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      04-16-2012, 01:37 PM   #26
rhouck's Avatar

Drives: 2008 E92 M3
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA

iTrader: (2)

Originally Posted by mkoesel View Post
Great info. And big props to BMWM.D. too then.

For my own curiousity, do you know what the differences are between these switches? Rain sensing nonsense aside, obviously there is a difference between the ones with MDrive and those without. Is it just to allow the button on the steering wheel to function as the M Button? I.e. the physical switching hardware is indeed different between the M Button and the "wildcard" button, (or in the case of those of us without iDrive, the "Audio Input Source" button)?
Keep in mind that the M button itself (as addressed below) is somewhat irrelevant, as it itself does not have any hardware difference. The button appears to send an identical signal if it says M or is a diamond.

What is contained inside the switch column is the SZL module (as I understand it) which is what takes the signal from the button and then interprets it. Thus, the difference is in the interpretation by that module (which I assume is purely a programming difference, I guess firmware). That is why people have been unsuccessful in the past tackling this purely through coding, as you need to change how this SZL module actually functions.

Oh wow, so you were one of those who got duped, like I mentioned earlier. Look at the bright side - now you have MDrive and didn't have to pay for ZTP nor opt for EDC to get it. Just like the folks in Europe could do from day 1.
Yup. I asked if anything was missing besides EDC (which I didn't care about; I have coilovers anyway) and comfort access (which is neat, but again not a deal breaker) and was told no. I don't believe the SA was being deceptive, just that he was not as familiar with the M models as he could have been.

Actually, I was thinking it would be cool to make one that has the actual M logo in color. Maybe I will look into that at some point.
That would actually be pretty cool and I would probably be interested. I assume you could replace the plastic cap (though not 100% sure; didn't take it apart).

Do you know if Mike ever goes on the road? Maybe a group-buy would get him motivated?
He does if there are enough interested people, although he can do coding remotely. However, I am not sure if 100% of this can be done remotely... he has a TON of equipment and I'm not sure if all of it could be done remotely. Best bet would be to talk to him directly on that.

Although for the first person trying it on a non I-drive car, he probably would want to be local.