[lazyrhino]

Good afternoon friends!

To start, please let me apologise for my total absence from the forum for near enough a year and a half.

In my defence, A LOT has happened during that time. At the hands of my extremely malicious now ex-partner, I found myself not only struggling financially, but with my health also. I got viral menigitis, and my digestion became so poor that I started to lose weight rapidly - doctors were beginning to believe I might have Crohns disease. Turns out, after eventually managing to leave the vile moosepig whom I used to call my girlfriend, all of my symptoms were directly related to extreme stress/adrenaline - funny that!

And so, needless to say, during my 2 years of discovering that women are just as capable of domestic violence/abuse as men, my passion/love for my M235i had to take a bit of a backseat! But, now that all is on the up, finally, I can get back to it - and to think that b*tch tried to make me sell the car just so she could afford a few more handbags and sun bed trips!

First and foremost, let me respond to some of your questions/comments.

Originally Posted by juniortabak

WOW NICE work!!!

Code you please post the E-SYS coding?

To be honest, no. For two reasons:
- It's been such a long time since I did the install that I can't actually remember exactly what exact steps I took to do the coding. I'd have to go back and work the exact syntax/steps out again.
- I only attempted the e-sys coding as I'm an IT professional with a reasonable degree of programming experience in multiple different languages. The fact that you're looking for an absolute step by step guide to do the e-sys coding suggests that you don't have much prior programming experience - in my opinion, attempting to do e-sys coding would be a BIG risk therefore. On this basis, I feel you'd be safest getting someone else to complete the coding element for you.
(I mean no offence whatsoever, so please don't think otherwise. Also, I'd rather not be held responsible for anyone bricking their car!)

Originally Posted by crbalch

Do you guys not have cruise control in the UK, or am I missing something?

We certainly do, but it's not fitted as standard on an M235i (or at least it wasn't back when I purchased mine). It's part of an optional package, a package that wasn't specified on my build, hence my retrofitting it!

Originally Posted by telshena

KurtCrisco, thanks a million for such a wonderful write-up on the cruise control retrofit! Just a couple of points to add for others who come across your post:

1) Smart man to think of marking the steering wheel upon removal; however, I discovered that the toothed retaining gear is notched in such a way that the wheel can only be installed and removed one-way. Still good practise to be prepared to mark for those doing this the first time, or perhaps on a different model.

2) The old switch (B61.31.7.849.407) specified for models 'Up to 03/2014' has been superseded by the new part number. This means owners with cars 'Up to 03/2014' are advised by the manual to use the new part number (B61.31.7.849.411). Further, dealerships are likely instructed to try and liquidate old stock where applicable, so those with vehicles 'Up to 03/2016' may want to specifically request the new part number in their order.

3) Mounting screws are not required for this retrofit, as you can always use the ones in place. As KurtCrisco mentions in his post, the screws were ordered just in case some were lost during the process, or an additional discovery necessitated their use.

Glad to hear all went smooth KurtCrisco, thanks again for your amazing gift to the community!!

P.S. To anyone interested, I am selling my 100% working, tested, and like new B61.31.7.849.411 BMW Multi-function Switch (needed for both LIM and Cruise Control w/Braking). This is due to my company-hire F20 going back to the programme administrator 15-July-16. Part is in perfect working order with no blemishes, scratches, etc. Includes original box, packaging and official BMW invoice from BMW Nine Elms in London.
Original Price: £197.84
DISCOUNT: 25%
Asking £150.00 + Free P&P (within UK)

Of course, coding services and installation are available at an additional cost for buyers located in Central London. PM me, or you can email SW7guy@gmail.com

Many thanks for the kudos telshena!

I like to share write ups when I do techie/mechanical jobs. It's partly thanks to other people before me who've written write ups about other retrofits that I've learnt the methods behind doing them myself, so it's only fair I give something back!

1. Agreed. I found this out after I did it actually, felt like a bit of a goose. But hey, better safe than sorry!

2. Had no idea the part numbers had changed for later builds, so thanks a bunch for this info! Anyone looking to complete the retrofit, refer to telshena's comments!

3. I don't know about you, but I definitely was not willing to get stuck without a steering wheel on my car thanks to me losing a screw! I stand by my original advice - order the spare screws pack. Better safe than sorry!

Originally Posted by Taunto

A tip for removing those door Trim pieces, There is a Small Slot at the very bottom you can slip the trim tool into to ease the process.
Gently Prying tho, Some of the trim pieces crack easily (speaking from experience :P)

Tried the slot at the bottom first, couldn't get the leverage/purchase needed to get the thing off, hence my prying from a different angle!

Originally Posted by Mike_3674M235i

I would like to get my car retro-fitted with the Driver's Plus option. Is it possible using the same method that you used for the cruise control? It would be nice if my car unlocked when I walk up to it automatically and my headlights automatically changed from high to low.

Not a clue what the "Driver's Plus" option is. This isn't a UK option for sure.
It sounds as though what you're trying to retrofit is what's referred to over here as "Comfort Access". Theoretically the process would be the same, fit the parts, then code the option in, though I reckon Comfort Access would be a heck of a lot more difficult than a Cruise Control retrofit. You'd be looking at fitting sensors, possibly even changes to the keyfob. Personally, I wouldn't want to mess around with locking electronics on my vehicle, but each to their own!

Originally Posted by Stephy

Hi All,

Kurt. Do you still have the photos to see how you have done it. I've just got my 64 M235i and I want to get cruise control on it. Wondering how to go about what parts I need and see how its done.

I only realised today that, during a quest to enhance my online security, I randomised all the URLs of my pictures on PhotoBucket, which of course meant that they no longer showed in the original post! Doh!

I've corrected this today Stephy, so they should all be showing now for you. I have seen your PM also, I will reply ASAP.


And so, onwards - an update on my progress with my M235i!

I'm afraid to say, there isn't really one.

What I can do though, is tell you about a few reasonably dreadful things that have happened to my car in the last 2 years!

• It's had the whole roof, both front wings (fenders), and the front bumper repainted. The roof was damaged by what I can only assume was an enormous dragon like creature with diamond claws, as the scratches were so deep. The situation with the front wings (fenders) was similar. The front bumper has actually been repainted twice now, and needs doing again! The first time some careless oaf hit it in a car park and drove off - charming. The second time seemed to happen mysteriously whilst the car was parked at my old address (I think it was my psycho ex girlfriend, but she never admitted it), and I don't even know how the most recent one happened. I'm yet to be able to afford to repair it!
• It's absolutely covered in door dents. For those of you who're from the wonderful US of A, think of one of your typical parking bays/spaces. Now imagine that halved. What you're imagining now is a parking bay/space that's still bigger than an average one in the UK. I'm sure I'll manage to get her booked in with my friends down at Dent Rewind sometime in the near future, when time allows!
• Randomly, the drivers side seat started puffing foam from the outer bolster into the rear footwell every time it was moved. The car has been into my local dealership twice now for this but they're yet to actually repair it (typical). Each time it comes out they say it's fixed, then two days later my rear footwell is starting to fill up with lots of little white bits of fluff again (and no, it's not dandruff. I've been religious with the Head & Shoulders).

This weekend just gone however was the first time in ages that I actually found myself able to spend some proper time on the car, and so I set about fixing a problem that's bugged me since day one of ownership - the frankly ridiculous location of the car's USB connection (tucked away in the centre arm rest).

Thanks to this moronic design, if you wish to use the car's USB connection, you either have to tuck your phone/MP3 player away in the arm rest, or you have to trail a cable out the side of the arm rest down to your centre console.
Any fellow F series BMW owners that are even half as OCD as I am will totally empathise when I say that the design is extremely irritating.

So, after finding myself a nice little adaptable phone holder that sits in one of the cup holders, my mission was to run a cable from the centre armrest USB connection and up to my new phone holder, totally hidden from sight. After a couple of hours of tinkering, mission accomplished!

Being the kind soul that I am, I photographed the job from start to finish in order to document it all for you, in case any of you wanted to do the same yourselves! In addition, it'll serve as a handy step by step guide on how to remove the central trim pieces!

Parts
The nifty little cup holder phone cradle I managed to pick up can be found here - Belkin Car Cup Mount
Since I'm an iPhone user through and through, I grabbed myself a 3 metre lightning cable from the local Halfords also - Halfords Lightning to USB Cable 3m

Step 1
Firstly, I needed to lift/remove the long centre trim piece that houses the iDrive controller. This was a little tricky to start with. Start at the bottom end near the centre armrest, and whilst forcing the plastic below the armrest back a little with one hand, try to slide a screwdriver/prying tool into the gap. I couldn't manage to get my prying tool into the gap, so screwdrivers were the only option.



After a little careful leverage, the trim piece started to come away. See below.



Be careful not to rip the trim up too quickly, as the cable for the iDrive controller is fairly short. The blue connector clip on the end of the cable is your standard 'squeeze and pull' type affair. Once disconnected, remove the trim piece completely. See below.




For anyone wishing to remove the iDrive controller, there are a few screws that hold it to the trim piece. I didn't need to do this for my task, but if you needed to remove it, should be pretty straightforward!

Step 2
Once you've removed the trim piece above, you'll be left with something that looks a little like this.



Next step is to lift/remove the larger plastic trim that contains the driving mode switches, and the gear select gator surround. For me, this came away with ease - no prying needed whatsoever. However, I did find that the trim piece snagged on the gear selector on its way up. I was able to overcome this by pushing the selector back towards me whilst lifting the trim.
Again, slow and steady wins the race here, as the cable for the driving mode switches will still be attached. Carefully remove the blue clip and you're away. See below.






Step 3
Once that second piece of trim is removed, it should all be looking a little like so.



Next step is to remove the cup holder recess containing the 12V socket. Simply undo the two torx screws either side, and the unit will easy lift.

NOTE - I discovered as I started to lift the unit that the proximity sensor for the wireless key is located on the front of it! It's connected by a cable with another standard squeeze and pull clip, but once you disconnect this, be advised, you won't be able to start the car until you reconnect it!

Disconnect the connector for the proximity sensor, and then carefully remove the connectors for the 12V socket underneath the cup holder recess (these just pull, and slide off their spade connectors).






Once you've removed the cup holder recess, you should be left with this:



Step 4
After earlier discovering (by accident with the vacuum cleaner) that the car's cup holders contain small removable rubber floor covers, my plan was to remove one of these covers, and drill a small hole in the plastic below, large enough for the cable to fit through. Floor covers shown below.



My idea was to pull the cable up through the hole, and sit the Belkin car mount into the cup holder as normal, disguising the hole and positioning things perfectly. Furthermore, if ever I needed to remove the cable, this way I'd be able to re-insert the rubber floor cover I'd removed, and the hole would then be totally covered!

Worked like a charm, see below.






Step 5
Next I needed to connect the USB end of the cable within the centre armrest.
The rubber tray that houses the aux/USB connectors pulls up real easy with a small tug, revealing the connectors below.



Both connectors are housed within a smaller plastic unit, which is removed by simply squeezing the fixing on either end. This smaller plastic unit then comes away from the rubber tray, upwards.



Removing each individual connectors is again similar. Simply squeeze the clips, and they'll come away.



To give myself a little more room, I found it helpful to remove the larger rubber tray beside the connectors as well. Of course this only applies to those who haven't got the phone prep pack fitted!



Next, I pulled the USB end of the cable through from below the front of the centre armrest, and connected to this to the car's USB connector. To hold things in place, I used a couple of small cable ties to make sure the now lose USB connector wouldn't end up catching the handbrake mechanism.



Next, I pulled the rest of the cable down the left hand side of the centre trim, following the path of the iDrive controller cable. I was even able to tuck it into the same recess.




Next, I curled the rest of the cable's length into a nice circular coil, and sat it down in the recess below where the cup holder unit sits. I chose to coil the cable up so that it could wrap neatly around the outside edge of one of the cup holders, to keep things tidy and secure.



Next, I refitted the cup holder unit, re-connected the 12V plug and the proximity sensor, and poked the cable through the hole I'd drilled.



And this was the result - all neat and tidy!



Step 6
Next it was time to put everything back together, and admire my handiwork!



And here pictured with the phone holder and phone once added!




To close, below is a picture showing how the connector tray in the centre armrest now looks with the USB tucked below. Frankly, to the untrained eye, it's not noticeable!




And so, job done! Now I can actually use the BMW ConnectedDrive app on my iPhone, and no longer have to suffer the painful bugs with bluetooth audio streaming!

Boy, it's good to be back!