[jeffreyinigo]

Hello all.

I have a 2019 x3 with the tiny 6.5 in screen and just don't want that screen anymore and want to get the bigger 10 in screen everyone else has so I can get carplay.

I am willing to retrofit the screen,and whatever parts I need but don't want to pay 3k for it. I am fine with buying the parts slowly and once I have them do the retrofit.

Any help on what parts I need would be awesome, other than the screen of course.

Thanks in advance.

[Alex C.]

Originally Posted by jeffreyinigo

Hello all.

I have a 2019 x3 with the tiny 6.5 in screen and just don't want that screen anymore and want to get the bigger 10 in screen everyone else has so I can get carplay.

I am willing to retrofit the screen,and whatever parts I need but don't want to pay 3k for it. I am fine with buying the parts slowly and once I have them do the retrofit.

Any help on what parts I need would be awesome, other than the screen of course.

Thanks in advance.

I also have a 2019 x3 with the tiny 6.5 screen. Ive been thinking about getting the android aftermarket big screen. I believe its called the hifimax or something but it costs around $500 for the whole kit plug and play. It is apple carplay compatible but im pretty sure its only wired carplay ( better imo than wireless).

[jeffreyinigo]

Originally Posted by Alex the crazy g01 owner

I also have a 2019 x3 with the tiny 6.5 screen. Ive been thinking about getting the android aftermarket big screen. I believe its called the hifimax or something but it costs around $500 for the whole kit plug and play. It is apple carplay compatible but im pretty sure its only wired carplay ( better imo than wireless).

I actually just looked it up and it looks like a good alternative if everything works as its advertised. Scared about warranty issues and what if it breaks something. Hmmm

[Redbaron1973]

Originally Posted by jeffreyinigo

I actually just looked it up and it looks like a good alternative if everything works as its advertised. Scared about warranty issues and what if it breaks something. Hmmm

Well thats really simple - fit an aftermarket non bmw screen and you dont have a warranty

[jeffreyinigo]

Originally Posted by Redbaron1973

Well thats really simple - fit an aftermarket non bmw screen and you dont have a warranty

well damn!!!! :-(

[Alex C.]

Originally Posted by Redbaron1973

Well thats really simple - fit an aftermarket non bmw screen and you dont have a warranty

“Well thats why you put the stock in if it breaks”- my cool SA at bmw. From what the kit is its fairly simple to install, completely plug and play. Also its just a screen upgrade, it doesnt change the actual radio itself, just the display size

[cmd296]

Raising this dead thread to see if anyone has been brave enough to try the Hifimax. I can't seem to find much about it.

Has anyone installed it?

[tonyb15re]

Why not retrofit a larger BMW OEM screen, upgrade your firmware etc etc. Simon at Bavarian Coding https://www.facebook.com/Bavarian-Co...4502282915941/ does this quite a bit for all flavours of BMW, I appreciate its in the UK but surely theres someone in the US that can do this!.

[cmd296]

The more I look into it, the better it seems to just go with the OEM retrofit. I'll keep digging on the forum for more info on that particular route. I appreciate your input.

[Alex C.]

I think it comes down to price really. I think the fully optioned hifimax is about $550 whereas oem screen is about 1k for parts. Also dont you need a new headunit with the oem bigger screen? I know the hifimax is plug and play.

[cmd296]

I believe I will need a new head unit as well. From what I've been told so far, I can use a US-based head unit (which doesn't have a jack for accepting a gps antenna), and since my car doesn't have a telecommunications module with GPS, I won't be able to use BMW navigation (although Car Play would work). Granted, I probably don't need both Car Play and nav, but for the cost of the investment, it would be nice to have both.

Alternatively, I could use a non-US head unit (which does have a jack for accepting a GPS receiver), but I would have to forego satellite radio.

Can anyone confirm if this is correct? Does anyone have any thoughts on a retrofit that would have both nav and satellite radio, or am I just SOL on that front?

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by cmd296

Does anyone have any thoughts on a retrofit that would have both nav and satellite radio, or am I just SOL on that front?

You can play sat radio thru the SiriusXM iPhone app which is available in CarPlay. If you have an unlimited data plan, you can stream at the highest quality bit rate which is a very good quality.

[jeffreyinigo]

Originally Posted by tonyb15re

Why not retrofit a larger BMW OEM screen, upgrade your firmware etc etc. Simon at Bavarian Coding https://www.facebook.com/Bavarian-Co...4502282915941/ does this quite a bit for all flavours of BMW, I appreciate its in the UK but surely theres someone in the US that can do this!.

This was my first choice to be honest, but it seems that in just parts it can get pricey. Ive been looking at different android head units, but im scared about taking the damn dash apart. I don't want to break anything. Ive also been looking to see if anyone has taken the dash apart yet and haven't seen any writeups or anything.

I think if I had a way to do this, id pull the trigger on an android head unit. The hifimax shows there is no returns pretty much as soon as they ship it. Theres another company called 4x4shop.ca and that one shows returns within 30 days if I remember correctly.

[jeffreyinigo]

Ha. and now I found it.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...nit/1VnbgcYJTA

[jeffreyinigo]

This is the one I bought:

https://4x4shop.ca/product/2018-bmw-...ic-nbt-system/

Ill let you know how it goes

[cmd296]

Originally Posted by jeffreyinigo

This is the one I bought:

https://4x4shop.ca/product/2018-bmw-...ic-nbt-system/

Ill let you know how it goes

Please do! Very interested to hear how you like it. Thanks for sharing - I had not seen that particular unit before.

[Alex C.]

Originally Posted by jeffreyinigo

This is the one I bought:

https://4x4shop.ca/product/2018-bmw-...ic-nbt-system/

Ill let you know how it goes

What options did you get? Waiting to see how you like it before I pull the trigger. Seems to me the 4x4shop one is exactly like the hifimax one.

[CRuben09]

Don't be cheap on your car. I did a full retrofit using Bimmertech. Yes, is $3,000 but you can't go wrong about it. I did the whole retrofit myself and I'm completely satisfied. Only BMW OEM parts were used, and if you were going to buy each part individually you will spend more money. You can purchase the parts on eBay, but the trickiest part will be to pair the unit to your car's VIN. You can get scare with the install process, but everything is so easy to remove and reinstall.

The whole kit is plug and play, and they do all the programming. I have full nav capabilities, apps, Apple car play, and BMW Connected. I've been using it for almost a year now, trouble free. Since I have brought the car in for service, so I put everything back to stock. So yes, is fully reversible in case you need to take your car for service. In my case I do it to avoid any issues with them in case they install an update.

[cmd296]

Thanks for the pics - the retrofit looks great. It's nice to hear from someone that did it themselves that it's straightforward. I was also curious whether you swap it back to stock for service, so thanks for addressing that as well.

Did your X3 have a CD player in its original configuration? Mine does not, and I'm wondering if it will be necessary to swap a new radio control unit, as well (I imagine the answer is "yes"). If your X3 didn't have a cd player, was the radio control unit part of the Bimmertech package?

[jeffreyinigo]

Originally Posted by Alex the crazy g01 owner

What options did you get? Waiting to see how you like it before I pull the trigger. Seems to me the 4x4shop one is exactly like the hifimax one.

looks the same. I just got the antiglare screen and the wireless carplay dongle.

[jeffreyinigo]

Heres what it looks like. Works fine. Looks great. Ill post more later. Just wanted you all to see how it looked. Wireless carplay is fast also. No lag. Sounds the same as stock.

[Alex C.]

Originally Posted by jeffreyinigo

Heres what it looks like. Works fine. Looks great. Ill post more later. Just wanted you all to see how it looked. Wireless carplay is fast also. No lag. Sounds the same as stock.

Does the oem usb still work? Also is their any negatives compared to the 6.5 screen?