Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

One Vision · 27 May 2016 at 09:08

Thanks guys, ill try that, mrk do you have any recommendation for replacing the black?
Oh yeah whats the best for minor scratches? T-Cut?
Thankyou all

Will Gill · 27 May 2016 at 09:10

Renovo, costs about £50 for the kit, works wonders

One Vision · 27 May 2016 at 09:38

Thanks Willy

Found it here for under £25 is this the right one?

Will Gill · 27 May 2016 at 09:53

Ideally you want to buy the whole kit, but if you get just the black stuff that will do 80% of the job you require

mrk · 27 May 2016 at 09:54

Renovo looks cool, bookmarked for future use when the roof starts to show its age!

Will Gill · 27 May 2016 at 10:02

mrk said:
Renovo looks cool, bookmarked for future use when the roof starts to show its age!

Yeah it is, used on three different convertibles now and all come up great

One Vision · 27 May 2016 at 12:33

Thanks Willy Wonka!
I have not driven my car all week, being at work and that. Last time i drove it wasd last Sunday, I cannot wait to jump into it tomorrow and fire up that 3.2 Litre beast. I just love the sound of it and handling the most.

Demon · 27 May 2016 at 13:58

One Vision said:
Thanks Willy Wonka!
I have not driven my car all week, being at work and that. Last time i drove it wasd last Sunday, I cannot wait to jump into it tomorrow and fire up that 3.2 Litre beast. I just love the sound of it and handling the most.

I keep finding excuses just to pop out!

I had a really minor squeak from the windows when the roof was up last week, so found all the usual fixes, got some proper silicone lubricant and thought I'd cured it all, revelling in the amazing lack of any creaks and groans..

I popped out last night, which has given the stuff time to dry etc and now both front windows are squeaking and it's much worse than before!

I think it might be the roof joints where the rubber seals butt up to each other, when 'dry' they probably don't move due to the friction, but lube them up (oo-err) and they will then move, making things like squeaks more prevalent..

I do regret not just leaving it alone, one tiny squeak over really rough roads is far more tolerable than having a budgie in the car..

mrk · 27 May 2016 at 15:39

It's not the roof joints, it's the window glass rubbing against the seals!

Also, you guys don't know it yet, but one of these is what you want

One Vision · 28 May 2016 at 00:02

Why the bar across the engine? Is that to reinforce suspension?

Akagi · 28 May 2016 at 00:05

Its a strut brace, makes the car less wobbly by reducing flex and so forth.

grudas · 28 May 2016 at 00:08

reduces flex..

mrk · 28 May 2016 at 01:35

One Vision said:
Why the bar across the engine? Is that to reinforce suspension?

Yours has one too.

One Vision · 28 May 2016 at 07:11

I don't have one on mine, why is that? Is it an extra or standard?

mrk · 28 May 2016 at 11:22

It's a standard item on all M3s.

ADT · 28 May 2016 at 11:43

Been busy with work for the past few days.

Please walk me through the viperfx app so I can get my sound sorted?

I have already rooted the unit.

New front door components (Rainbow) just got delivered so will fit them on Sunday hopefully. Some other bits too like new badges for the alloys, leather repair kit and dynamat for the doors.

Also managed to fit my dashcam couple of days ago. Took the glovebox out and tapped into fuse 4 and the earth from the torch charger

mrk · 28 May 2016 at 11:59

What you need to do is install (but not yet run) the Viper APK: http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/files/ViPER4Android_4.x_2322.apk

Then:

1: Install BusyBox and skip the free version ad window and just hit update without changing any options. This updates the pre-installed BusyBoxto the latest version.

2: Reboot and run Viper4Android and when prompted, install the driver and reboot.

3: Run Viper again and on the 3 dots top right, click the Lock option and set it to headset.

4: On the menu again, scroll down to the UI mode and set it to Expert. The app will need to be closed and restarted after this is done.

5: Once the above is complete, run Viper and on the Headset tab, enable the EQ and apply a preset, or custom one like the screenshot I posted above. These EQ values will vary, you may prefer a different value.

I also scrolled down in the main Headset tab and enabled Clarity and Dynamic and set the gain and Bass Boost to around 10% and 6dB. You can set the clarity option method to Noise+ or Natural depending on the style you prefer and tweak the values as well.

If all goes well, and you've set your music player app to bypass its built in EQ and use external, then in Viper when music is playing, you can click the 3 dots menu, scroll down to Driver Status, and see that the driver is active and next to "Processing" it says Yes. If it says No, then your music player isn't sending the audio to Viper and you need to check the player's settings again.

Bugs:

I noticed that if the head unit wakes up from the sleep mode, then Viper won't auto start at wake. I have set a homescreen gesture to launch Viper if this is the case, just swipe up on the screen and it's up and running in the notifications area.

ADT · 29 May 2016 at 23:27

Nice one, thank you! I'll give it a go soon

Discovered how to dim the screen and keep the unit on by accident yesterday

Just hold the mute button

Dis86 · 29 May 2016 at 23:30

One Vision said:
I don't have one on mine, why is that? Is it an extra or standard?

You should! Standard fit to m series cars

mrk · 30 May 2016 at 22:15

It's been several days of fine tuning the Viper FX settings, but I think I've got the sound down to exactly how I like it and it's pretty damn impressive.

Quick video showing Viper on and off. The off output is reminiscent of the stock BMW head unit which lacked mids and bass by the truckload.