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      06-25-2020, 11:56 PM   #1
timmahh
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Drives: Viertürigen Fahrzeugs
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Southern California

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Aftermarket Crystal Mods - My Thoughts / Photos

Hi Everyone - There's been some interest around this and a few threads about retrofitting it. I know this look is not for everyone, but I have no issue admitting blue lights and shiny things instantly get my attention.. so naturally I have my lights all set to blue and I loved the crystal accents when I first saw them.

Unfortunately the X5 I picked up did not come with them and BMW doesn't just sell (all) individual pieces outright. Not to mention they're pricey.

I came across a company called Car Analysis (www.car-analysis.com) by way of seeing their iDrive knob on Amazon. I found their site and discovered they sell the start/stop & shifter as well. I emailed them to see if they would provide a further discount for buying all three at once and they did. Coincidentally, the package deal is now listed on their site, so bonus for anyone else interested. I had several email exchanges with them about the quality and compatibility. I was satisfied with the responses so I bit the bullet. They were also incredibly helpful with my dilemma by sending me a replacement shifter even though I caused my own problem (to ensure that if I managed to damage the existing one, I wouldn't reconnect something broken).

My plan was to fully detail this install, but apparently my ADHD kicked in because I took a photo of the start/stop button pop-off and then failed to take any further meaningful install pics.

Here's what I've discovered, pics will follow at the end.

1) The start/stop button is raised slightly
2) The X logo in the shifter lights up white. It will not change to amber at night like the factory shifter. Additionally, I was told the P button would not light up, but it actually does. It's not super bright but you can see it at night.
3) The iDrive "sticker" can be saved, if you remove it carefully. If you're too harsh you could damage it permanently.
4) If the instructions say to disconnect the battery, DISCONNECT THE FRIGGIN BATTERY. I did not do it for the shifter install and I subsequently killed the control module. My car sat for two weeks unable to move out of park because I didn't take 10 minutes to disconnect the front and rear batteries.

I'm very pleased with the product. It adds character to what was kind of boring otherwise. If the shifter was leather/plastic, like in my 540 I don't think I would have changed it. Unfortunately it's not, and it makes things a bit boring on the inside to me.

TL;DR: If you didn't read any of that or don't want to, that's fine, here are the photos. If you do this, REMEMBER TO DISCONNECT THE BATTERY IF YOU SWAP THE SHIFTER OUT!



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Last edited by timmahh; 06-26-2020 at 12:09 AM..
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