F85 from Canada

[Upurock]

Hi all,
Been a member for a while with my other cars, but finally i am getting ready to pull the plug on 2018 X5M in the next few weeks.
There are a few options available currently, none is to my perfect specs but oh well.
The question is - if the car was purchased and driven in Canada for a while and then exported to US, is there something I should be aware of or something prohibitive in getting that car?
Kilometer speedo doesn’t bother me as I use head up display anyway and that can be switched to mph.
Some say they use salt on the roads in Canada, but so do northern states.
Car will be driven in Florida for the next 5-7 years.
Thank you!

[Qsilver7]

Before it can be imported back to the US market…everything it needs for this market will have been changed to be acceptable in this market.

Depending on which cluster it came with…it will either be swapped or coded for miles instead of kilometers. The 6WB (fully digital) cluster can be changed for either distance in iDrive. The 6WA or Basic cluster would need to be swapped since the kilometer instrument cluster only has the single scale…whereas the miles instrument cluster has both scales (kilometers is in smaller print on the cluster).

The temp and volume scales is not an issue since those can be changed easily in iDrive (Celsius to Fahrenheit & liters to gallons).

The other thing that comes to mind (but probably won’t be an issue)…Canada requires DRLs so you probably won’t have a selection in iDrive to turn them off…and the S2VB (TPMS) may not be installed since it is not a requirement in Canada (its optional there). Instead of having the direct TPM/RDC tire monitoring system (a BMW USA standard)…it may have the indirect FTM/RPA tire monitoring system which doesn’t display the PSI & TEMP…but just shows a green or amber illuminated tire to inform if the air pressure is within correct operating parameters. This still meets US DOT requirement, though.

The only other drawback that comes to mind is…your US BMW dealership may not be able to offer you some of the “special” offers since they only offer those to US imports. They will/can still work on your BMW…you just may miss out on certain specials that require your VIN to qualify. When they run your VIN it comes back as a Canadian import…so BMW USA won’t recognize the VIN as valid for the special.

Ask me how I know…I have a Canadian import f06 that was imported into the US…and there’s no problems except what was mentioned above. Oh yeah…the VIN label will display the Canadian Mapleleaf. And there should also be a sticker that verifies that it’s been imported.

[Upurock]

Thank you!
TPMS is pretty much the only thing that bothers me, car out of warranty so will most likely have indy shop working on it .

[MyF15+F85]

If you check the carfax it will give you the province that car was originally registered ( owned ). Anything east coast Nova Scotia, New Foundland, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario. Tons of salt here in winter, so you will have a bit of rust on exhaust and suspension components. Still nothing by comparing to a Honda ( sorry if I offended someone )
The western provinces do not use as much of it therefore they are a bit less rusty on the same components ( Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta )
British Columbia is like California, the cleanest of them all.
Hope that helps

[Upurock]

Originally Posted by MyF15+F85

If you check the carfax it will give you the province that car was originally registered ( owned ). Anything east coast Nova Scotia, New Foundland, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario. Tons of salt here in winter, so you will have a bit of rust on exhaust and suspension components. Still nothing by comparing to a Honda ( sorry if I offended someone )
The western provinces do not use as much of it therefore they are a bit less rusty on the same components ( Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta )
British Columbia is like California, the cleanest of them all.
Hope that helps

Thank you!
Car was driven in BC around Vancouver mostly.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Upurock

Thank you!
TPMS is pretty much the only thing that bothers me, car out of warranty so will most likely have indy shop working on it .

If you have the 17 digit VIN…you can run it through a VIN decoder (like www.mdecoder.com) and scroll down to see if it has the TPMS option (its S2VBA). If you don’t see that option code listed…then it will have the FTM/RPA indirect flat tire system (no pressure & temp shown in the display)….but you’ll still have a system that alerts you to low pressure in a tire…green = pressure ok…amber = loss of pressure:

TPM/RDC direct system


FTM/RPA indirect system

[Upurock]

Yeah I saw where it shows that option under Wheels and drive in mdecoder.
Any way to retrofit it?
It’s not bothersome, just a bit annoying, as I’m very detail oriented.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Upurock

Yeah I saw where it shows that option under Wheels and drive in mdecoder.
Any way to retrofit it?
It’s not bothersome, just a bit annoying, as I’m very detail oriented.

You may be able to code to activate it. It depends on which control modules the f15 has. What I can remember from the coding discussions is…that some BMWs have the RDC control incorporated into the DSC control module…instead of being a separate control module. If the RDC is incorporated in DSC, then you don’t have to add a new module to the communication bus to get the temp/pressure info to appear in the iDrive display.

You may be luckier than me, in that my F06 650ix GC has the separate RDC module…so coding to change to the TPM/RDC setup doesn’t work.

[Upurock]

I’ll see how it’s done in f85 if I end up getting Canadian
It’s on my radar
I guess FTM is fine as well.
Appreciate it!

[Qsilver7]

[F15_Msport]

Hey,

Hate to bring up an old thread but Im in the same boat. Purchased a 2018 x5 in the US but see it was made for CA market.

My navigation doesn’t work in the US, Miles are adding up unusually, and I don’t have the TPM option installed (temp and air/just orange or green.

Any help around this ??

New here btw

Thanks

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by F15_Msport

Hey,

Hate to bring up an old thread but Im in the same boat. Purchased a 2018 x5 in the US but see it was made for CA market.

My navigation doesn’t work in the US, Miles are adding up unusually, and I don’t have the TPM option installed (temp and air/just orange or green.

Any help around this ??

New here btw

Thanks

Im confused on how the navigation doesn’t work because the nav maps cover North America. If you go to NAV and scroll down to map version…what does it say? In the pic below as an example…the upper info shows the year/version of the nav maps for N/A…and the lower info shows the regional updates…which shows the regional maps are for KS & MO:



Did they swap the cluster over to one that has both the MPH and KM/H scales? If so, then go into iDrive SETTINGS and select the units of measure used in the US market. The pic below is from an earlier version of iDrive…but again, you can go into SETTINGS and look for UNITS so that you can check what you have selected for consumption, distance, and temperature, etc :



And the answer for changing from FTM to TPM is the same as what was given in the earlier posts above in the thread. Decode your VIN to see if you have the 2VB option (TPM)…if you do, then you just need to code for the PSI & Temp to appear. If you have the FTM system, then you need to do the research to see which modules you have, if you have the RDC module, then your stuck, if your tire monitor system has been incorporated into the DSC module, then there’s coding that can be done to change from FTM to TPM.

[F15_Msport]

That’s the thing, my Nav icon won’t show anything but “loading”. I tried resetting the unit via the volume button but I still get the same thing. Interestingly enough, my weather/news/search engine/ current location all works on connected drive.

Units have been changed to US some I’m all good there

And I’ll definetly look up which module I have for the TPM.

Pic attached for the Nav issue

[Qsilver7]

Oh…it appears that navigation isn’t working at all…it never finishes loading? I can’t tell what’s going on…it could be that a previous owner tried to update the nav maps with faulty data, or didn’t have the FSC code…or had something else installed and removed it and tried to redo the original. I have no clue since we don’t know the history of the vehicle.

In regard to the TPM system, what does it say on the screen? Does it say TPM or FTM? That is one way to tell which system you have. BMW uses the TPM/RDC (direct system) which has the sensors in each wheel that can give temp & PSI info…or it has the FTM/RPA (indirect system). Again, you can tell which system you have by what it says on the screen.