At this point, the car was running extremely well. The powertrain felt great. The N52 engine, while not a powerhouse, is incredibly smooth and delivers good, linear torque across the rev range. It’s well-suited to daily driving and easy to keep on boil in the canyons. With the steering repaired and most of the suspension arms upgraded to M3/1M components, the car not only drove well, but it was also becoming fun to toss around on a back road. It soaked up miles on the freeway with ease. However, it still looked like it had just gotten out of an unhealthy relationship and hadn’t seen luxuries like "soap" or genuine care in quite some time. It was time to change that.
When I bought the car, the interior looked like a clan of binge-eating homeless men had been living in it for a while. Cleaning it up was definitely a “wear gloves and try not to think about it” type of situation.
The price of the car dropped a bit further when I discovered several dollars worth of change scattered throughout the interior. Score! I gave the car a good vacuuming and scrubbed off as many of the interior stains as I could.
The OEM carpeted floor mats were absolutely shot, to the point where I saw no reason to try saving them. Off to eBay I went, purchasing a gently used set that didn’t appear to have been subjected to daily off-roading or used as food testing stations, like the set I was replacing.
While driving one day, the 128i had a surprise in store for me. A playful 1-2 shift resulted in the OEM shift knob literally popping off the lever, much to my surprise. Sitting there, holding an unconnected shift knob in my hand, I thought, “I should consider replacing this. It might be problematic.” After trying out a couple of options, I settled on a genuine BMW M shift knob, more specifically, the "tall" ZHP version.
Overall, the interior actually cleaned up pretty well.
The infinite wisdom of the previous owner continued to shine through with a peeling 128i badge on the trunk, which had been less-than-professionally painted. It was one eyesore I could no longer tolerate.
I applied painter's tape around the defiled badge to help align the new one. Then, using a heat gun and some adhesive remover, I carefully removed it. Once again, I turned to eBay to find a stock replacement. Overall, I much prefer the OEM chrome badge on the trunk.
Next, I turned my attention to the driver's side door, where yet another "gift" from the previous owner awaited. A piece of door trim had been broken, and the rubber door seal had developed a couple of holes. As a temporary fix, I used some silicone to seal the holes and reduce the whistling wind noise at freeway speeds, until the replacement parts arrived. It was definitely looking pretty rough in the meantime.
Soon after, the new door seal arrived.
After ordering the new trim piece, I used a heat gun, some adhesive remover and a razor blade to remove the old trim piece and create a nice smooth surface for the new piece to adhere to. The old piece went straight in the bin.
With the new trim piece installed, it looked as good as new!
Next, it was time to address what I was generously calling "headlights." In reality, they emitted about as much light as an 18th-century lantern. On a dark, rainy night, I might as well have driven blindfolded.
I briefly considered ordering a new set of headlights, but before doing so, my inner cheapskate kicked in. I ended up spending $16.88 on a restoration kit from Amazon instead.
I followed the instructions in the box and about an hour later, there was actually a noticeable improvement. Before:
After:
During my hour-long headlight buffing marathon, I discovered that the driver's side low-beam bulb wasn't installed correctly—it was pointed to the side instead of into the center light-spreader thingy (yes, that’s a technical term). The mystery of why the headlights were so awful was slowly being illuminated (pun intended). I then re-centered the bulb and clipped it in properly.
I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but afterwards, the headlights actually put out noticeably more light. We were now out of the dark ages and back into the 20th (maybe 21st?) century!
While certainly not perfect, the 128i was shaping up to be a pretty good little car. It's too bad I don't know how to leave well enough alone.
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