Hi all

Going to do my own Dash Cam insall, it's work in progress, will post what I found, tips and tricks here for reference.

A Piller, share with BMW U11/U10 X1/X2, found this video on YouTube -

Following the YouTube vidoe, I use a small flat head screw driver to push into the side of the cap.





Once it's in, move along the corner and slide to the middle to pop it open






It's a two stage clip, first clip pop open, ther is a second clips need to push open





Tilt the cap upward can see a trox screw





Push into the side of the clip to pull it out more.






Here goes the clip




Two stage clip






Use a torx screwdriver to remove the bolt



It's a very long bolt




Pull off the rubber weather seal, then you can see the airbag curtain.

Use a trim removal tool trying to pry open the clip




As per the YouTube video, there are two clips holding the trim




Open from the top, then pull upward




You can see the two hooks on the bottom of the trim




A Pill Trim




And here is what it looks after the A Piller Trim removed



Tip & Note: there is a small hook that was holding another small side trim piece. REMEMBER to unhook it BEFORE you pull up the A Piller.




Or you will be like me, damage/broke the hook on the trim piece underneath.




To remove the side trim cover on the end of the cenre console which help to route cable and have a better view on where you can store the excess cable.

Use a trim removal tool carefully flick up this corner to release the small clip holding it





Then slide upward to release two more clips





Move to the top section to release two more clips





Then it will come off easiely





Here is the view of the side trim cover removed.




Locate the fuse box, my U25 is RHD, so it's on the right hand side panel, there is no fuse cover, open/exposed.








Locate the Constant and ACC fuse for hardwire install

The new BMW system never really shut off after turn off the ignition, all sysetm in the vehicle will still be powered for 6mins. And I found out the comfort access feature will also trigger/wake up the system if you carry your key (or smart phone with ekey) with-in two meters of the vehicle.


Thus to find the suitable fuse to tap, I use a meter and hook up to the empty fuse slots to test which one will drop voltage after the car went into sleep mode around 6mins.





So one of the Micro2 fuse section will went into sleep mode as you can see the voltage is very very low.




Then with the key on hand, I walk close to the car, system woke up, will suppy full power to the fuse.





After about half hour of testing, the RED Section (Standard size fuse) on the diagrm below will have constant power, the BLUE Section (where all the Micro2 Fuses are) will go into sleep mode after 6mins none activity.

Note: if you close any door or open door/trunk/bonnet when the car already went into sleep mode while the car unlocked, it will wake up the system again for 6mins as well.




Here are the two fuses I pick to tap my power for the hardwire kit, constant to the RED, ACC to the BLUE, as for Ground, I secured to the bolt where the green arrow is pointing at.




Preping hardwire kit (Viofo HK4) and connect up to fuse tap.







Use a extra lare cable tie as fish tape to pull cables through the side gap.








Use electrical tape wrap to the cable tie.





Pull slowly as the USB right angle head is a bit large will catch by small trim gap.







Very tight fit








Route the power cable along side the A piller, tug it behind the cable harnes already in place.




Push the lump of in line ferrite bead behind the head headliner now then pull along is much easier instead of trying to push into it from the edge.





Plug in the fuse tap





Powered on




I also plug in the rear camera cable now to test the whole system, then wait for 6mins for the car to go into sleep mode.




Now to run the rear camera cable, where I spend most of my time on, took me about 2 hours to make sure I don't damage any trim clips etc...


Use a trim clip puller to remove two push fit trim clip securing the rear section of the headliner







Remove the D Piller trim for easer access for the cable puller and you can drop down headliner a bit more.




The purple trim clip is very tight, will need a bit of force to releae it




Tip, pull from the top toward the cabin to release the top two purple clip, rest are very easy.




Pull off the rear door trim, take note of the clip location, those are also very tight, will need a bit of force to release them, the two outer edge are much easeir than the center clip, which I managed to destroy by pulling it downward instead of straight out.








Again, use the extra lage cable tie as fish tape to run through the rubber grommet, dislodge both side of the grommet will make it much easier.

Tip: run the cable/fish tape UNDER the harness that's alredy inside the grommet, so when you pull the cable through, it won't get stuck in the middle.





I use a electrician cable puller tool, you can get this from hardware store, and make sure you mold/shave/bevel the tip of the cable puller.




Remoe C Piller, only held on by one trox screw under the airbag cover tab.






Push the cable puller from rear headliner toward C pillar.





Remved B Pillar Trim, only held on by two trim clip, pull toward the cabin then pull down to release it.





Push the cable puller toward B Piller.




Ensure the cable puller run BEHIND the air curtain.





Keep push it along the headliner toward A pillar.





Here is how it look after reached A pillar, ensure it's BEHIND the air curtain.




Warp the rear camera cable with electrical tape to the cable puller, then pull it from rear.




Pull it slowly towards the rear.




Check/inspect at each pillar opening and make sure it's BEHIND the air curtain.






Zip tie the front power cable to the harness and tape down with Tesa tape.






Use some Tesa tape to tape down the cable near the B piller section to the headliner, make sure it's away from the air curtain.






Tape the camera cable to the zip tie where we ran through the harness grommet.





Tip: spray a little bit of silicon lubricant to help puling the cable through





Push from one and and pull from other end, wiggle the cable if it get stuck, just take your time






Bunch up the rest and wrap it up with Tesa tape, shove it between the headliner and the roof panel




Wrap the cable with Tesa wire harness tape and tape down to ensure no squeaking/knocking noises when the car is moving






Put the trim cover on




How the rear camera look from inside.





Tug both cable along the edge of the mirror/camera housing for a clean look.

 

Thanks for the info. I always thought I'd trigger the airbags by messing with the pillar so I ran the cables around the ledge and down the weather seal. This will be much cleaner.

 

I'm in the progress of running the cable for the rear cam, cut my fingers pulling few trim out while at it, it's almost done, will upload more photos after it's all done.

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished install. Bet it'll look clean when it's done.

 

I ran my dash cam cable down the A-pillar using a trim tool and tucked it under the headliner without needing to remove much. For anyone still deciding on a cam, I got mine from store.insta360.com — really compact and works great with the MINI setup. The parking mode stuff works well too if you've got a smart hardwire kit.

 

Insta360 makes a dash cam or did you use one of the others?