Successfully soft close doors retrofit

[Saltkjelen]

Finally did the soft close door retrofit. :mrgreen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v6wWMPWMAA

 

[eXodus]

cool.

where did you get that latch from?

 

[alohart]

How would this modification prevent a door from being slammed shut by a person who didn't know to carefully close the door so that the soft-close mechanism could complete the close?

 

[Fisher99]

How would this modification prevent a door from being slammed shut by a person who didn't know to carefully close the door so that the soft-close mechanism could complete the close?

It doesn't. I have driven BMW's with soft close doors and you can still slam them. It's just that you no longer have to. It's a great option and one that I wouldn't mind having on my i3, but I'm guessing that it wasn't a cheap mod. Hopefully the OP will elaborate on that.

 

[Saltkjelen]

cool.

where did you get that latch from?

They are from G11/G12 7-series and F15 X5/F16 X6.

 

[Saltkjelen]

How would this modification prevent a door from being slammed shut by a person who didn't know to carefully close the door so that the soft-close mechanism could complete the close?

It doesn't. I have driven BMW's with soft close doors and you can still slam them. It's just that you no longer have to. It's a great option and one that I wouldn't mind having on my i3, but I'm guessing that it wasn't a cheap mod. Hopefully the OP will elaborate on that.

Yes, no worries about slamming the door. They will not be damaged. I bought the latches for around 500EUR, so not such expensive in my eyes.

 

[Fisher99]

So you used latches from a 7 series, huh? In addition to buying the latches, what did you have to do? Were they a direct bolt-in replacement or did you have to do any modifications to the door? Are they self contained (i.e., just install them and they work) or do you have to program/code the car?

 

[Saltkjelen]

The i3 use same latch as F15 X5/F16 X6, G11/G12 7-series ++ without soft close, so an latch with soft close are identical. You have to make an wiring harness and do some electrical work on the existing door harness to get them work. No coding required, so its basically plug and play (except of the wiring off course).

 

[Fisher99]

Thanks for the additional info. Is the electrical work that is required simply tapping in to the existing harness to provide power to the latch? A hot wire and a ground to the latch are all that are required?

 

[Saltkjelen]

Almost. The OEM door locks has one connector in the top and the soft close has one in the top and one in bottom. You have to re-pin two of the wiring in the existing harness from the upper connector to the lower connector. Then you have to make four wiring from the soft close actuator/latch to the lower door lock connector. From the soft close actuator/latch, you have to make positive and ground into the BDC and ground point in the chase.

 

[Saltkjelen]

I made a quick draw. Hope this will explain.

 

[Fisher99]

Thanks.

 

[GoldiE46]

how much did end up costing you?

 

[Fisher99]

how much did end up costing you?

He answered that in a previous post in this thread.

 

[Ivo Loukanov]

I made a quick draw. Hope this will explain.

Hello, could you please repost your quick draw again? The pic. from original post is unavailable, an I don't know have the schematic of BMW. Thank you!

 

[Saltkjelen]

Hello, could you please repost your quick draw again? The pic. from original post is unavailable, an I don't know have the schematic of BMW. Thank you!

Actually I did soft close retrofit on my friends i3 for two weeks ago and planned to make a DIY. Ill going to do it on my new i3 as well, so Ill take the rest of the missing pictures. Ill keep this post updated.

 

[PacoBG]

Any new info?