X1 with 20" BMW Style 405M M-Sport Rims

A reader e-mailed to compliment me for sharing my adventure of fitting 20" M-Sport rims on my X1 sDrive so that others could follow suit without worries. Actually, I also had my fair share of concerns prior to the project; but I Googled online for any such adventures and found none... except for a chap in Belgium whom had done so with his X1. Yes, one and only hit in the whole of WWW as of just a while back. 

Thank you to this brave chap, and here's some of the pictures of his ride that I saved prior to the project :

Beemer Maintenance : The first 21,000km

I received more than 10 queries vide e-mails with regards to the maintenance of the ride. Granted that this car had not been utilised much, but I have digged up the maintenance records so that potential Beemer owners could utilise it as a form of reference. Certain details had been blanked off for privacy reasons.

First service @ 4,410km : FOC 

Second service @ 14,166km : RM1,369

Battery service @ 19,033km : RM1,347

Third service @ 21.608km : RM474

The next service is scheduled for 31,608km. Whenever there were any parts that needed to be changed as per service recommendations, the on-board computer would display the necessary notifications so that the service centre technicians could attend to those, which the notifications would then be reset pursuant to the changes. Therefore, if servicing was done properly as per scheduled, the ride would continued to be reliable and would provide the driver with a grin from ear to ear, whenever he/she puts pedal to metal or corners sportily. It's worth every penny indeed, to maintain the ultimate driving machine.

Warning Light : Top-up Wiper Water

If you see a warning light (triangle with an exclamation mark) displayed on your dashboard's LED, you could toggle to the fault details to find out what was the actual issue. In this case, the wiper bottle was out of water, as evidenced from the 3rd picture.

EcoTint : Protection from UV Rays and More

The ride was tinted courtesy of the salesperson previously; and with the El Nino not too long ago, it proved that a more advanced tint was fast-becoming a necessity to combat the elements. Our other rides were mostly using EcoTint, which had been dependable thus far although the prices could be on the higher side compared to the many cheaper alternatives in the market. However, since this brand was a tried and tested, I ventured there today to look at the latest tint in the market.

As Honda was also doing a promotion with EcoTint on the tinting for its existing and new customers, with Honda cars being able to get an entry-level tint at RM850 per vehicle, there were quite a no. of Honda cars parked downstairs at the area where the installers were doing the tint.

For the X1, EcoTint categorised the ride as an SUV and pricing was similar to that of the other X-series. I reasoned that X5 and X6 were larger rides and had bigger windows, so X1 should be charged in accordance to that of the saloon cars such as 3- and 5-series. The lady whom served me, explained that the Company had strict pricing in accordance to the models and therefore, X1's tint would still required to be charged as per the BMW X-series' bracket. However, being a repeated customer, I was given a loyalty discount.

Since the tint would be warranted for 8 years, it made sense to go for the best in the series, so that one gets to enjoy the premium tint for a longer period of time. The most premium tint in the EcoTint series cost RM4,280 for the X1; and the side windows further enjoyed security film so that it could not be easily-broken into as seen in the many videos on YouTube about snatch thieves on their Rempit kapchais. 

I was informed that it would take about 3 hours for the new tint to be installed. The installers would further remove any previous tinting at a cost of RM150, prior to the new tint installation. Fair enough.

Soon, it was time to collect back the ride and I made my way back to the Centre. The ride was ready for collection, and I was informed that the tinted windows could not be cleaned for 3 days and usage of power windows were not permitted. Further, heavier accessories that were to be stuck on the windscreen such as DVR and the likes, were to be refrained for 2 weeks.

Upon returning home, a closer check revealed that EcoTint stickers had been placed on all corners of the tint- a subtle advertisement for the Company. In our previous rides, no such "advertisements" were placed on the tints. However, it could be removed by the user if required. I would leave it on for the interim period.

As this was the latest EcoTint Ray Barrier with all the protections, I would further report on the long-term usages over the duration of this blog in the near future.

Incentive for EEV Status : RM20k Rebate

Readers whom were interested to get new X1 Drive were in for a treat. The X1 had been designated as an Energy Efficient Vehicle by the Malaysian government, and therefore qualified for a tax incentive rebate of RM20k. Therefore, the prices of X1 sDrive would be reduced from RM250k to RM230k, after the rebate. An even better price, for a great compact luxury crossover.

M-Sport Accessories Bin

After the new shoes were fitted on the X1, her normal look looked somewhat bland. My missus was a lady with good taste (well, she did chose me after all, LOL :) so I took a look at the Beemer accessories section during the 21,000km servicing.

The M-Sport accessories ain't cheap, but they complemented the ride and her new shoes; so let's splurge a lil' then.

The technicians were nice and helped to install the M-Sport accessories at the specific areas. Some chrome bits here and there, and we have the following :

Just some cosmetics for now, but am already looking at upgrades in terms of performance air filter and exhaust system next, if my missus permits.

New Shoes : 20" BMW Style 433 M-Sport Rims & Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric RFT

Depending on your chosen specs, the X1 would be equipped with 17" or 18" sports rims as per the above. Hardly the looks that would complement the X1 given the massive gaps between the tires and wheel arches. Plus the above sports rims would looked more in place, on say a utilitarian Ford Everest, rather than a designer-like X1.

No sirree, what the X1 needed was bigger shoes that would complement her better.

And when a fellow car enthusiast ordered a set of 20" M-Sport rims complete with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric run-flat tires for his X6 and thereafter had a change of mind as he was transferred overseas, he decided to let go the whole new package at a good price of RM15k; so it was a matter of being there, at the right time, right place. 

I further checked with Auto Bavaria Jalan Tun Razak and was informed that the whole package in the stated specs would cost circa RM32,763.35. I wouldn't pay full retail for such a package- at this price, one could get a Rolex Submariner Date 116610LN; but I supposed for an expatriate whom could claim such upgrades from the Company's annual maintenance package, this was but just peanuts. Cest la vie, mate...

To get the massive 20" M-Sport rims into the X1 took a bit of engineering by itself. Slight modifications had to be made in order to have the wheels fitted snugly into the X1's wheel arches, which were smaller than that of the X6. But once fitted, they simply looked fabulous!

(Note : I later learnt from my driver that the rims came with new 275/40R20 (front) and 315/35R20 (rear) RFT tires, that were simply too big for the X1; so the tire shop swapped the tires with 245/40R20 RFT tires. The made-in-Germany Eagle F1 Asymmetric were ultra high performance summer tires, so I guess it was still worth the swap. They would probably sell off the original wider tires for a small profit still.)

As a means of documentation, the tires were fitted at 21k km. 

The car would go on the pre-owned market for a while, but the advert would ultimately be retracted as it would not be possible to get another ride in such great condition coupled with such amazingly go-kart feel tires, at the offers of between RM100k - RM120k for a standard X1 without modifications. Anyway, had the ride been sold, what type of compact crossover could we have purchased with the monies from the X1 sale? We could get the Renault Captur; but having test-drove the Captur, the X1 beats it in all areas of importance.

So back to our X1, how exactly does the ride looked like now? Well, feast your eyes hereabouts :

The ride could passed off as a showroom car in its condition. The massive sports rims enabled the handling of the car to be so much more stable, especially around corners; and was a great complement to the sporty ride. I had been getting many positive comments from fellow car enthusiasts from all over Kuala Lumpur.