My Azurite black M5 delivery - my dream has finally come true

[MSportDC]

Finally picked her up today even though she arrived at the dealership a week ago. Been so busy with work but finally got the chance to enjoy her all day:

Some bad quality phone pics:








I took her home and installed black kidney grilles and side markers which I had ordered from IND Distribution (awesome products and service, thanks guys) - took me all but 25 minutes to do per the DIY instructions found on these forums.

I'm a happy camper right now is all I can say

[boots]

Congrats! Cant wait to get mine.

[mdosu]

holy cow! congrats! Which DC area dealer was this?

you should bring this to Cars and Coffee and Katie's Coffee House on Saturday morning, i'd love to check out the color!

[koxal]

nice color.. good luck !

[RPiM5]

Nice to see another Triple Black on forum. This color combo is the way to go. Can't wait to get my windows tinted to 15%!

[Un Gato Malodoro]

Awesome! Nice to know there's another azurite black running around DC

[MSportDC]

Originally Posted by mdosu

holy cow! congrats! Which DC area dealer was this?

you should bring this to Cars and Coffee and Katie's Coffee House on Saturday morning, i'd love to check out the color!

Thanks - Passport BMW.

[MSportDC]

Originally Posted by RPiM5

Nice to see another Triple Black on forum. This color combo is the way to go. Can't wait to get my windows tinted to 15%!

Here here RPiM5! Triple black to me says powerful, yet subdued and classy. I guess we both have good taste

[Charlie Brown]

Congrats! I'm waiting on my AB from ED. ETA mid December. Please post some pics with the iND parts installed.

[Jason]

Congrats! Added you to our F10 M5 Owners Registry

[MSportDC]

Originally Posted by Jason

Congrats! Added you to our F10 M5 Owners Registry

Thanks!

[X5Blair]

Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

Congrats! I'm waiting on my AB from ED. ETA mid December. Please post some pics with the iND parts installed.

me too, did ED of my Azurite on 9/4 can't decide if I should do black grills and markers. did you do matte, azurite or shadowline gloss? I haven't many photos of them on AB.

[MSportDC]

Originally Posted by X5Blair

me too, did ED of my Azurite on 9/4 can't decide if I should do black grills and markers. did you do matte, azurite or shadowline gloss? I haven't many photos of them on AB.

Just a little bit of clarification - I installed shadowline gloss black front kidney and side grilles. I left the side orange marker intact for now - I kind of like it even though everyone else seems to replace it with a color-matched version.

The orange side reflector tells me it's a German car and the entire car would look too plain/monotonous if I were to replace it with a color-matched insert IMO - also it's safer. To each his own I guess.

I will post pictures of the modifications very shortly.

[Used2be]

Originally Posted by MSportDC

Just a little bit of clarification - I installed shadowline gloss black front kidney and side grilles. I left the side orange marker intact for now - I kind of like it even though everyone else seems to replace it with a color-matched version.

The orange side reflector tells me it's a German car and the entire car would look too plain/monotonous if I were to replace it with a color-matched insert IMO - also it's safer. To each his own I guess.

I will post pictures of the modifications very shortly.

Great looking car, and probably even better with the new mods. But in pictures I've seen of European versions of the M5, I don't think the front fender reflectors are installed. I'd imagine it's a USA only kind of thing.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by MSportDC

Thanks - Passport BMW.

Is it bad that I could tell that before you wrote it? LOL.

Who was your CA?

[the infamous...]

such an exquisite color, congrats!

[cmhsam]

Congrats. Love the color

[MSportDC]

Originally Posted by Used2be

...But in pictures I've seen of European versions of the M5, I don't think the front fender reflectors are installed. I'd imagine it's a USA only kind of thing.

I never noticed that before - I guess it's a U.S. only option. Wonder why the U.S. requires these orange reflectors on our cars??

[wdimagineer]

Originally Posted by MSportDC

I never noticed that before - I guess it's a U.S. only option. Wonder why the U.S. requires these orange reflectors on our cars??

Stupid, outdated regulations and bureaucracy. Lighting standards for US vehicles are dictated by FMVSS 108 which is administered by NHTSA. Front reflectors are required on all vehicles sold in the US. This requirement does not exist in Europe. In fact, to my knowledge, no BMW has them outside of North America. The bumpers do not have cut outs at all. (One notable exception is the X5 M and X6 M, which have a reflector outside NA, but it's not amber.)

Also required here are front marker lights (that illuminate). They can be part of the reflector (a la VW, Audi, MB) or separate. On the F10, the front marker lights are the 3 LEDs on the side of the headlamp housings. This is standard in all markets for the F10 to homogenize the design, but it's not a feature on every BMW.

Rest-of-World vehicles also have different headlight patterns, particularly with HID projector housings. I much prefer the non-DOT beam pattern, which is why my M5 is using European-sourced bi-xenon headlights. The pattern illuminates the road and road edge better, allowing better visibility of signage, pedestrians, and animals.

Here are some example images:

Europe:


North America:


DOT vs. ECE Beam Pattern:




For a fascinatingly boring read, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal...y_Standard_108

[Nate@IND]

Congrats on the new Beast! Let's see some photos with the new iND parts installed