So, either you bought old or you bought new, it doesn’t really matter, because you bought a BMW. Welcome to the world of “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” But, it’s not quite as ultimate as you can make it now is it? Some people like to modify their cars, while some like to keep them stock. It’s okay to go either way, I’m here to help you decide where to go to learn what to do to your car if that is what you want to do.

The great thing about buying a BMW is you can make it become whatever you want it to become and still stay true to the German roots of it. Just remember though, once you buy one mod, you will buy many more. In the automotive world we call it the “mod bug.” For some guys/girls it becomes like a hobby and for others it becomes a fun thing to do to help restore your car. Needles to say it can get rather expensive, so start saving your money.

Once you do decide to modify your BMW though, there are many places that offer great products. If you want to stick with BMW warranted products you can go through their new Performance shop that has dealer installed accessories such as exhaust, wheels, brakes and such for older and new BMW’s, or you can go with Dinan, who is the only aftermarket product company that BMW allows to retain the factory 4 year/50,000 mile warranty.

If something is wrong with your Dinan BMW, you can take it to certain local BMW dealerships that have licensed Dinan technicians in the service bay to service your car. In some cases having Dinan certified products on your BMW has been known to increase the value when going to trade in your BMW or sell outright.

There are other great companies that can help you fix up your Bimmer if you aren’t worried about the warranty, or if your car is too old to have a warranty. If you are looking for new headlights for your BMW I personally recommend Umnitza. Umnitza is a California based BMW aftermarket company that specializes in aftermarket light kits for your BMW, such as upgraded Xenon’s, Angel Eyes, fog lights, tail lights and other things.

I have personally used Umnitza and was very happy with the product, but more so, was happy with the service. While I live in North Carolina, for a period of time I lived in Florida. And I was up in NC visiting for Christmas and was leaving in a few days to drive back to FL. I spoke with the owner of the company and he assured me that he would have my lights to me by the time I left. So he drove his E46 M3 in CA traffic (it was around 5pm when we were talking) to drop my lights off at FedEx to ship them overnight for me. Great service and great products.

Another company that I have dealt with personally is Bavarian Autosport. They have a wide variety of BMW parts whether they are OEM or aftermarket, and pretty good prices too. I am always getting magazines in the mail and e-mails from them about a new sale, and they have some nice stuff on sale.

A company similar to a BavAuto would be Turner Motorsport. Turner Motorsport is one of the largest aftermarket BMW companies there is, and one of the few that sponsors their own race cars. While they offer similar products at times, they also are considered an authorized dealer for other products like Hartge –a very familiar name in the BMW community, Stop Tech, Borla, Bilstein, among others.

They also feature the great Shark Injectors that is a software programmer, which can also restore the factory settings of your BMW when you take it in to do factory or warranty service. It can add 23 horsepower to your E39 M5 for just $369, which seems like a pretty good bargain to me.

There are of course many other places to talk about, but that might get a little boring. So to help you better I thought I’d list a few more websites for you. Remember people, always try before you buy! Check the local, national or international car forums to check if there are better products for your money, and check out Bimmer Magazine to see ads and their opinions of certain products and such.

If you don’t know of any forums or car clubs just type into Google search: BMW forums or BMW car clubs in whatever area of the world that you live in. That way, you have the advantage of knowing what to buy and not to buy. Also remember that every product has a horror story, just try and pick the one that works best for your budget and time you have to put into attaching the product.

Other places to look at: Bimmer Performance Store, UUC Motorwerks, Bimmer World, Active Autowerke, BMA Auto Parts and JLevi SW.

You can see more ads in Bimmer Magazine or through your local car forums.

Have any other BMW questions? E-mail me at josh@rawautos.com or leave me a comment here, and I will be more than happy to help you with all of your BMW needs.

Article by Josh from RawAutos.com