Remove BMW Phone Cradle

This a one way, destructive guide to remove the phone cradle + adaptor on a BMW 550 E60.

The phone cradle -WILL- get damages, proceed at your own risk.

For those who owns any bimmers, storage in the center console is a joke ! The factory phone cradle is only a base plate, with any model specific phone adaptors $130 a pop.

I use Bluetooth sync & rather sacrifice this for more junk storage ....

All repair manuals on E60 saids there're lots interior panel removals to get a clean break. Since it's my own car & I'll never use this feature, brute force & following simple tools are needed:

- long heavy screw driver
- nylon pry tool

Cover all you nice wood trims near the vicinity !

Open the arm rest. On passenger side, look for the hinge arm pivot point. Insert screwdriver & pry till you get the plastic pin out of the hole.

Once one side of the cradle is out, twice off the other pin that had the wire bundle with some force. (Imagine breaking a lobster claw)

This is held on with some thin plastic & should break off easily.

Don't get impatient now & just snip off the wire cables ! This may generate computer fault codes & $$$ on repairs repairs !

Go to the rear vent & pry out the cig lighter panel. Top part is slotted to the vents, so work from the sides in a U shape pattern till it pops out.

Have someone jerk the wire bundle while you feel the other end. There should be 2 cables, each to a jack.

Phone control jack has a locking tab & collar.
Push tab, turn collar to unlock, then pull.

Antenna has a simpler plug, just push the locking tab & unplug.

Have your buddy gently pull while you feed the loose cables out. Gently pop back the rear panel & you're all done !

This unit should still be functional w/o the nicely rotating pin.

Now eBay this part & enjoy the free space ....