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Hi, everyone!
We finally arrived at reviewing the BMW. I've read all your comments, thabnk you very much.
Well, I'm not a liar. Nor a cheater. The weather was bad. Or I was away. Anyway, today I'm finally shooting.
I will shoot it in parts.
I will tell you about the car itself, how it's to be driven. And I'll also spare some words on the stereo and multimedia from the viewpoint of a user.
Tigran will tell about the wiring and the proofing. That was his part of the job.
And Dima will cover the doors and the HU.
We'll begin with the car itself, I think. It's one BMW 523.
Despite the fact it says 23 (as in 5-23), the engine volume is not 2.3 L (0.6 gal) but, in fact, 2.5 L (0.7 gal)
This is one of the most successful BMW builds among all BMW body types.
The engine barely needs repair works. Hardly ever fails. Doesn't consume much oil.
I mean, the same engines have been used for a while now. So the one here is just like those in older makes.
But this one has a different block head or smth else. Dunno what it is but this one doesn't gobble oil.
Unfortunately, there have been some repair inflicting incidents over the past year.
The car is 4 years old now. When I bought it, it was 3 years old.
Well, the faults were minor. I mean, not huge but not really minor minor. Given the pricing for German cars, there were some very unpleasant surprises.
To my luck, there are some nice people to help. Tigran told me about that guy Ashot and his wonderful service center. I go to them now.
The man helped with spare parts and did some great job for reasonable money.
I had the radiator replaced which would've cost me over ₽30,000 if not for Ashot. And I paid about ₽10,000 for an original German make radiator + the work
We got insice as it's very cold and windy outside. And the BMW I'll show you anyway.
And the telling I will do from here, with a side of this Hyundai. /Did I pronounce it correctly?/
[T]: Yeah, Hyundai.
This is Tigran's new project. Yet another SQ. He's been doing a lot of those lately. Tries to keep up with Dima Bekrenev.
So, about the BMW. You cannnot afford servicing the car unless you earn at least (!) ₽100,000 per month.
A 3-year-old car has its faults. I've dome some calculations.
Not to bore you with the figures, buying a 2-3-year old car and servicing it is less costly than buying a new one.
I'd rather buy a used car in good - better, perfect - condition and make peace with all those teeny tiny faults
This engine is not troublesome at all. No oil separator or seal fitting faults. At least according to the repairs' guys
The cars with larger engine volumes need frequenter service. BMW 550s come in once a month, they say.
F01, 7-er, 3-er... Engines with higher volumes in any type of car body need regular tech care.
BMW is not the most dependable car and that's a solid fact
Which is a bliss for the repairs' owners. They say, if not for BMWs, there wouldn't be so much work for them
This 2.5 L engine is oaky and the car in its current complectation is perfectly reliable.
The only thing is, they say, fuel injection control module mught fail. Or was it the PC? Or the carputer?
I still think it was the fuel injection control module. It failing would cost 80,000.
This is one of the largest troubles the owners of this complectation might face.
About repairs. On buying the car, I had it diagnosed. They said it had a lever and a silent block to replace, which I did.
And after that nothing was done with the suspention throughout this year.
Well, nothing except for the springs which I consider not repairs but tuning.
And the brakes I replaced not to prevent anything but to improve it. At least that's wat I thought I was doing.
The brakes I had at the time would've still been okay for some time. But I asked some guys in one repairs center (won't be teling which one) for advice.
So they sold me some Zimmermann disks. What a load of crap!
They were very scary to drive with. Tigran can back me on this. The brakes overheat in no time and start to vibrate, hawl etc.
So I had to replace the brakes twice in one year. These pissed me off before I drove 10,000 - even 5,000 km.
Had to trade these for original ones. So this was the biggest fail so far. ₽30,000 for each replacement.
So the guys are replacing the breaks yet. There are the original ones.\
This is the *** I was tricked into instaling. 10,000 km - and they're no more.
And these are the new disks. With new pads. Had 'em replaced, too.
Don't you ever buy this ***, people. Called Zimmermann.
All the rest is rather affordable. About the electrics. I had one coil and the ingnition candles replaced.
Different centers carge different money but it all costs around ₽7,000-10,000.
And that's it. Plus I've had it inspected 4 times. The car has driven 20,000 km over the year.
And the cost of each inspection is about ₽8,000-10,000.
And the fuel consumption rate is 15 L/100 km. Which makes it about ₽100,000-115,000 for gas over the year.
No complaints about the car so far. Except for maybe one thing. As compared to older BMWs, at least to those I've ever driven, --
this one is poorer asembled. It's squeakier and rattlier. Plus, the plastic's cheaper hence worse. You can see it.
More cars were sold for a reason. They had to make it cheaper so they could sell more thus make more money
The car was completely proofed. So now there's nothing rattling during the ride. Not bass-related rattling, I mean.
The bass I will speak of a little later.
So. Servicing the car is pretty real but not for those who earn ₽20,000-40,000 per month. It will eat out your whole budget.
With that kind of income, you'd better buy a Japanese car. Those are more reliable
but not comfortable and as - how do I put it? - not as prestigious as the German cars. But are simpler and more affordable.
So this was al about the repair woks. Now, about the tuning and up-grading.
Brand parts for BMWs arevery expensive. All of it starting from a radiator grill.
I installed on the BMW 20" original (!!!) Vossen CV3 rims.
I bought them very cheap 'cause one rim was broken.
It was welded. Had to paint them but I didn't feel like doing it at the time so they're still not painted.
In this review, the car is with winter wheels. But you might've already seen how awesome it looks in Vossen.
Once we put Vossen on it, the car went up and looked like some kind of SUV which was terrible.
The car was put up in Kaliningrad. As I understand it, that 'For Russian roads' package implies higher clearance
They must've thought that if you make it 3 cm higher, Russian roads won't feel so crappy.
Well, they were wrong. The wheels go drab just the same.
Rear axle we got down with a Newton. We just put the subwoofer into the trunk and it went down on its own.
But the front jumped up and started looking like hell. So we installed original German-make springs
Which were supposed to be there, and are on this body type cars without 'Russian roads' package.
Went down by 3.5 cm, I think. And the car became just nice after that.
I would pull is down even more, for just a bit. But the bumper is all fcked up and down now.
I have troubles getting close to pavements with the way it is. Not hard to imagine what would be if it was lower.
As of external tuning, I'm planning on installing an M-series front bumper. Or maybe the whole bumper set.
I'll have to see if the front bumper fits well with side bumpers. If not, I'll maybe have to buy side bumpers, too.
Rear bumper is deep down the priority list. So if I find a cheap one, I'll install it.
Of the loofs, only the radiator grill was traded for a black one. I think many BMW owners would agree with me on it
Those original grills with chrome coated frames are just terrible for the car's looks.
80% of cars I see have the black grills. It's so much better that way.
Side window mouldings, chrome coated, too, are a killing to the looks.
Shadow Line. That's what BMW's black mouldings are called.
If you want to replace the mouldings with zero butt pain, just go to the dealer's and buy those Shadow Line things.
You'll be charged ₽42,000 for that set of crap chips. I've seen people paint the mouldings with either Plasti Dip,
or pain, or other stuff. I'm planning on replacing these, too. For now let they spoil looks.
As for tuning in general, there's a ton of opportunities out there. Lots of parts available both new and used.
Some buy Hamann full bumper sets for ₽400,000 or ₽200,000.
Some choose M-pack (de: M-paket). For some ₽50,000-70,000 you can buy a complete set of original bumpers
In fact, there's an infinate lane of options for tuning with original parts. Black ceilings, M-steering wheel,
clip-on interior panels, wood-like, carbon-like -- Whatever you widh. It's just that sometimes the pricing's out of this world.
Catalogue pricing is just crazy. A Hamann roof shark fin costs ₽90,000. ₽90,000 for a tiny piece of plastic!!
And a bunch of other insane stuff. Like, a 6-pack of wood-like panels would cost you ₽150,000.
₽60,000 for a used one.
So the tuning parts are all out there. Tons of options. Easy installation, DIY kits. But it costs a fortune unless you seek better.
Loads of tuning opportunities. And people do it. Well, if you have the money, you can do whatever you want.
I personaly don't have that kind of money. For instance, a kit of front LED lights is ₽100,000 min. The average price is ₽170,000.
Tailgates, skirts, all sorts of M-style stuff. There are even radiator grill strips in color.
They ask money for that crap. And people buy that crap.
People put those stripes on BMW 550Ds and make themselves [Russian flag] tricolor grills.
Which is actually great. People have hobbies, people like their cars.
And at this point, BMW give you opportubities. Pay the money and DIY whatever the hell you want to your car.
In my case, tuning's direction was different. It was stereo-related tuning. No surprise here.
The car was handled by -- Well, by a whole team. A lot of people took part.
Tigran was there, Dima (who worked on the interior), Dima Bekrenev, Arty was handling the sub chain.
Plus the guys from the store are in when I nedd to, say, get a box, or wire a sub, or re-lay some wiring.
The stereo lives its own life. Something's constantly changing, be it subs, mid-basses or mids --
There are several components approved for this system - I'll be speaking of them a little closer in a sec.
Other parts are changing all the time 'cuz I don't like it, or 'cuz I wanna experiment, or we burn the fck off it.
Not much of the latter, though. Still, there were some faults and I'll spare a word or two on that matter.
And now we're following Tigran to the car. But fisrt, he'll tell us about the proofing process.
And I'll tell about the stereo and multimedia, how it's used, what it can and can't do, pros and cons etc.
So Tigran was the one who handled all the wiring and he'll tell you all about it once he figures out how to open the hood.
C'mon, man! I know you can!
Look! I even washed it under the hood specially for this review. For the first time since the purchase.
[T]: Even when I was working, it was all dirt and mud.
Yep. Total mud pit.
So we can see the wiring from here and Tigran is going to tell about them now.
[T]: In this car, it was extremely difficult to find a place to lay the wiring.
[T]: There was some space enough for one lay only. Meanwhile we needed to make two lays and a round of ПВ-70.
[T]: The latter we layed over here. We installed some sleeves specially for that, and --
There are two of these leading to the generator, right?
[T]: Four. Four rounds of ПВ-70 lead to the generator which is right here.
A Japanese generator. Denso. 210 A. A great piece of hardware. The make, the high amperage, all fine.
In this respect, I was lucky. This is the original generator, so no need to replace it with a new one.
[T]: Well, there's pretty much nothing more of the stereo under the hood. Not even a single fuse in the system.
Fun fact! I'll show how to close the hood. Some people think it's the rage talking but in fact this is how you do it!
[T]: 4 counts of ПВ-70 lead right here from under the hood. Here they are wired to the two main batteries.
[T]: And from there the duplicate wiring leads to the associate power cell - take a closer look - over here.
[T]: There's some mess here. There used to be a nice little cap on top of it.
[T]: People keep doing mess while I'm away. Oh, boy!
[T]: Some fixing was done. The base in the original battery niche was strengthened.
Where regular cars have their spare tyre?
[T]: Yeah. Regular cars have a spare tyre there. This one has two power cells.
Sure thing, a system like this is no good without full noise- and vibro-proofing. It had to be done for min 146%
As a side effect of that, the car became way more pleasant and comfortable to drive.
For some reason, the original proofing is far from good in 5-ers.
I had a ride in a Lexus GS recently. Even that ona has beter proofing. No clue why.
I might be wrong but for a luxury car it is too loud to drive. And now it's like driving a 7-er.
Tigran did some brilliant job proofing the car. It's several layers of Shumoff materials. Tigran will share the details.
[T]: About the proofing. In the doors Shumoff M4 was laid.
[T]: And on top of it there's Comfort noise-proofing.
[T]: The roof was laid with 2 layers of - mm thich vibro-proofing and a layer of noise-proofing.
[T]: Also, the whole trunk was proofed with a material called Shumoff mix-f.
[T]: It has 3 layers. In one of the reviews Sasha made a piglet of it. I still have it.
[T]: And it's also vibro-proofed.
[T]: The floor was not touched by proofing since the factory thickness of the floor is some 7 cm.
[T]: The only place that is still making noise is the front arches.
[T]: Once the weather gets better, we'll take'em off, degrease 'em and proof the arches on the outside.
[T]: The most challenging part of the proofing was the ceiling since the original proofing was there.
[T]: It was reeeally hard to take it off. I spent, like, two days scraping it off with this thing.
[T]: This scraper is never leaving my pocket now.
Thus the car got complete noise- and vibroproofing. And even if you're not going to install a very loud stereo,
I still suggest you go through taht car makeover. It really boosts the quality of driving.
It's way quieter inside, plus the car absorbes more of the speed bump or pothole caused kicks.
This is a change that doesn't any harm for a car's assembling. The only thing is, it adds up to the weight.
[T]: Some 70 kg
All in all complete proofing weighs about 50-70 kgs which is not dramatic. Unless, of course, you're a racer.
What you feel while driving, on the other hand, will be way, way better.
And moving to the system. Let's start with the Head unit which strangely enough is in the tail.
Take a look here, btw. You might've seen us screwing the plate to the lid in one of our older reviews.
Unfortunately, that is of vital necessity. Otherwise, the plate comes off all the time.
The HU is accomodated right here. There was enough space left for it.
I'll add a photo of it installed by Tigran.
And Dima will be telling how he resoldered the pannel so it could wind up right here.
More about it is coming in Dima's part of the review.
Tigran crafted a raised floor on which two Hannibal 4.180 amps were mounted like this.
Tigran feels confused about this part and asks me not to show it. Pretty much 'cuz it's not his work. He'd have done it neater and nicer.
But it's only temporary. Like most of things in the system turn out.
The interblock cables will have to be reorganized so that they get automatically separated.
I only used Y-cables which are far from the best. That's why I have interference.
The raised floor comprises two parts. The front part is static. It's well fixed and it houses the amps.
The back part you can take off so you can see the power cells. But for that, you'd sure need to take out the box.
The sub part is covered by two 12" neodymium Bass Warriors. Very powerful. Very light.
And judging from what I 've seen, very unkillable.
I kick it really hard for them yet they are still up and running.
Now, if you fols back the seats, the interior has 100% original factory looks.
A pair of cupholders here. A small stuff compartment here. And another compartment over here.
I think there has to be a bag for transporting oversized objects somewhere.
[T]: That bag is called yo'pants, eh?
Lots of space in the back.
Thus the car got zero change at the back.
Two mid-bass speaker wired parallelly comprising together one channel of amplification.
Another channel is a 16.5 cm (6.5") mid.
One P.Audio SN4-60f found its place in the original spot but with volume alterations.
It's one very cool and very loud mid-range speaker.
And the tweeters are B&C DE35. The best tweeters I've seen in my life so far.
Many would back me up on this.
So this is an interesting organization. Leaves space for experiments. Which I've been doing a lot.
Mid-bass I've listened to were MOMO, PowerBass, DeafBonce.
As for mids, I've listened to a bunch of those, too.
Well, I'm still choosing. For instance, DBs here are very loud but not the best mid-basses, they're basically mids.
Momos played nice mid-bass part but they lacked in the middle range which these two mids compensate for perfectly.
I'd go with Momos now but I'd still test some more out.
Frankly speaking, I'm quite content with DBs, too. But I'm going to keep on looking for /the sound/ .
The speakers are mounted not with regular screws but with - what do you call 'em? expander? -- right! Cage nuts
It was a nightmare with the Ford back in the day. The panel was perforated like a collander. We screwed 'em in and out a thousand times.
Here, you can screw the speakers in and out as many times as you wish.
I shall note that the doors are not the way they're planned to look now. There will be grills here. Someday.
And now, Tigran, tell us how you laid the wiring here.
[T]: Well, yeah, Sasha wanted me to lead 4 wires into the door throught the original ductway.
[T]: Not the thinnest wires, you know. Well, no-can-do. The original duct could house only two wires.
[T]: So what did we do? We mounted an extra ductway.
Tell 'em where it comes from!
It's from a Priora.
Wasn't it from a Niva?
[T]: Nay. I'm pretty sure it's from a Priora.
See? There's a Priora spare part on a BMW F10.
[T]: Look, fits as if it was original.
Yeah, original for a Priora, still!
The door turned out very nice. Noone believes there will ever be grills. Well, neither do I.
[T]: I don't believe, too.
Everyone says it looks good. I agree on that. I wouldn't even close them with grills.
Actually I'm not very sure the grills would survive the bass. Gotta test it out. Maybe someday there will be grills, too.
Now about the stereo and teh multimedia. All in all we have 3 systems here.
Number one is the factory stereo which was left intact. We've got CD, we've got radio tuner
and all the speakers were left except for those in the doors.
It still has the speakers in the original spots and under the seats and the system uses them.
Let me show you how.
The original system is on. Aux is on right now, and if we switch to radio, the radio is being played.
The originall BMW interface is intact here.
Nothing changed on the menu. Everything's just the way it was.
You can also listen to CDs. Plus, this thing plays parking radar bleeping and other system info signals like when the door is open.
If we touch the screen - yes, it's touchscreen now - we switch to another stereo-miltimedia system that apts you to do anything.
We have 3 USB slots where we can plug in a thumb drive, an iPhone or a modem. Or whatever you want.
Plus, there's Bluetooth, there's Navitel navigation. Somebody said I needed an update.
Looks pretty ugly. I didn't get it how to update it. I think I'll have to download it to a USB drive and then --
Still it works. I've used it a couple of times. Anyway, I find navigating on my phone more convenient.
Although a couple of times, in the areas my phone went out of service, this thing worked so I used this.
There's also a TV-tuner. Although the signal's not that good here at Tigran's
I've seen people in Moscow install 2 extra antennas in the back, and the signal, the quality is perfect.
I watch TV when stuck in traffic. Great for when you need to kill the time or just feel like a news update.
Thus we have a multimedia and an original stereo wired to original speakers.
[Plus an original DVD in the glove compartment]
A fly in the oitment is this remote control which doesn't bother much laying here but it looks so out of place.
And it's not like there's no need in it. We failed to wire the TV-tuner to this HU so
that you can control the tuner with the HU. So to watch TV, you need this remote.
You can change the channel. Or if you don't feel like TV, you can use the remote to open external files.
I've got a series here. And some StandUp.
You can search or fastforward and stuff with the remote.
You can watch any video files. A great solution for a long road. You get there in a blink.
The only thing is, you better download something that is rather to listen to tahn to watch. Like StandUp.
And finally, the pearl of this review. The stereo.
It works completely separately from the original sys. I can turn this on and they can work simultaneously.
I listen to music from my iPhone. I use a cable although you can use any other means. I like it via cable.
I use LazyTune app. Great software. Allows to use local tunes, too. Aww, I have them sorted in folders
I can shoot a mini-review on how to use the app, if necessary. It's very convenient.
I can also access all my music from my vk.com page.
I have the phone in the flight mode so I cannot show it to you right now.
Anyway, you can access all your tracks on vk.com and download them to play offline.
And so you can listen to your music.
Loud enough.
This is a very loud sys. But - i don't know if it's fortunate or vice versa - we all got used to sys' like the Trinakha's.
Cas like the 13 seem loud to us, and those like the BMW, not so much.
I turn it on for people without loud music history and they just flip. They don't understand how is it possible to listen to music so loud
Gotta understand that for a regular daily use oriented sedan a front of 149-150 dB is /very/ loud.
USB slots are all here in the glove compartment. You can plug in drives with music, videos, audiobooks --
whatever you like. There are 3 slots, after all.
The car is perfect for road trips.
Minimal interference with the original stereo. I keep saying it's very hard to make a somewhat decent system out of a BMW original stereo.
You have no chioce but to make anotherone on top of it. Which we did.
So we have a loud stereo, an original stereo and a multimedia with TV and stuff.
Steering wheel control buttons are all working. Speaker phone, Bluetooth, phone book --
You can connect it to your cellphone and use it, even play audio. It's, dunno, a fourth signal source.
So you can listen to stuff from you iPhone, from thumbdrives, on the radio, on TV
And soon we're planning to experiment with Apple TV. We'l install it and a router here and try it out.
I don't need that Apple TV in any possible way but I'm just very curious to see how it will work out.
I must also add that this car is pure pleasure to drive as of dynamics despite the smallest - or is it the second smallest?
There's a smaller one? 520s? Okay, I may be mistaken. Maybe they were turbo after all...
As of comort, it went up by far after Tigran proofed the car. Plus, there's stereo and multimedia. So the car's great for any use.
Except for maybe off-road drives. It went down by 3.5 cm in the frond. At the back, maybe even by more.
It's getting hard to climb some pavements but I don't feel any faults in it.
It's not like driving a completely lowered car. I mean, it's basically the height it would've been if made in Germany
Unfortunately, the roads here in Russia are not as good as they are in Germany. So they lifted it up.
We managed to lower it. Luckily, we've got an expert in the room. You should see Tigran's Priora of when we met
I'll add the video where you were jumping on it. Shall I? I will anyway.
Now about the flaws. You'll see them with your eyes now. They all get perfectly reflected on tape.
The main faults and flaws are that loud music destroys the car. Physically. And I made peace with that.
And because I... It's probably a condition, loud melomania or something. I need my music loud. So I make peace with this kind of stuff.
Still it's unpleasant.
So one by one. The front plafond is being torn off. The lamp itself came down once.
[Tigran, you glued it fcking amazingly! Look at this!]
My stop lights came off yesterday.
[T]: The funniest part is that when something comes off here, I receive texts.
Yeah, 'cus I come to Tigran saying something rattles and needs glueing. He glues it. Well, yeah, it stops rattling but comes off completely in 30 mins.
There's also a trouble with the button that holds the gas tank lid.
There's little wire in it which gets broken all the time. Too thin to survive the vibration.
It costs ₽600. I bought one once. Now I'll need to buy another one. The lid jumps like without it.
And this is pretty much it.
Windows do not come off and... Well, the roof gets jammed a little. You might've seen that on videos.
If things continue like this, we'll have to lay another round of proofing on the roof.
But for now the body in general is whole. Nothing gets broken or comes off.
Or no! Wait. There's one more thing. The trunk lid's automatic closing started failing.
Must be something relocating in the lock itself. The hardest vibrations are on the trunk lid.
And the first aid kit that was underneath the lid, it came down very quickly. I don't even want to put it back up.
It's gonna take what to make it stay there for much longer. Like, six screws? And all will stick out from the lid
And there ar no more flaws entailed by installing the stereo. The looks might offend BMW owners.
These corner stands and the doors. In this project, I tried to keep it as close tot he original looks as possible.
So this all is going to be covered with grills, an dit's gonna look quite original.
I like it the way it is, though.
There is this cool Efficient Dynamics thing that gives more energy on slowing down and less on accelerating
thus reducing the generator's loading and supposedly increasing the engine's efficiency.
It's easy to turn off. I turned it off so that the generator keeps giving out...
What's so funny?
[T]: You just said it funnily. Easytoturnoff.
It's easy to turn off. Stop laughing.
[T]: Grab the wire and pull it off.
You unplug the wire from the battery's negative clam and it gives out constant power of 14.5 V
During acceleration it reduces the power to 13.6 which can do much harm for the system at its top load.
I turned that crap off. I can't say the car started going much slower than it did before.
It started driving slow when we proofed it and installed 200 kg of music and 20" rims on it.
However the car can still go up to 230 km/h which is more than enough on highways.
I drive 180-200 km/h just like that. Where I may, of course.
Oh, look! Great. We'll eat now, then. Oh, damn! I can't! I eat healthy now!
I eat healthy with Morkovka now. Subscribe to them on Instagram. Yep, another ad.
Why not, though? I know the guys. And now they kinds feed me.
If you want to know what I eat, I might even shoot a review of that. They've got some pretty interesting stuff.
I could never imagine you could eat healthy and tasty at the same time. They cook it and garnish it nice.
And the naming's just amazing. Almost like foie gras, you know.
I can't remember any of them now but they're awesome.
Yesterday, for instance, I ate dorado. Do you know what it is? Oh, you know nothing!
[T]: El Dorado?
Nay. Tigran knows only one fish. Catfish!
He knows no dorado fish. How about seabass? Sea bass? No?
We'll be off for a meastful meal. Pirogis for Tigran and some steamed turkey for me.
And then we'l listen to some music, show you what happens to the car. Yeah, gotta do it before it's dark.
He got scared, I think. Hey, Tigran! Was it too loud?
[T]: Nah, not really. The proofing's there after all.
Proofing, huh?
Man, you spoilt a perfect shot! I was thinking I'm slowly moving the cam like this throught the whole car
Like, guess who's car this is...
And there's your Barev Dzes! ('Hello' in Armenian)
We're going to Dima's. He'll be telling how he made the covers.
Ad as we drive there, we pass by the GIBDD (Russian Traffic Patrol) main office in the Rostov oblast'.
Since they've moved into this new building, a lot more people have been charged for car window tinting.
The good thing is they've repaired the road here. Used to be terrible.
I srrived at Dima's. The man is associated with sound quality all over the Internet already.
People make motivations with his face. He's actually turning into a meme.
Quite a famous figure he is.
I'm pretty lucky he lives in Rostov-on-Don.
He was handling, well, most of this car's installation. The most challenging tasks were done by him.
Those being door covers, volume setting and also installing the head unit. And the corner stands.
Dima is going to tell about all the challenges he faced when working on this project.
If you want to engage Dima in a project ike this or want his advice, you can find his contact info under the video.
He's a regular on Drive2.ru. There's also his Golf. A very interesting project that's being prepared - for Europe?
[D]: On March, 8 we'll be departing for...
On March, 8 there are European finals.
[D]: No. The finals are on March, 17. On the 8th we're leaving for it.
Dima is working on that Infinity over there and mastering his own car.
There will be something like a small teaser on the secon channel about that Infinity
And if we're lucky - which we usually are not - we'll shoot a complete review of it.
We promised that Teana and something else. But the owners leave with no chance for us to review the cars.
[D]: This one's not leaving until we're done shooting.
Okay, so first of all this wasn't probably an easy project, was it? Or are you used to this kind of work?
[D]: Okay, hi, everyone!
[D]: My relationships with this car started when Sasha brought us a box marked Intra and us asked to install a multimedia head unit.
[D]: Which we successfully did together with Sergei Skilkov.
[D]: But it wouldn't be the Sasha I know if he stopped right there.
So when he started thinking of a loud sound project, I took it as a courtecy to join it.
[D]: My task was to craft door panels, handle the acoustics and install the head unit.
[D]: Despite Sasha's known dislike of the Pioneer brand, we used Pioneer 99 as a basis,
[D]: as that is the only HU that can work with a thumb drive and operate channel-to-channel and all that jazz.
[D]: But taking into account the common feature of all BMW owners, we tried to alter the looks the least.
[D]: So as a result, we decapitated the Pioneer. The panel is here in the former ashtray slot
[D]: And the body was dumped at the trunk. There are pros and cons. One pro is the looks.
When you need it pretty, you close the lid. Whe you need it useful, ypu open and here's your control panel.
[D]: Besides that, the tuner is close to the amps hence short interblocks leading to better signal and less interference.
[D]: A major con was the panel's thickness. The thing is, under this slot there's the airduct for rear passengers' heating
[D]: So we couldn't go too deep down. Nor could we go too up 'cuz there's the lid.
[D]: So it took us some blood and sweat to find the perfect position so the lid goes up and down and the air duct's not busted.
[D]: Those were the pros. Now the cons. To me as an experienced SQer, it's a con that using a CD is difficult.
[D]: But Sasha's plan wasn't cut for it. He was all USB so you use a thumb-drive or an iPhone, so...
Well, it reads lossless formats, so --
[D]: Problem solved.
If you crave for quality, just download some lossless.
[D]: And another grand problem is that he lost his cup holder. No place to put coffe or a milkshake
Well, not exactly. I've got the bar thing there in the back. There are armrests, cup holders. Like on a 3-er. I made peace with that.
[D]: That was stage one. Stage two was reorganizing the original panels for installing speakers in it.
[D]: The initial target was to instal a 4-band system. Sasha sent me the list of the speakers.
[D]: Frankly speaking, I have no idea what they are. All I needed was their size to craft the panels.
[D]: I mean, to calculate diameters and the depth.
[D]: All of you must know that 20" mid-basses work to the inside volume of the door.
[D]: And the mids - I call 'em big-mid and small-mid - work their own volumes.
[D]: The volumes are made of fiberplastic. The job was difficult yet very interesting to do.
[D]: I took it as a personal challenge and I consider that challenge accomplished.
[D]: There's only one flaw in the doors' look. The concept was that there will be a grill covering it all. A-la home stereo.
[D]: But for a number of reasons we haven't done that part yet.
Come on! Say it as it is! We forgot about it.
[D]: Well, sooner or later...
Now we have everything but stiffness. Soon it will be covered with grills in order not to offend BMW fans.
[D]: We also accounted for the design the BMW engineers developed for this car.
[D]: And we tried to make the podiums fit the design. For instance, this line here continues in our podium nd than goes on like this.
[D]: There was also the placement trick. If we placed the speakers too deep, they'd stay in the way of the window when opening/closing.
[D]: They also couldn't be protruded too much as they would've been leaning against the seats when closing the door.
[D]: Sasha will probably show you that you can fit a hand in there even when the door is closed. And the seats regulate just fine.
No trouble at all.
[D]: Yet again, we managed to find the balance.
[D]: And the last thing we did here was crafting corner podiums for tweeters.
[D]: For some time, Sasha was driving around with no tweeters at all. And then we fixed a pair on drywall mountings.
[D]: Well, after some time we managed to finish that task, too.
[D]: We were aiming at... Well, everything was crafted with plaster and then painted.
[D]: And the paint's color and structure, we tried to make it as close to the window mouldings as possible.
[D]: I think we managed to do that.
You did, indeed.
Gotta note that initially the concept was to keep the looks original. And I've tried a lot of small tweeters to fit in the original spots.
Including P.Audio 407n - the loudest horn tweeters that can be taken off the cup and installed on their own.
It's a bit bigger than a regular tweeter, and very loud. Even so they stayed for one week only. And then I knew the original part had to go.
Then these corners were crafted. And - gotta give Dima the credit, they were were made very thoroughly
I saw him craft 'em. I had to come, like, 5 times and he would check so that the panel would fit perfectly to the door.
And to my mind, he did it for an A+. Yep, this is not the original looks and it would hurt lots of feelings
But a balanced system with great sound was impossible with small tweeters.
The high-pitched part of the signal was falling way back from the mids and even farther from the bass which I'm going to tell about later
People often ask me what oil I'm using for my BMW. Well, actually, not often. And it's majorly Dima asking.
A quick ad. I won't tell you waht oil I use. You'll have to guess it. And if you do, you'll get a life stock of oil for free
[D]: Not just in the BMW but ib any car.
Okay, there's a hint in this frame right now. I'm sure many of you won't guess 'cuz it takes a genius here. But some of you would, right?
[D]: You use it for the 5-er, you use it for the 1-er and even for the Trinakha.
But you are still to guess the brand!
Fine. We won't give you the life stock of oil. Just guess the brand.
And the bass part will be told by - by whom? Kuzya? Okay, let it be Kuzya.
Kuzya is not ready so Artyom will do the talking. To make it easier for him, I'll just ask some questions.
Arty, what is the setting now?
[A]: We've got it set for 38 Hz, two ports, the 160 pipes with two wings, about 100-110 L in volume.
Are we changing anything?
[A]: Yeah, we'll fire the volume up, shorten the pipes so that the set goes up and the car starts hitting real hard.
[K]: And while you're firing things up there I'll go work. Or you'll fire me...
The car is getting broken now which is unpleasant. And I like it higher and thicker so we gotta lift it up a bit.
So that it punches with subs. Like really punches.
This is - what? - the third box?
[A]: Yes.
The first box was made for two Pride S subs. The second one you can see right here.
This is an amazing box. With all the job done. So I suggest someine buys it, guys. It's all you can dream of.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to check it out as it didn't fit in the trunk!
Arty crafted 3 boxes one of which didn't fit into the BMW's trunk. How could he fck up so hard? I don't know.
Well, considering Arty's current project being THIS, it's pretty understandable. So he leaves this for a minute, crops a box and then comes back here.
[A]: There's nothing in there!
Why nothing? The seat is just fine!
And meanwhile we are going back to Tigran to sum up the review which I've been shooting for who knows how long.
I don't know how long with editing take. Hopefully, you'll see it the next few days. By Defender of the Fatherland day (February, 23)
As a gift.
As a result, we got ourselves a very loud quality project. And very stable. Very little compromising was done.
As for the cost, it costs insane money. Components are top-notch, and the job done was costly,
I mean, some of the job was exclusive. Like those door panels. I really doubt Dima crafts those on a daily basis.
Plus, the doors were recovered.
The feed was installed enough to keep this system up even on full swing after 2 or 3 mins of work the voltage doesn't go lower than 12.2-12.5.
And all the problems were solved tough and rough.
If we need hoge feed capacities, if we need Hawkers, then we need Hawkers.
We need doubled mid-bass 'cus they fall at a certain frequency almost every time - then we have 'em doubled.
The same was with wiring. Everything was done with 100% crazeor at least more than it had to be.
There is some rattling inside the car which bothers a lot. Tigran and I've given it plenty attention.
I'll put in some videos of us searching for the source of rattling and then fixing it.
Sometimes it takes disassembling a lot of stuff to put down one little rattling
So people decide to make peace with it and listen to those noises. Well, this system is almost compromise free.
The volumes were crafted for the mids thus allowing to put in more energy.
For a pair of 10 cm and a pair of 16.5 cm speakers, they play very loud and there's still some space to go up.
Plus, the current organization comprises DeafBonce speakers which have enormous extra capacity in terms of the middle range.
The interior turned out a nice surprise. It's all soft and fluffy. No major rattles except the plafond and the stop lights. For now.
Tigran is very close to conquering them the only trouble is the mounting. I'm too close to screwing them to the roof and leaving.
Maybe that's the solution we're looking for. The falling light is no fun.
Show it!
[T]: We're about to take it down now.
The plastic came dow on the both sides, didn't it?
[T]: This was the rattle, too.
What could be more disappointing?
Tigran, man, show us the thing the Germans miscalculated.
You don't need it anymore, do you?
[T]: Nope.
That's the deal, guys. See?
Tigran know better than the Bavarians. No need in this crap.
[T]: We'll proof the garage as well!
Okay, so there's the light Tigran's about to install.
At the moment he's stuffing the hole with Moduline, right?
[T]: It's Carpet.
Carpet? Couldn't fit Moduline in?
The window rattles here, where it touches the dashboard.
And there's the rear lighting to glue and fix as it rattles like hell. It's a shame on every loud install, actually.
If you put up numerous subs, be prepared to that constant rattling. And trust me, it will be there.
And you won't be able to identify the source until you run a test.
And the worst thing is that after a few weeks there will be something new rattling.
So unless you want to lidten to it all the time, you'll have to brush up the car all through the first few months.
Look, I can't figure out what's rattling. Is it in the car or in the garage? Start the car and hit it harder.
Okay, that's enough! Found it!
Go take a look at th egas tank lid. I'll turn it on, go, have fun!
That's it.
There's a very convenient LoudSound app for iPhone and for Android. Helps figure out where to glue the car.
Open it and set a frequency.
It's very convenient. You alter the frequency and here the car rattle here or there.
And so you fix it along.
It rattles like hell. I can imagine people's shock when I pass by them with the bass on and the tank lid flopping like a flag
No more major faults in the system. Well, outer mouldings on the doors make noise but I'm not sure if we can do anything about it.
And the back... crew the back! Let it rattle. It's not something that's not fixed. It's the trunk lid.
It moves too much. We'll need to make it heavy, vibroproof it.
Well, a system like this is bound to bring up challenges. You either accomplish them, or do just to check. Or do it well.
This one has been brushed for over 6 months now. I don't remember when we started testing it out first.
But all the works began last February or March.
The main thing is on now. You can listen to it. Loud, long time. You can use it.
Or if you're tired of music, you can watch some Comedy Club.
Or you can watch some news when stuck in traffic. I love the system and I love the car. It's badass.
It's not all true, what people say of BMWs. This car is pretty dependable and causes little trouble.
Plus the proofing and all the tuning we've done on it. I'm very happy with this project.
The ultimate goal is not showing off or making money. This is not a showcar. The target is to drive in comfort.
For now, the system is all I want it to be. And now I'll drive off leaving Tigran to work, and I'll go listen to music and feel good.
Sure it does catch eyes, especially when on those rims. I saw people peeking at them which is a pleasure.
And when the music's on, it's impossible not to look at it. I mean, you can hear ti from far away.
Again, we share a very specific hobby which is not accepted by everyone, so in order for people not to call us morons and ***,
please, do not turn up the music in ingabited areas or in narrow streets, or late at night. Just leave for a emptier place.
It's no good if you just want to show off your cool sub to others where you can bother people. Think of those whose kids are asleep.
Just be nice and respectful.
And I would like to thank all the people who made this project possible. It was a team effort.
It's not like I came to one master and they did it all alone. It was co-working of several people who did what they do best for this car.
I want to thank Tigran, Dima Bekrenev, Sergey Skilkow who worked with Dima.
There's also the other Dima who re-covered the doors. BTW, he helped us with the Mercedez doors for Anton Vorotnikov's *** My Ride.
You'll get a chance to see it pretty soon.
That very Dima who owns a Peugeot like in Luke Besson's 'Taxi' movies.
Thanks to all the guys in the store who've been very helpful when it came to the bass. It's Arty, Kuzya, Den even helped us.
[T]: With what? Helped you smoke by the car?
And for the car itself, huge thanks to Ashot. I'll give his credentials below the video.
Very nice client-master connection, very respectful, very helpful, very fast and very good job.
Helps a lot with spare parts. The man's got some connection so you can get tasty discounts. Again, a great service center!
I had the radiator and the brakes replaced there.
So thanks to all those people. They joined their effort for one and only reason - so I ca listen to loud music.
Bye, everyone. Subscribe to Tigran on Instagram
He posts his projects there. If you want to know what it looks like on different stages, subscribe.
This is the new project. Check it out on Tigram's Instagran. I mean, Tigran's Instagram.
This is going to be a 3-band system. But that's for another time.
But if you get itchy about it, you can just check it out on Tigran's Instagram.
[T]: It's a fact up?
You want me to say *** up? I'll have to bleep it then. And 'fact' is a perfectly unbleepable word.
I also recommend you do it at Tigran's, too.
[T]: Is it okay the mic's on me?