This weekend I replaced the stereo in my 1999 M3 with a more powerful head unit. In BMW parlance I went from a C43 to a CD43 radio, the stereo unit included in many BMW models from the year 2000 0n.
A little background to start. It’s widely known that BMW sound systems are not very good, especially for a premium automotive brand. My car came with the Harmon-Kardon premium sound option back in ’99, so it wasn’t horrible. And I’m no hardcore audiophile. But when the midrange speakers blew in my doors I replaced them with BSW speakers, and the sound improvement was noticeable.
I had read frequently on the BMW forums that the CD43 unit was superior to the C43. It offers a front loading CD, which is nice and more modern looking than the obsolete tape deck. But the real benefit is more power — according to owners who had done the swap, the CD43 could make your sound system sound much better, while still looking totally stock since it was a BMW unit. Supposedly the install was cake — take out, slide in.
Buying a brand new unit didn’t make sense — the cost would have been almost $800. Then I read about an eBay seller offering refurbished units from Europe, and (this was key) some forum members had bought from him and spoke highly of the experience. The price was $225, plus shipping. Now that made sense, and I was sold.
Predictably, it was not as simple as advertised. There must be BMW engineers in Munich scheming to make such things as complicated as possible. One example — the screw heads securing the radio units in US E36 cars are a proprietary design — not phillips head, not flat head, not allen wrench. Really, BMW? In this day and age of globalization and efficiency through standardization, you need a special screw head design for North America?
That delayed my project — I had to order a special removal tool, $17 from Bavauto. So I tackled the install this Saturday. Once I had the tool, it was easy to remove the unit. It’s weird to see a big hole in a dashboard you’ve looked at for years. The radio connection and ground were obvious, but the fuses and power were damn difficult to unplug. I was very reluctant to use too much force and break something. The heat being in the triple digits even in late afternoon didn’t help matters and added to the frustration.
Some tugging and sweating later, it finally came loose. After that is was straight-forward to plug in the new unit, and slide back in. Then I ran into some fitment issues with the new unit. It wasn’t exactly the same depth as the original, and I had to play around with the wires so the CD43 went flush. After it was installed, I used a printout the seller sent me to program the unit from Europe mode to the good old US of A.
Thankfully, I can say the effort was worth it. The radio reception is much crisper, and a lot louder. The CD sound is also improved, not as dramatically as the radio but the bass sounds in particular are better. And being a BMW unit, the illumination is an exact color match to the rest of the dashboard components.
It’s one more subtle, useful mod that helps make my E36 M3 the best car it can be. And despite BMW’s needless complexity, I was able to enjoy DIY satisfaction.
New (to me that is) CD43 Unit
Unit out
Crap, how does this unplug?
Hmm, not EXACTLY the same
Got it!
I’ve got a 98 M3 with the HK system and Hi-Fi toggle. Does your vehicle have this Hi FI system? I’d like to do exactly what you did but have read by some sellers on eBay that the CD43 will not fit the hi-fi systems?
Thanks!
Randolph — thanks for question, mine fit. I’ve never heard or read that about the E36. Maybe another model? It was tight as took some adjusting, as I say in post. But the size is almost identical — see the picture where I hold the two side by side.