Introduction
I recently stumbled upon a rather old thread by pochetemix explaining how to retrofit the LCI cupholders on the F22 (
here). This looked like quite a cool retrofit, as the new cupholders come with a lid to cover them, and as someone who rarely drinks anything in his car, keeping the lid closed provides me with a better feeling in the interior overall and reduces clutter.
Unfortunately, the guide is not so depth, doesn't go into important details or provide a lot of pictures of the process, so I decided to create an in-depth one while I was retrofitting mine. My car came with the folding tray at the back of the cupholders. I found this tray completely useless as you can't fit anything there, and I really liked the "flat" tray in the newer center console.
Vehicle used in this guide
2016 BMW M235i (F22) with ZF8 transmission
Vehicles that this guide is applicable to
Any pre-LCI BMW F20/1/2/3.
Parts required- 51166993607 - Center console trim with cup holder (est. cost 100$ USD)
Fitting
1. Remove the iDrive knob trim. For this you'll need to put a pry tool between its panel and the panel under it and just pull up slowly as you'll feel the clips releasing. After removing the trim, disconnect the harness connected to it by simply pulling it, there is no retaining tab. There are a ton of videos online showing how to achieve this, so I won't go into details here.
2. Remove the shift lever surrounding trim. This can also be done by using a pry tool, and comes rather easy.
3. Remove the drive mode buttons and their trim. This can be done by simply putting your finger under them, using the free space from the shift lever. If you've never taken this part before, it may be a bit hard but you can use both your finger and a pry tool. Make sure to remove the top part first and then slowly release it. After removing the buttons assembly, disconnect the harness connected to it by pulling.
4. Remove the only T-20 screw holding the cupholders, and slowly prying the whole piece up and towards you, until it comes apart. The screw is marked in yellow in the picture below.
5. This step is optional. For some odd reason, my assembly came out without the cupholders - they were separate parts. Because of that, there was another T-20 screw holding them in place. The new cupholders
do not have this, so this screw is irrelevant when reinstalling, but it had to be removed in order to pull the old cupholders. Said screw is marked in yellow.
6. While removing the cupholders, disconnect the cigarette lighter socket connector by pulling it. In addition, disconnect the small connector from the keyless entry antenna located in the back of the cupholders - there is a small clip that's holding the connector that needs to be released in order to release the connector.
7. Remove the keyless entry antenna from the back of the cupholders by removing yet another T-20 screw, marked in yellow.
8. Now that's everything removed, you'll need to remove a small plastic clip that'll prevent you from installing the new cupholders. I'm not entirely sure why BMW decided to get rid of it, but the new cupholders simply won't fit with it in place. I simply used a cutter and filed it down gently so it's flush.
9. Reinstall the keyless entry antenna in the new cupholders.
10. Move the old cigarette lighter socket from the old cupholders to the new assembly.
11. Install everything in reverse order, making sure not to forget to connect any harness.
Results
This retrofit was looking rather easy from the guide by pochetemix, but as with all retrofits - when you actually come to tackle it, you find out that everything's not so easy, hence why I created this guide.
... and for the final result (sharp-eyed people will notice that I'm missing the rubber mat in the new assembly, for some reason mine came without it even though it should have. I ordered a new one):
Good luck and feel free to ask any questions!
Fraysa.