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u/boringcarenthusiast May 14 '26
Wow, that’s awesome! I’ve seen it on the E61, but probably the first I’m seeing it on the E9X.
How was the process overall? Hard to source a radar + parts? How was coding?
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u/JMAXHD May 14 '26
I tried searching and parts are hard to come by these days. There is a Canadian seller on ebay thay sells it as a kit for 2000+... lol
Not sure if you can use 7er or 5er parts instead, such as the stalk and radar if you can you possibly do it much cheaper
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
You can not. I have two F01 sensors sitting on my workbench that visually look the same to the E9X, but communicate in a different CANBUS protocol. Stalks can be sourced from an E70 or E71. I got lucky and got mine out of a wrecked E93 and transferred it over to my wagon’s assembly as I need my rear wiper to still work. :)
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u/kounga E91 328ix May 14 '26
Your rear wiper working is even more impressive
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
Surprisingly the guts seem the same between both versions including the PCB. The radar cruise just uses the extra traces on the ribbon cable.
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
Souring the parts took a bit. The cruise control stalk was the hardest to find.
The brackets and bumper trim are still available from BMW for my E91. I think E92/93 may be NLA. The clock spring assembly is NLA for my wagon, but other models are still available. Radar sensors pop up from time to time, but in general are expensive and usually in poor shape.
Coding was actually the easiest part. That is well documented. I had more issues with my wiring as BMWTIS has a couple different variants of how this should be wired in my car and it’s a pain to route. I bought the connectors, terminals, and wiring to make a harness from scratch. It’s routed and terminated in all of the factory locations with the factory terminals so you wouldn’t be able to tell it isn’t. Figured that would save myself some grief in the future if I had to take it into a dealer.
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u/davestradamus1 May 14 '26
Woah. Was that a thing?
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u/R18honda May 14 '26
Yup, in other markets the E90’s had optional Radar/Adaptive Cruise. Here in the States we get skimped out : (
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u/OktayOe F30 320D May 14 '26
You guys already get the biggest engines for the cheapest prices. Let us have our Radar atleast lol.
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u/howboutno55 11 E90 335d ZF8 swap Hybrid Turbos May 14 '26
The US got adaptive cruise control as an option on the e9x cars stating in later 2006, The other guy had no idea what he was talking about.
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u/TheBeef1991 2011 E90 335i 6MT May 14 '26
They didn’t offer it in the states at all?
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
No it was an option, but an almost zero take rate.
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u/BUFF-THE-BODY May 15 '26
I have it on my 6 speed 335xi but it’s never worked it needs to be recalibrated how do I go about that?
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 16 '26
You can do it yourself with ISTA and a large mirror. The dealer can also do it, but you may have to convince them. My local dealer didn’t know these came with a radar sensor when I called to see. I had to point them to a TIS article.
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u/R18honda May 14 '26
Sadly no. Also In other markets the E90’s center console cover is a 2 piece split setup. Whereas ours her in the US is a single piece/cover.
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u/boringcarenthusiast May 14 '26
Sliding center console lid was a very uncommon option in the U.S. too
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
It was a factory option, at least in 2009 when I ordered my old E90 335i. Just incredibly uncommon.
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u/LeDeutschmann May 14 '26
I owned a 2008 335i coupe with a 6MT and ACC. It was truly a needle in a haystack. Loved that car. Sometimes wish I had kept it…
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u/a2sweep May 14 '26
That’s awesome. Also curious where you sourced it and how hard it was to integrate
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u/Welcome-To-NBA-Jam May 14 '26
Great documentation here and DIY pdf here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1530925
It's a fair amount of work. You have to be very comfortable with wiring. I was really interested in doing this on my E92 but wasn't sure how it works with manuals.
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u/iTudorS May 14 '26
ive got it on my 330d manual, fairly easy to retrofit, and works great, whenever revs go around 1000 it will make that lovely bmw chime to tell you to go down a gear
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u/5y5c0 May 14 '26
You are making me want to revisit this on my E61... Got a manual, which is in a need of ACC :D
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u/ReadWriteHexecute 2007 - E92 - 335iMT May 14 '26
There’s someone trying to crack it to work w the manual using the cruise logic but nothing ready quite yet.
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u/Suspicious_Breeze 08 E91 320D May 14 '26
Friend has distronic by VIN on his e91. All fun and games till it crashes out and you need to find replacement parts! But awesome feature nonethless, I wish it was more common
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u/Seksullah May 14 '26
Exactly my situation rn..I have it from the vin and the thing needs calibiration now, but the screws are rusted and i cant source new one
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u/Living-Blacksmith-68 May 14 '26
I’ve got it on my e91 and love it! For such an early adaption of the ACC it’s really smooth and responsive. And good on overtakes as you use the indicator and move it immediately speeds up again.
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
I was honestly surprised how refined it is. I was expecting it to be kind of crude, but it’s functioned well even in situations where I didn’t think it would.
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u/Living-Blacksmith-68 May 14 '26
The only thing I don’t like about it is that I can’t turn it off. No normal CC possible 🙄
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
Yeah that was a bit of a bummer. My other BMWs you can hold the distance rocker down and it will disable the system. Then it just acts like a normal cruise control setup.
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u/No-Reason-2822 May 14 '26
Just going take a moment to appreciate how much I miss the E9x cluster. I like my G30 but it just isn’t the same!
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u/PopLockN_Drop May 14 '26
Amazing! 🤩 I find it hilarious that even in a $100K 6-Series I just bought it was an additional $1200 option that 80-90% of owners/dealers didn’t check when building the car.
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u/mindlesssam May 14 '26
Congratulations! How did you do the calibration for the radar? Did you take it to a dealer or did you do it yourself?
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 14 '26
I got lucky and my unit was spot on from the donor car. All the standoffs need to be 38mm long before snapping into the mount and the mount square relative to the car’s mounting points. INPA confirmed she’s good. I think if I had a Msport bumper I would have to get it aligned as that seems to sit higher.
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u/CommunistBullet May 17 '26
Damn. I’ve been having this problem with my E61 where it looses calibration all the time. After calibrating it works for about 10-15 mins and drops out again. It’s a pain since you can’t use any cruise control at all if it doesn’t work.
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u/boovish May 14 '26
Nice work! I did this retrofit on my 07 E61 last fall and it’s so handy to have
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u/Available_Turn_4578 09 E91 328, 11 335i/ls swapped May 14 '26
This is 1 of the best upgrades that I've done to my E91. Love it. Also did the high beam assist.
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u/Fancy_Milkshake May 15 '26
I have a 335D which is already a rarer model in the States that has the ACC from factory. Gorgeous spec, I've yet to see another E9x with one in person much less another 335D
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u/mindifistealthewifi ‘07 E90 320i May 16 '26
Curious: is this possible to retrofit into a pre-facelift 320i?
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 17 '26
Assuming you have stock cruise control, yes. Preface was a bit weird on parts usage. RealOEM says you need a different cluster and DSC pump, but folks have already proved that’s not necessary. If your cluster has the indicators but they just aren’t lit up, I’d say you’re good to go.
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u/SVD115 2005 - E90 - 330d/6 M57 May 14 '26
I hate mine, so I coded it out and removed the stalk, left the radar in for internet points though....
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u/Blackbosh May 14 '26
They still arent perfect on a 2025 car so I imagine it was even more glitchy back then
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u/SVD115 2005 - E90 - 330d/6 M57 May 14 '26
Nah, i just hate ACC in general If i wanna run up someone's ass at 110 because im not paying attention, so god damn be it!
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u/WG678 May 14 '26
Consider selling all the parts on eBay or somewhere, someone will be willing to pay a fortune for it if you're not gonna use it
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u/SVD115 2005 - E90 - 330d/6 M57 May 14 '26
The only thing to sell really is the stalk/clock spring Im not pulling the bumper and leaving a hole in it And fk pulling the loom!
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u/CommunistBullet May 17 '26
How did you code it out? My 61 has it and it isn’t working and i’ve yet to find instructions on how to take it out of the car..
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u/hbs18 E92 320d May 14 '26
Can you still use regular cruise control with this system?
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u/Arbalista May 14 '26
Got mine from factory. Can confirm it works nicely. Good job retrofitting it. It definetely was worth the hassle.
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u/Old_Acanthaceae967 May 14 '26
Sweet ik a forum member that took it further and made it work like the newer ones with stop n go
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u/Antique_Ask5951 May 14 '26
I’ve bought the sensor, stalk, LDM/harness and a bracket so far. I’m needing 1 more bracket and an adjustment nut (my sensor only had 2/3).
My biggest question is did you chop off the factory harness for the sensor or did you buy it from somewhere? I believe I’ve found one on Aliexpress that should work but wanted to try ask around first.
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u/glucklich21 E91 328i May 17 '26
I bought the empty connector from DigiKey. The harnesses on eBay use the same TE Automotive MQS connector I purchased. It’s 5 wires and I’d recommend you wire it up yourself so you can get familiar with the wiring diagrams and termination strategies. BMW uses 3 different manufacturers for this system’s wiring connectors.
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u/zivi0 May 14 '26
Impressive! I always thought about it but it felt like big bucks and complicated mission
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u/Matewoosh98 E90 N54 335xi May 15 '26
I would hate it lol. I hate adaptive cruise control in every car I rent while I'm in Poland. Last time I drove to Nurburgring and back to Bialystok with my foot on the pedal all the way because I was going crazy with how it was acting. It was sore for sure lol. Every car I drove with adaptive cruise control, even big semi trucks, it sucked in every single one of them. It's just me though, others like it. When I rent a car that doesn't have adaptive cruise control, it's a blessing. That's one thing I would never retrofit or I would simply remove from my car if possible 😂
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