BMW E36 Blog

It’s time for our monthly model post. In today’s post, I chose this cool silver BMW. I love everything about this car and it seems to be in the best shape that you can find a BMW E36 in. I want you to pay attention to the 5-spoke rims. The black mirrors. The clear headlights and the shaded windows. That’s a really cool setup and I think it’s one of the coolest setups that I’ve ever seen. I hope you like this car as much as I do. For those of you who have a silver BMW E36 and looking to make changes to the car’s exterior, I think it’s a smart step to try and make your car look like this one.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

I wrote before about a BMW E36 with blue interior LED lights conversion process. In that post, I presented a video with a modified BMW E36 and it looked great!. After that, I did some research to gather more information about how this process is done. It turned out that all the parts should be removed and the amber lights inside them should be replaced with blue LEDs (Light Emission Diodes). This can be accomplished with some intense work and care.

What I felt missing from this process is the gauges conversion. If you saw the video in my previous post, you will notice the red needles on the blue gauges. I was unclear about how this should be done until I found the owner of that car (DJ Genius). I’ve contacted him and asked him about these gauges and how he made the conversion. It turned out that these gauges are actually sold as one piece on the German Ebay and for a really great price (49 EUR). Check them out here.

I believe this is really nice and will make your car stand out from the crowd. So what do you think of such a conversion? Is it really cool or what?

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

I wrote couple days ago an article about BMW E36 Parking Distance Control (Parking Sensors) and I was very excited to discover that some BMW E36 cars came with a parking distance control system. If you didn’t read my previous post yet, please do before proceeding with this. I’ve decided to dig into this subject more and may be find a DIY about how to install such a system in a BMW if that car didn’t originally have one. So, I was looking for more information about this parking distance control system (PDC for short) and I found that it costs a lot of money. I also found some information about other solutions that I thought are more valuable and I guess more modern for BMW cars.

The modern parking systems are actually equipped with camera(s) to help you park your car and see everything that is behind you. These systems are usually very expensive and hard to install, but I found two systems that I thought you’d like to know about.

The first system is equipped with two cameras which are supposed to work as  left and right mirrors while parking. Take a look at this photo:

This system is provided with two TFT LCD monitors and you can control brightness, color, and contrast. What I didn’t understand about this system is why they provided 2 monitors with different sizes? Why the two monitors are not of the same size?

Anyway, I kept looking for more information and I found another system which provides you with a monitor and a digital distance display that is integrated into your rear-view mirror. I think this is much cooler as I hate to make huge changes to the car’s interior. So, I think this system can be used inside your BMW and look OEM a the same time.

Take a look at these photos:

This system issues a warning sound when getting too close as well. I think this is much cooler than the previous one.

What I still need to figure out about these systems is how they can be installed inside a BMW E36. I think the most obvious thing is to connect the power of this system with your reverse light. This way, the system will turn on automatically when you use the reverse gear. But I still need to know how hard is it going to be to make holes inside your rear bumper and whether they’re going to look good or not.

Please feel free to let me know what you think? Do you know of any better solutions?

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

I’ve found an impact safety test for the BMW E36 cars. The test was conducted on a BMW E36 316i sedan which was moving at a speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) when the impact happens. I have to admit that the E36 didn’t perform well as expected. Take a look at this photo:

The problem in the frontal impact test was in the chest injuries which were life-threatening. The steering wheel was pushed backwards by 8.8 inches which may cause very serious damage to the driver’s chest. In that test, the knee also has suffered some injuries as well. So, the main problems with the fontal test in E36 cars were in the chest and the right knee for the right-hand drivers. The driver’s neck was protected very well in that test.

In that impact test, the passenger was protected well. So, this is something good on the contrary of the above chest and knee injuries.

The side impact test for the E36 was ok as well, so this only leaves us with two main problems that I could see which are the chest serious (life threatening) injuries and the knee injuries. If you’re asking about the airbag and how it was supposed to protect the drivers chest, I think the problem was in the steering wheel moving towards the driver’s chest by 8.8 inches which is a very long distance in such situations. 

Anyway, if you’re like me, I hate talking about accidents, but I thought I needed to write this information here to remind you all to drive safe and to make sure that your Airbag(s) are in their best shape all the time (YES, all the time).

If you’re looking to read the full impact safety test report, please find it here.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

The guys at BMW have never stopped amazing me. I used to have a BMW E30 before and every now and then, I was discovering some facts that made me say Wow! The BMW E36 is no difference. I’m feeling that every now and then, I discover something that makes me say wow too!. Today, I’ve discovered that the BMW E36 cars have come with an optional Parking Distance Control (Parking Sensors). It’s a rare option but what’s important is that it exists. Take a look at these photos which show how this toy is supposed to look on your BMW E36:

I think this option has came to life in 1995. Imagine that you’re parking your car and being able to know exactly when to stop. Before anyone asks, I’m very very good at parking, but I think that this option is really cool and makes you enjoy your car even more!

You can see the full diagram for such a system here in case you’d like to install one. I’m not sure whether it’s available but I think you can find it if you tried.

The one thing that I want you to notice is how creative BMW guys were in 1995. I’m not saying that they’re always that ones who invent new options and features, but they’re definitely one of the most important leaders in the car market. They just put the standards.

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.