Right, no how to yet, got a bit late so not many pictures were taken. However, a short description of the turn of events:
Tips!1. Got the Brodit holder. Not too impressed with the quality, for 70 quid I expected not to have issues with the position of the mini-USB connection. As it is I have to insert the TomTom with a bit of pressure towards the windscreen to get it to connect. Still, it looks pretty good, and once in the GPS is not likely to go anywhere (tested that with some spirited driving this morning
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2. The dash tray comes with no instructions what so ever, so I started by using the How-To's in this forum to take the dash apart.
3. For this and any other interior mod I strongly recommend you purchase a set of plastic trim removal tools. I can almost guarantee I would have scratched/broken something on my dash if I hadn't had these.
The installation steps1. First, take the airvents out. Use a couple of trim-tools to stick between the top of the vents and the dash, feeling around for the latches. You'll know once you get one as that corner of the vent will get looser. This does take a bit of effort, but the vents are solid so there is little chance for damage.
2. Take the plastic mat out of the storage tray. Undo the two Torx T-20 screws in the tray, as well as the two you have uncovered behind the airvents. Pull the tray out once it is loose. This might require a bit of force as it is slightly wedged in by the bracket behind the vents.
3. Once the tray is out you will see that there are 4 metal threaded brackets (about 8 x 8 mm), two fastened on the dash tray itself, and two fastened at the back of the gaping hole in your dashboard. The two in the dash are no longer needed. The two on the storage tray should be taken off, and mounted in the same way on the new Navigation Tray.
4. Find power! In my car this was more difficult than I had anticipated. Using the trim tolls I loosened the gearshift boot, only to find that BMW have tidied up their wireing compared to other cars pictured here. There was no slack what so ever in the wire bundles, hence impossible to splice into any wires without taking off the entire center console to find where things where stored. Second thought was to use the power connection for the storage tray light, but this, oddly, is 7.2 volts! Third idea was to tap directly into the power leads at the charger socket under the armrest, but again there was no slack at all! Damn efficient Germans...! So I resorted to...
5. Butchering the original TomTom car charger. I cut the chargers wire shortly before the mini-USB plug. Then I cut the wire going to the Brodit cradle; this should be done after the charger "box" that comes with it, as the TomTom charger already provides the correct voltage for the USB connection. I spliced these two together to test if it worked, which it did
Then had to take them apart again so I could route the cables through the dash.
6. Routing the cable was the trickiest bit by far. When I reference "right" and "left" here, remember my car is left hand drive! Anyways, I found that down by the drivers right knee there is a small gap in the interior trim. There is also a decent sized gap to the left inside the hole left by the air-vents. Getting the cable through is however not easy! I ended up using a cleaning rod for a 5.56 rifle, as this was thin enough to be bent in a slight arch. Wiggling this CAREFULLY around in the dash I eventually managed to see the end of it down by the gap in the trim. And promply had to remove it again because I'd forgot to attach the Brodit cable to the cleaning rod...
7. Attach the cable coming from the Brodit mount to whatever you have used to get through your dash. Remember to run it first through the storage tray hole, into the air-vent hole and then down through the dash. It's fairly tight in there so secure the cable with duct-tape or something similarly sticky so it doesn't fall off half way!
8. Once you have the cable through, splice it to the TomTom charger. Plug the charger into the lighter socket under the armrest (this does get used sadly) and hide the cable under the centre console trim (it easily pushes up from the drivers side).
9. Tidy up the cables behind the dash using zip ties, leave just enough length for the tray to be installed.
10. The back of the navigation tray does not use screws, unlike the storage bin. It has some plastic "taps" that fit into the holes. Slide these into place, then press the front of the tray down (this requires a little bit of force, you will see it crashes slightly with the frame). Once it's in, fasten two of the T-20 torx screws through the air-vent hole.
11. Re-install the air-vent by first inserting the lower edge, then clicking in the top edge. If the lower edge is properly in place this requires surprisingly little force.
12. Admire your handywork! Pictures of my car will follow during this evening, it got a bit dark last night before I was finished
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