Good evening.
Here I show you something I've mounted yesterday in my car. Throwback to 2017, I fell in love with the blind cupholders of the LCI.2, since then, I knew I had to have that interior layout on my 2014 F20. IMO, the center console looks now more clean, tidy and collects less dust than previous cupholders. And even those interested in retrofitting a Qi wireless charging can have their needs covered.
Before:
After:
Well, to the point. Parts we will need:
- New console, reference number: 51166993607. You can get it on ebay at low prices, or at your BMW dealership for about 150 EUR.
- Tools for removing interior triming.
- Torx 20-25. I can't remember which one was exactly...
Steps:
1. Remove the iDrive trim and disconnect it.
2. In my case, since it is manual, I had to remove the clips that release the gear lever. It's not necessary to remove the whole gear lever, just the clips. In case you have ZF8, just take out the surrounding trim.
3. For taking off the driving mode selector, you have to find the tab at the top of the trim.
4. Unscrew the torx screws, and you're ready to loose your old center console.
(If you want to add wireless charging, you have to follow the steps on the video below). Disconnect the wirless antenna wireless and the 12v socket cable.
5. We screw the wireless antenna in the new console.
6. We follow in reverse previous steps and connect everything again.
6.1. Depending on your MY or trim equipment, you'll probably have to cut off with a pliers a little piece of plastic located on the centre console, to make the new trim piece fit 100% ok. This little piece hasn't got any structural function on the pre-LCI console, and it is located on the red circle showing below in the picture (via 1erforum.de). The removal of this part does not imply any subsequent misalignment, noise or anything else, and believe me I'm a real maniac for such things...
Video as promised above (BimmerTech):
And we just have to enjoy our new centre console. As I'm everything but a handyman guy and I don't have any tools, I had to take it to a local workshop, and in 20 minutes I had it done.
Picture of my car itself:
Hope you have enjoy the DIY.
Regards from Spain