the winter tire package since all-season tires are a compromise all seasons and I live up a steep driveway which can be tricky in the winter. I'm not sure why BMW doesn't seel it here, but they do elsewhere. I haven't felt the need to do anything else other than code it a bit.
 
To TheMK, re: " Traffic jam assist retrofit. ". Can you give us links or tell names of any of the suppliers?

Also, I'm hoping to find a good after market tear view camera. Anyone have any good results with rear view cam?

Cheers
 
Quidzel is the 'default' traffic jam assist retrofit: https://quidzel.com

You'll need to remove one screw to gain access to the back of the right-side steering wheel buttons, unplug one cable to plug the module in between the cable and the receptacle, then run coding on the car using E-sys and an ODB-to-Ethernet dongle to enable. (Can't be done with Bimmercode and a Bluetooth dongle, sadly.)

Note that the cable is very finicky - I had to unplug/replug my cable half a dozen times before it was recognized. But it hasn't needed adjusting since.
 
Thank you TheMK, for the informative details. The link is great help. TJam looks closely related to ACC which is already installed on this vehicle. I will try to find out if this vehicle already has the lane assist.
 
REvans2001 said:
TJam looks closely related to ACC which is already installed on this vehicle. I will try to find out if this vehicle already has the lane assist.
If it's a North American i3, lane assist isn't activated. Without a 3rd-party module, lane assist can't be activated because the standard BMW version requires a touch-sensitive steering wheel that's not installed on any North American i3.
 
If you're driving an i3 in a warm environment and your legislative environment allows, step one would be to tint as many windows as you can, as darkly as you can. Aircon is a major power draw for any EV and the i3 has high IR gain from its huge windshield.

In terms of driving, I haven't had the opportunity to wring out a 2018+ i3s so maybe BMW has solved things at the factory by now, but...

From the perspective of a 2014 owner interested in a more driver-oriented ride, changing to stiffer springs that also lower the ride height makes a big difference. An early production i3 has a lot of body roll so stiffer springs do help here.

In late 2014 the only company that made springs for the i3 was Cobra in The Netherlands:
https://www.cobra-suspension.com/

Now there are many companies that do so, including favorites like H&R.

If you have a good friend that lives outside the USA, here are two convenience items that are not available from a BMW NA dealer...

82 29 2 151 462 On-board toolkit
71 60 6 770 487 Safety triangle and case (includes clips to attach to the inside of the tailgate)
 
Dark tint isn't necessarily the best tint. Some do a better job of blocking IR and UV because of their coatings versus just blocking the light. One thing that does happen to really dark tints is that they absorb a lot of that energy and then reradiate it...reflecting it is a better solution. Check out 3Ms crystalline tint series. It's the only one recognized by the American Cancer Society to stop UV...it does an equally good job with IR and its 200 layers of coatings on the film.
 
Just joined this forum and saw this topic, so my apologies for being late to the conversation. I have a 2014 i3 BEV. Here're the things I did as minor "mods" to make it more user friendly to me.

1. Horn addition - the i3 somehow comes with only 1 horn while other BMWs come with 2 (Hi/Lo). So I added the missing one (just the 500hz one) https://www.amazon.com/85110-115db-400HZ-500HZ-Sports/dp/B00067BWBI. (Difficulty level: 3/5)

2. LED high beams and front turn signals - my 2014 model came with incandescent bulbs for the highbeam and front turn signal. Easy swap with LEDs from Amazon. Took me 2 tries to get the correct amber LED bulb that gives enough forward illumination to work well. I got these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BF3SRP1. The highbeams were easier, just get a good H11 LED headlight bulb. High beams are so much better now than the mediocre incandescent ones - really surprised BMW let this one slip. (Difficulty level: 2/5)

3. JBL BassPro SL 2 subwoofer - even though my i3 has "Harman Kardon" system. It's missing a sub. Probably for "efficiency" reasons. So I added this thin one https://www.crutchfield.com/S-ojunx3nUIpp/p_109BASPRO2/JBL-BassPro-SL-2.html leaning on the left side of my trunk. Wired it into the head unit wires under the rear seat. (Difficulty level: 4/5)

4. BMW auto-dim side mirrors with (Euro) blind spot outside section https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-3-F20-...G-HEATED-MIRROR-GLASS-RIGHT-OEM/202897806604? - my i3 was supposed to be "loaded" US spec, but it only had 1 dimming side mirror, and no blind spot section. Since this car has no electronic blind spot monitor, adding an original BMW Euro blind spot mirror really helped. So I got a pair from eBay. Waiting for them to be available proved more difficult than the install - which was straight-forward 15-minute job. The car's already pre-wired for it! (Difficulty level: 2/5)

5. LED ribbon trunk light - with only 1 side mounted LED bulb for the trunk, it wasn't really lighting up the trunk much. So a cheap white LED ribbon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V6CXWDK, stuck underneath the parcel shelf hidden from view made it much more usable at night. Wiring was so simple I only needed to pop out the original trunk light to make a parallel connection using one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0054D80LE via the existing holes on the side of the trunk. (Difficulty level: 2/5)

6. Custom car-specific magnetic phone mount - I hate wires, I hate having a bulky thing sticking on my dash, and I hate having any clip on mounts blocking my AC vent. Cup mounts also didn't work for me because I need my cupholders! So I got a ProClip USA vehicle specific mount that clips on to just BELOW the AC vent and the power socket https://www.proclipusa.com/vehicle/dashboard-mounts/9622-bmw-i3/2014, and added a big stick on magnetic mount https://www.amazon.com/WizGear-Rectangle-Dashboard-Swift-Snap-Technology/dp/B0756NFMCC on it. So my phone will mount in landscape position right below the vents, and even has a short USB C cord plugged to the power socket. With the phone on the mount, you CANNOT see the mount. It's like your phone was part of the lower dash. I also got these awesome Aukey PD/QC 3.0 micro car phone charger that "disappears" into the power socket. (Difficulty level: 1/5)

7. Front/rear dashcams - I got an Aukey DR02 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075S7W6FR, along with their AUKEY Dash Cam Hardwire Kit with Motion Detection Sensor https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Hardwire-Detection-Dashboard-Cameras/dp/B07J3BLFBN. For dashcam as well as surveillance duty. (Difficulty level: 3/5)

So I guess these mods are more for safety, security, and comfort categories.
 
Back
Top