Last Updated: January 16, 2025
The Black BMW M4 F82 was the number 1 car Driver Soul modified and conducted product research with. Much research has been conducted into purchasing and finding the right vehicle in great condition and not abused. I ended up finding one at the Silver Springs Porsche dealer in Maryland. The BMW M4 was traded in for a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S, so it made sense why the car was so well maintained.
This page will be updated whenever any mods are added to the Driver Soul’s black BMW M4.
What Mods Did I Choose for this Black BMW M4?
Here is the list of Driver Soul’s BMW M4 mods:
- HRE FF11 Flow Form Wheels in Liquid Metal color: 20 x 9.5 front, and 20 x 11 rear
- HRE Wheels Classic Center Cap Red/White/Blue
- H&R VTF Adjustable Lowering Springs: Model 23003-1
- IIlumo RGB Daylight Running Lights
- Vorsteiner VRS GTS Aero Wing
- VRSF Front Mount Cold Air Intakes
- RW Carbon CF Side Skirt Extensions – bmwf82m405
- RW Carbon CF Front Lip Spoiler CS Style – bmwf8x033-1
- RW Carbon CF Kholen Style Rear Diffuser – bmwf8x034
- RW Carbon CF Trunk Spoiler – bmwf82m410
- Carbon Fiber Grille
- Carbon Fiber Cannards
- Carbon Fiber Interior Trim
- IND Paint Match Amber Front Side Reflector Delete
- Carbahn Carbon Fiber Mirror Caps
- Carbon Fiber GTS Style Hood – self-sourced from China, no longer on the vehicle due to poor quality
Why Did I Choose the HRE FF11 Flow Form Wheels Over Others?
Simply put, because they are HRE, and they look amazing. The M4 started getting a lot of compliments after the wheels were put on. Even people who can’t stand star-shaped wheels compliment them and say that these might be the only star-shaped wheels they would get.
I went with the Flow Formed due to cost savings compared to forged wheels of the same or other brands. A few new wheel brands approached me with a “sponsorship” opportunity and were offering their forged wheels for close to $5000. That’s more than twice what I paid for the HRE Wheels. Also, after doing a reverse image search, I quickly realized that those wheels were white-label wheels from AliBaba. That said, I would rather trust Flow Formed wheels from HRE than an unknown brand’s forged wheels.
It is worth mentioning that after ordering the HRE Wheels through the Vivid Racing website, they were delivered to my door within 4 days. If you want to go the forged wheel from China route, you are looking at around 8 weeks of waiting.
Why Did I Go With H&R Lowering Springs Over Others?
For starters, H&R is a huge brand with an incredible reputation. They also produce springs that are softer than, let’s say, M-Performance Springs. Price point was also an important factor. This build was put together with saving money in mind.
So far, the BMW M4 drives well with these springs. There are some issues at the moment with the suspension, but they are completely related to the installers and the alignment done on the vehicle, not the springs. For instance, I quickly realized that a softer spring response isn’t great when alignment is off and there is more movement in the spring. The black BMW M4’s front tires were rubbing either the inner fender liner, the spring itself, or the fender even while braking and turning.
Currently, I’m trying to manage this problem with Dinan spacers. However, I’m yet to find the right spacer size for the front to stop rubbing. After putting 6mm wheel spacers in the front, the tires are now rubbing on the outside of the tire against the fender. I just ordered a 4mm spacer,s which might help me solve this issue once and for all.
Why Did We Go With IIlumo RGB Daylight Running Lights Modules?
After trying out a few cheaper options, it became apparent that going cheap with electrical parts might result in the M4 catching fire. Right before IIlumo modules were ordered, I got a call from the BMW dealership working on the M4’s RGB DLRLs installation, who told me that those heatsinks were burning up to the point where they could melt plastic.
A buddy of mine was running IIlumo RGB headlight modules without any issues on his BMW M2, so I just ordered them based on his recommendation. However, I am now looking at other companies selling those modules since I do not necessarily like the dimness of these DLRLs.
Why Did I Go With a Wing?
I think that wings on two-door Bimmers look great. I understand that many people can’t stand wings, but I felt like the wing would make this vehicle look like a true modified BMW M4.
Another thing that people might dislike is that the car has not only the Vorsteiner VRS GTS Aero Wing but also kept the RW Carbon trunk spoiler. I debated taking it off, but for now, it’s staying.
If you are wondering why I picked Vorsteiner wing as the wing for this BMW M4 over others, the answer is fairly simple. I think it looks sleeker and fits with the car’s curves. I would like to see what a much more aggressive wing would look like on a black BMW M4, but I haven’t seen anything that I like on a non-widebody M4.
Why VRSF Front Mount Intakes Over Others?
This answer is simple because RK Autowerks has discontinued production of F82 carbon fiber single-piece front mount intakes. I also couldn’t find anyone selling them used either. I had them before on the Austing Yellow M4, and I loved them.
Since RK was out of the question, I did quite a bit of digging, and it just seemed like the market was filling with Alibaba intakes that were marked up by 4x. VRSF seemed to have the most reasonable price and good reviews, so I went with them. Although now I’m looking into possibly replacing front mount intakes with in-bay intakes due to how much dust Colorado has.
Why RW Carbon Front Lip, Diffuser, Side Skirts, Spoiler?
RW Carbon had decent reviews and was priced ok. That’s before I figured out that there is a high possibility of them doing the same stuff as the rest do with their parts just being marked up Alibaba parts. However, RW Carbon does seem to store their inventory in California, so shipping doesn’t take forever.
I did have quality issues with RW Carbon products. The diffuser was cracked, and customer service told me to send pictures before I unwrapped it. As you can understand, this isn’t possible since I unwrapped it already without expecting it to be cracked. Also, the instructions were off where they wrote about how long should the wiring cable be to hook up the diffuser light to the brake light from the taillight. In addition, the predrilled holes for the diffuser did not line up.
Why Did I Take Off The Carbon Fiber Hood?
There were three reasons for me to take off the BMW M4 carbon fiber hood and put the stock hood back on. But the main reason was embarrassment. Let me explain:
Fitment
Gaps were all around the hood. It was too tall vertically and too short in length and width. I tried to align it and push the body panels in, but nothing worked. While it was fairly embarrassing to have such bad hood alignment, I made peace with it and would have kept it on. The next reason is what made me swap back to stock.
Oxidation
The oxidation of the hood became unbearable to look at, especially in the sun. At first, I thought that maybe I left too much wax when polishing it, however I quickly came to realize that it wasn’t wax and I would have to do the whole process of oxidation remediation which I’m not an expert at. By the end of the time that that hood was on the car, under stronger light, it was more of a white color than black/carbon fiber.
Water Running Through the Vent
Due to the gaps between the hood and other body panels paired with the vent towards the front of the hood, I realized that I could fry the IIlumo RGB DLRLs since they were connected with the wires running across the top of the front bumper. Also, I wasn’t truly sure how sealed off the connections were by the headlights themselves.
That being said, the hood had to go to save me from further embarrassment and future issues with water.
