How To Fit Alpine HiFi system.
Firstly I tried my best to record two 30 second music samples on my phone before and after the fitting to show the difference. You can sort of hear the bass lines more clearly and I would say it certainly worth the money for a decent upgrade.
These are .amr files (Nokia Multimedia Player apparently). Was going to convert to something more popular, but in all honesty, I couldn't be bothered!
I am in no way accepting responsibility for any errors along the way, and I am in no way affiliated with BMW and have zero idea how to do any work on BMW's! This was the first time I have explored a BMW internally so to speak!
I wouldn't say there is a set way/ order to do this but I have done it in the order I think worked well.
I would like to thank rock2605 for his how to, I used that along with the manual to work my way through the system with a good result - so far! Mine is a BMW 1 Series 3 Door 118d SE. 58 Plate with Business CD.
Step 1
Get acquainted with all the parts and make sure you have everything.
Step 2
Clear the boot out. Pull out the folding bottom layer and remove this completely. Then you will need to remove the large piece of plastic at the rear of the boot near the boot lid that holds down the carpet. This is removed by prizing off the two plastic parts. These are strange things, just use a flat screwdriver and gently work your way around the head pulling off the screws.
Next remove the two black clips on the boot lip which you can do with a small flathead screwdriver gently.
Under here are 2 screws which are crossheads. Lift this piece of plastic out and away.
Remove the first aid kit to the right of the boot and the flap covering the rear of the rear light cluster. You'll need this free for later.
You may find it easier to remove the small plastic surrounds of the bars that hold the backseats on. Pic below.
Step 3
Remove the backseat, this is done by just pulling hard on the front of the rear seat base. It will come straight up. There is a slit in the seat for the middle seat belt to come out of the seat base. And the buckles just drop out through the holes. Take this out completely. I found it easier but you may not - the inserts at the rear (the passenger armrests) I pulled these off by ONE clip at the bottom. This helps feed the wire harness through later. But leave it to you.
Step 4
Remove the 2 door sills (the plastic inner part). This is best done by sliding something slim in and then just prizing it upwards. Once you have enough room to do it by hand give it a good series of yanks and it will come free. Take this completely off.
Step 5
Remove the door cards. I took these off completely, others have left them on whilst doing bits apparently. Pull the door handle cover off (silver bit on mine that goes upwards from the underneath of the window closure unit towards the window). This came off with brute force so to speak. Just get a good grip and heave ho. Put these to one side then unscrew the two screws concealed in this handle. Then prize off the small square shaped cover which is located just at the top of the door pocket. Undo this screw as well.
Now the door card is only held on by clips. I tried to use a spatula but they were just too flimsy and the door is held on very well. I resorted to a flathead screwdriver weighing up the fact that the underneath isn't seen! Go slow, you want to prize near a clip to give you best chance of winning!
Now BEFORE yanking the top half of the door card off look between the card and the door itself from the opening end of the door. You should see the item pictured below. It is the door lock mechanism. Unclip this.
I have read you can put your hand up between the card and door and push the window closure units out of the door pockets. I couldn't do this on the driver's door but could on the passenger door. On the driver's door I had to use a screwdriver to prize the unit out from the top. Use a cloth under the screwdriver to stop marks etc. Go slow and work around the unit as opposed to just one point. For info the units have two SOLID clips at the end furthest from the front of the car. Do not prize this end as they will snap.
Once the unit is out unplug the electrical bit. Now work the door pin lock out of the top of the door card before pulling it off completely. Once out, let it hang. And yank the door card off.
Do this for both sides of the car obviously, they are virtually mirrored other than the unit on the driver's door as described, this needs prizing out from the top I found. (Others may have other ways!)
Step 6
Plug the harness into the amp in the boot. Now feed the leads that need to go to the left under the left hand boot liner on the side slightly and between the belt pillar and the rear seat as low to the bottom as possible. You basically want it to disappear and get an "invisible install". Do the same for the right hand leads. Then go to the backseat. Pull the wires through the relevant sides UNDER the seat belts! Then push the lead under the pillar holding the rear seatbelt to hide it.
I found a good tip was to wrap insulation tape around the loose wires from the harness to stop them getting caught when feeding them through the car. Wrap them tightly to the tip. Then under the rear window by the rear seat base you'll see a small gap. If you push your hand down you'll feel a thin piece of felt which you can lift, underneath you'll feel some wires already here. These wires route to the door sill where you're heading. Push the harness wires down this hole and aim it towards the front door sill. Push your hand up from the front of the door pillar from the door sill side. You should feel the wires eventually (this is tight!) pull the wire through and there you have it.
Your wires should now be invisible and through the door sill. Just push the visible bits under the rear seatbelt pillar and under the boot liner to achieve the invisible result.
The driver's side is exactly the same. As I earlier said, I found it easier to unclip (by yanking) the lowest clip on the door pillar by the doors to get my hands through towards the rear. But see how you find it.
Step 7
Pull the carpet back in the driver and passenger footwell by the door sill. Find the wires you'll be needing. I was really worried about this bit but seriously, it is pretty straightforward.
Passenger Side (LEFT) - Look down between the chassis and the carpet. You'll see a load of wires following them to the front. Just prior to the plastic bit of trim under the glove box you'll find a lump of wires wrapped in the felt wiring tape that BMW use. This big bulk (like there's a connector wrapped in there) this is what you want. Now, you need to expose these wires.
rock2605 tried using a blade but caused damage to the wires so resorted to using small scissors. I tried this but had no joy. I actually found decorators scissors being best. They are nice and sharp and you can use them to prize the tape away from the sires. Just be careful of damaging the wires underneath. GO SLOW! Open these up and you'll find two green connectors with 3 wires going into each.
I found the following helpful:
The 2 wires going towards the front of the car label them with a piece of paper and a bit of tape as FRONT SPEAKERS. Then trace the other wires towards the rear of the car. 2 will go towards the centre of the car and the other 2 to the sub woofer. I found the connector for the subwoofer so could trace the wires back to the connectors, although they do blend in to the vast amount of wires down the side (I cut these open as well to help trace the wires. Your call). Label the 2 that go to the sub woofer and label the two that go to the middle as RADIO.
Now cut all the wires where they meet the green connector. Bin the connectors. The wiring guide in the instruction manual is fairly easy to follow. The colours of the wires on the harness DO NOT match the colours of the cars wires generally so don't go thinking you have the wrong ones!
The kit comes with crimp connectors, didn't like these and seems most don't. I used block connectors as did rock2605 although others have used soldering for long lasting joints. Whatever you think is best really, it'll be covered anyway so won't show.
Join the wires together as described in the manual.
On the driver's side there is a significant amount of wires. There is a thick thread of wires going through and these got in the way as they go over your targeted wires. The location of the wires for this side are placed just under the bulk of wires you see (which contains a few thick red ones, power cables) I found it a lot easier to cut the front speaker wires just by its clip to the chassis as shown in the picture (you'll be cutting these anyway so don't worry) once cut pull the wires you want that are under the thick cables up and over so they are easier to work on. Again, there are 2 green connectors with 6 wires in, cut these off and wire as the manual says. I labelled these as well before cutting. You can see the sub woofer connector and trace the 2 wires back so all fairly easy.
Step 8
Once all wired in go to the door cards you've taken off. Replace the speakers as the manual says DO NOT BOLT BACK ON YET! Bolt the crossovers onto the bolts for the speakers as the manual describes. Plus the single end of the cross over into the door speaker. There are 3 other ends, one is not used (dependant on your vehicle which one), one connects to the tweeter (connect when the cards back on/ or going back on) and the third goes to the original connector hanging from inside the door chassis.
Now pull the tweeter cover on the corner of the front windows off. Two clips, just yank. Replace these with the provided tweeter covers if required, FIT THE TWEETER into the cover FIRST!! Don't plug in just let the wire hang. The covers need to fit into the two holes AND there are two slots in the rubber trim that MUST meet the cover as well as a lip on the edge of the cover that needs to meet the other end of the rubber cover. This is tricky, just go slow and keep trying, eventually you'll get the bits all to meet up! Also don't forget like I did to put the old foam bit behind the corner piece behind the tweeter.
Now bring back the door cards. Plug in the tweeter and the speaker to the door. Done. Feed the wire for the windows/ mirrors through the relevant hole and leave it there for now. I pushed the door pin back through the door card and clipped the TOP of the card onto the door. I reached between the card and door and re-clipped the locking cable/ mechanism onto the small black latch. You hook the black bit on then pull the cable down until the white piece of plastic fits into the small rivet. Fiddly but easy enough.
Reconnect the electrical unit and then push this back into place being careful not to damage.
I didn't re-clip the card back on in case any problems! Do this for both sides, both the same.
Step 9
The Battery! I won't lie here, I s**t myself about doing this. I phoned BMW and asked the parts department which positive point to connect it too and where the earth point was! It was as I thought, and as the manual said! Anyway….
Firstly undo the small bolt holding the NEGATIVE terminal on (shown on pic). Make sure this is kept well out the way to avoid shorts etc. Now undo the bolt that is holding down the red cables on THE FURTHEST RIGHT by the battery (POSITIVE). Put the red cable from the amp onto this. Re-bolt.
Then feed the brown (EARTH) wire up under the boot liner to the right and up to the rear light cluster. Undo the bolt at the lower corner nearest you, place the earth terminal here and rebolt on.
Now put the NEGATIVE terminal back on. It WILL spark but this is normal, well a small spark is!
Plug the harness into the amp. Done. MAKE SURE THE KEY IS NOT IN THE IGNITION/ ENGINE ON while doing this and the battery work!
Once all terminals have been re-secured and earthed your good to go.
Turn the ignition on and…. Drum roll…… turn the stereo on. Mine takes a few seconds for the speakers to kick in. Ah well. Nothing wrong with that I don't think! Have read several people having this. Anyway, if all works its fine, you've done it, well done, saved yourself about £300 labour costs!
Test it properly. Fade music to left, right, rear and front to ensure all works ok. Different bass levels and trebles etc.
Once happy…..
Step 10
Clip the door cards back on fully. Replace screws. Replace handle cover and small clip above door pocket.
Replace boot parts. Back seat, Passenger armrest at rear if you took lower clip out, I then wrapped my wire connections well in black insulation tape to prevent any condensation, leaks etc etc. Your call. Then the door sills. These are the only bits that are a bit different.
Most clips will stay in the chassis. Use a screwdriver, flathead, to prize them out. I bent a few of mine on the underneath. MAKE SURE YOU FLATTEN THEM AGAIN BEFORE RE-INSTALLING otherwise they won't fit flush. Slide the clips back into the slides on the door sill.
Start from the clip that is slightly raised by the door pillar/ seatbelt bit. Line this up but don't push in. Push the little plastic clip at the top of the door sill into the rear passenger armrest bit. You'll see what I mean. Then line up the second clip, the third. Now push in the first one, so basically have 2 clips lined up but not clipped in between the one you're now lining up and the one you last clipped in. Hope that makes sense. Basically don't push them in as you want a bit of flexibility to get under the door sill. I used a flathead screwdriver to push the clips gently forward or backwards to line them up with the chassis holes. Once lined all up I just punched downwards on the sill and it clips back in.
Now just make sure everything is put back as it was, the wires are all insulated/ secure and that's it job done.
Any additions/ tips etc let me know and I will add them.
Thanks again to rock2605 for his initial how to!
Firstly I tried my best to record two 30 second music samples on my phone before and after the fitting to show the difference. You can sort of hear the bass lines more clearly and I would say it certainly worth the money for a decent upgrade.
These are .amr files (Nokia Multimedia Player apparently). Was going to convert to something more popular, but in all honesty, I couldn't be bothered!
I am in no way accepting responsibility for any errors along the way, and I am in no way affiliated with BMW and have zero idea how to do any work on BMW's! This was the first time I have explored a BMW internally so to speak!
I wouldn't say there is a set way/ order to do this but I have done it in the order I think worked well.
I would like to thank rock2605 for his how to, I used that along with the manual to work my way through the system with a good result - so far! Mine is a BMW 1 Series 3 Door 118d SE. 58 Plate with Business CD.
Step 1
Get acquainted with all the parts and make sure you have everything.
Step 2
Clear the boot out. Pull out the folding bottom layer and remove this completely. Then you will need to remove the large piece of plastic at the rear of the boot near the boot lid that holds down the carpet. This is removed by prizing off the two plastic parts. These are strange things, just use a flat screwdriver and gently work your way around the head pulling off the screws.
Next remove the two black clips on the boot lip which you can do with a small flathead screwdriver gently.
Under here are 2 screws which are crossheads. Lift this piece of plastic out and away.
Remove the first aid kit to the right of the boot and the flap covering the rear of the rear light cluster. You'll need this free for later.
You may find it easier to remove the small plastic surrounds of the bars that hold the backseats on. Pic below.
Step 3
Remove the backseat, this is done by just pulling hard on the front of the rear seat base. It will come straight up. There is a slit in the seat for the middle seat belt to come out of the seat base. And the buckles just drop out through the holes. Take this out completely. I found it easier but you may not - the inserts at the rear (the passenger armrests) I pulled these off by ONE clip at the bottom. This helps feed the wire harness through later. But leave it to you.
Step 4
Remove the 2 door sills (the plastic inner part). This is best done by sliding something slim in and then just prizing it upwards. Once you have enough room to do it by hand give it a good series of yanks and it will come free. Take this completely off.
Step 5
Remove the door cards. I took these off completely, others have left them on whilst doing bits apparently. Pull the door handle cover off (silver bit on mine that goes upwards from the underneath of the window closure unit towards the window). This came off with brute force so to speak. Just get a good grip and heave ho. Put these to one side then unscrew the two screws concealed in this handle. Then prize off the small square shaped cover which is located just at the top of the door pocket. Undo this screw as well.
Now the door card is only held on by clips. I tried to use a spatula but they were just too flimsy and the door is held on very well. I resorted to a flathead screwdriver weighing up the fact that the underneath isn't seen! Go slow, you want to prize near a clip to give you best chance of winning!
Now BEFORE yanking the top half of the door card off look between the card and the door itself from the opening end of the door. You should see the item pictured below. It is the door lock mechanism. Unclip this.
I have read you can put your hand up between the card and door and push the window closure units out of the door pockets. I couldn't do this on the driver's door but could on the passenger door. On the driver's door I had to use a screwdriver to prize the unit out from the top. Use a cloth under the screwdriver to stop marks etc. Go slow and work around the unit as opposed to just one point. For info the units have two SOLID clips at the end furthest from the front of the car. Do not prize this end as they will snap.
Once the unit is out unplug the electrical bit. Now work the door pin lock out of the top of the door card before pulling it off completely. Once out, let it hang. And yank the door card off.
Do this for both sides of the car obviously, they are virtually mirrored other than the unit on the driver's door as described, this needs prizing out from the top I found. (Others may have other ways!)
Step 6
Plug the harness into the amp in the boot. Now feed the leads that need to go to the left under the left hand boot liner on the side slightly and between the belt pillar and the rear seat as low to the bottom as possible. You basically want it to disappear and get an "invisible install". Do the same for the right hand leads. Then go to the backseat. Pull the wires through the relevant sides UNDER the seat belts! Then push the lead under the pillar holding the rear seatbelt to hide it.
I found a good tip was to wrap insulation tape around the loose wires from the harness to stop them getting caught when feeding them through the car. Wrap them tightly to the tip. Then under the rear window by the rear seat base you'll see a small gap. If you push your hand down you'll feel a thin piece of felt which you can lift, underneath you'll feel some wires already here. These wires route to the door sill where you're heading. Push the harness wires down this hole and aim it towards the front door sill. Push your hand up from the front of the door pillar from the door sill side. You should feel the wires eventually (this is tight!) pull the wire through and there you have it.
Your wires should now be invisible and through the door sill. Just push the visible bits under the rear seatbelt pillar and under the boot liner to achieve the invisible result.
The driver's side is exactly the same. As I earlier said, I found it easier to unclip (by yanking) the lowest clip on the door pillar by the doors to get my hands through towards the rear. But see how you find it.
Step 7
Pull the carpet back in the driver and passenger footwell by the door sill. Find the wires you'll be needing. I was really worried about this bit but seriously, it is pretty straightforward.
Passenger Side (LEFT) - Look down between the chassis and the carpet. You'll see a load of wires following them to the front. Just prior to the plastic bit of trim under the glove box you'll find a lump of wires wrapped in the felt wiring tape that BMW use. This big bulk (like there's a connector wrapped in there) this is what you want. Now, you need to expose these wires.
rock2605 tried using a blade but caused damage to the wires so resorted to using small scissors. I tried this but had no joy. I actually found decorators scissors being best. They are nice and sharp and you can use them to prize the tape away from the sires. Just be careful of damaging the wires underneath. GO SLOW! Open these up and you'll find two green connectors with 3 wires going into each.
I found the following helpful:
The 2 wires going towards the front of the car label them with a piece of paper and a bit of tape as FRONT SPEAKERS. Then trace the other wires towards the rear of the car. 2 will go towards the centre of the car and the other 2 to the sub woofer. I found the connector for the subwoofer so could trace the wires back to the connectors, although they do blend in to the vast amount of wires down the side (I cut these open as well to help trace the wires. Your call). Label the 2 that go to the sub woofer and label the two that go to the middle as RADIO.
Now cut all the wires where they meet the green connector. Bin the connectors. The wiring guide in the instruction manual is fairly easy to follow. The colours of the wires on the harness DO NOT match the colours of the cars wires generally so don't go thinking you have the wrong ones!
The kit comes with crimp connectors, didn't like these and seems most don't. I used block connectors as did rock2605 although others have used soldering for long lasting joints. Whatever you think is best really, it'll be covered anyway so won't show.
Join the wires together as described in the manual.
On the driver's side there is a significant amount of wires. There is a thick thread of wires going through and these got in the way as they go over your targeted wires. The location of the wires for this side are placed just under the bulk of wires you see (which contains a few thick red ones, power cables) I found it a lot easier to cut the front speaker wires just by its clip to the chassis as shown in the picture (you'll be cutting these anyway so don't worry) once cut pull the wires you want that are under the thick cables up and over so they are easier to work on. Again, there are 2 green connectors with 6 wires in, cut these off and wire as the manual says. I labelled these as well before cutting. You can see the sub woofer connector and trace the 2 wires back so all fairly easy.
Step 8
Once all wired in go to the door cards you've taken off. Replace the speakers as the manual says DO NOT BOLT BACK ON YET! Bolt the crossovers onto the bolts for the speakers as the manual describes. Plus the single end of the cross over into the door speaker. There are 3 other ends, one is not used (dependant on your vehicle which one), one connects to the tweeter (connect when the cards back on/ or going back on) and the third goes to the original connector hanging from inside the door chassis.
Now pull the tweeter cover on the corner of the front windows off. Two clips, just yank. Replace these with the provided tweeter covers if required, FIT THE TWEETER into the cover FIRST!! Don't plug in just let the wire hang. The covers need to fit into the two holes AND there are two slots in the rubber trim that MUST meet the cover as well as a lip on the edge of the cover that needs to meet the other end of the rubber cover. This is tricky, just go slow and keep trying, eventually you'll get the bits all to meet up! Also don't forget like I did to put the old foam bit behind the corner piece behind the tweeter.
Now bring back the door cards. Plug in the tweeter and the speaker to the door. Done. Feed the wire for the windows/ mirrors through the relevant hole and leave it there for now. I pushed the door pin back through the door card and clipped the TOP of the card onto the door. I reached between the card and door and re-clipped the locking cable/ mechanism onto the small black latch. You hook the black bit on then pull the cable down until the white piece of plastic fits into the small rivet. Fiddly but easy enough.
Reconnect the electrical unit and then push this back into place being careful not to damage.
I didn't re-clip the card back on in case any problems! Do this for both sides, both the same.
Step 9
The Battery! I won't lie here, I s**t myself about doing this. I phoned BMW and asked the parts department which positive point to connect it too and where the earth point was! It was as I thought, and as the manual said! Anyway….
Firstly undo the small bolt holding the NEGATIVE terminal on (shown on pic). Make sure this is kept well out the way to avoid shorts etc. Now undo the bolt that is holding down the red cables on THE FURTHEST RIGHT by the battery (POSITIVE). Put the red cable from the amp onto this. Re-bolt.
Then feed the brown (EARTH) wire up under the boot liner to the right and up to the rear light cluster. Undo the bolt at the lower corner nearest you, place the earth terminal here and rebolt on.
Now put the NEGATIVE terminal back on. It WILL spark but this is normal, well a small spark is!
Plug the harness into the amp. Done. MAKE SURE THE KEY IS NOT IN THE IGNITION/ ENGINE ON while doing this and the battery work!
Once all terminals have been re-secured and earthed your good to go.
Turn the ignition on and…. Drum roll…… turn the stereo on. Mine takes a few seconds for the speakers to kick in. Ah well. Nothing wrong with that I don't think! Have read several people having this. Anyway, if all works its fine, you've done it, well done, saved yourself about £300 labour costs!
Test it properly. Fade music to left, right, rear and front to ensure all works ok. Different bass levels and trebles etc.
Once happy…..
Step 10
Clip the door cards back on fully. Replace screws. Replace handle cover and small clip above door pocket.
Replace boot parts. Back seat, Passenger armrest at rear if you took lower clip out, I then wrapped my wire connections well in black insulation tape to prevent any condensation, leaks etc etc. Your call. Then the door sills. These are the only bits that are a bit different.
Most clips will stay in the chassis. Use a screwdriver, flathead, to prize them out. I bent a few of mine on the underneath. MAKE SURE YOU FLATTEN THEM AGAIN BEFORE RE-INSTALLING otherwise they won't fit flush. Slide the clips back into the slides on the door sill.
Start from the clip that is slightly raised by the door pillar/ seatbelt bit. Line this up but don't push in. Push the little plastic clip at the top of the door sill into the rear passenger armrest bit. You'll see what I mean. Then line up the second clip, the third. Now push in the first one, so basically have 2 clips lined up but not clipped in between the one you're now lining up and the one you last clipped in. Hope that makes sense. Basically don't push them in as you want a bit of flexibility to get under the door sill. I used a flathead screwdriver to push the clips gently forward or backwards to line them up with the chassis holes. Once lined all up I just punched downwards on the sill and it clips back in.
Now just make sure everything is put back as it was, the wires are all insulated/ secure and that's it job done.
Any additions/ tips etc let me know and I will add them.
Thanks again to rock2605 for his initial how to!