Previous build: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1181651

As w/ all my previously owned vehicles, I make a build thread. The K9 is no exception. Side note, I really wanted (& still do) a 2016 K900. Because the 16's came with autonomous braking, quilted leather, and remote unlock/lock/start from your cellphone with the K900 Kia app for android. But all the 16's are still very expensive. So now it's a waiting game for me until next year 2018.

Back story on me. I am 32 years young and came to a point in my life where I needed a bigger vehicle for work. My previous vehicle was a 2-door Range Rover Evoque Dynamic. And a 2-door BMW M3.

I picked up a MY15 K9 out of Dallas, TX. I drove 5 hours away to retrieve her & put a $500 deposit down to hold her. Reason being the dealership, a month ago, was asking $29k and it was the exact K9 I wanted. Black exterior w/ Katy Perry white interior & VIP package. It had 28k miles on the odometer but as I type this it now has 32k miles. I have driven her, in the past 30 days, from AR to KY and from AR to TX.

ISSUES/1st world problems:
-Before buying the K9 I noticed yelow stains on the driver seat left bolster, driver side center console lid, & driver side white leather "rail" that goes from the center console to under the stereo buttons. I have made an appointment with a leather repair facility to have the discoloration rectified in 23 days from today. I also noticed the rear sunshade button was stuck & the rear bumper had a few chips in the paint along with condensation in rear reverse lamp.

-Driver side reverse lamp had condensation. My local dealer has since replaced it.

-The K9 shook between 52mph & 68mph when I first bought it... After purchasing new tires all around it only shakes at 65mph. Very odd. I will need to take it back to the dealership as it drives me mad.

-The credit card smart key never worked. Even after I replaced 3 batteries thinking the previous battery I tried was old. It took my Kia tech to program all 3 keys to get it to come alive. Now, it is my daily driver. IE: the only key I use. The two "fat" keys with the buttons on them I leave in a drawer at home.

-If you use bluetooth music from your phone and then turn the K900 off. Then come back and turn it on... It defaults to XM radio. For the love of mothers spatula it will not re-connect to the bluetooth music in the car.

-I cannot figure out how to increase the ring volume in the K9 when I receive a phone call. I increase the volume manually before answering the call. But it never saves. Resulting in me increasing the ring on the next call only to be met with the same demise of the K9 not "learning" the new volume I wish to preset.

-The map software in the car was from 2013. Kia VIP customer service sent me a map update in the mail free of charge after I called them.

-Waze & google maps is STILL better at attaining a faster route DESPITE having XM satellite traffic & the latest 10.5 map SW update from Kia

-Look at ANY K900 brochure from 2015-17 and you will se the exterior door handles are suppose to light up at night as part of the "welcome" lighting. Much like my BMW M3. HOWEVER, I have YET found a K900 that actually has this feature.... In any MY or with any package/option. I have a Kia trouble ticket open with customer service to see if it was perhaps a Korean only thing? Is it a big deal? No. It's a first world problem. Just a quirk imo that the ads say it has it and even shows pictures of it, but no car seems to come with it.

-The headunit screen will not dim as dark as the gauge cluster. This is maddening at night but, my work around is to just turn off the screen while driving. YES, I have even set the display screen to auto. It does dim at night but not as dark as the gauge cluster.

-Speaking of gauge cluster, it does not fully turn off. My Lexus IS250 and my old 350z allowed me to turn off ALL interior lights at night. This was great for outward visibility at night.

-Kia has locked us out of being able to use our driver seat preset memory buttons while in drive. This sucks especially since my memory seat 1 is set for night time use and lowers all the interior lights to maximum dimness (including HUD) & seat 2 memory is for daytime use and increases all lights to max brightness including the HUD. What a silly thing to lock us out of while driving but also understandable from a liability perspective. I am forced, in the interim, to pull over as the sun fades away to dark while driving.

-On rare occasion I have the "mouse in the attic" noise. I theorize that this is the dreaded noise that may happen before the plastic roof between the windshield and the sunroof, cracks. So far, on the K900 owners facebook page, there have been two owners with known cracked roofs. (NO, not the actual glass sunroof)

-At 6ft 3 the giant rearview mirror hinders forward visibility across the horizon. Typical for me since I sit up while I drive instead of "gangster leaning". As a remedy I have removed my rearview mirror & installed a custom piece of glass I had cut and puttied to the sunglasses holder in the K9 ceiling. This is temporary until I can hack the rearview camera to come on with a relay switch even while in drive. A feat I conquered with my old Lexus IS250.

-The rear air climate control only controls the fan speed in the entire vehicle. It does not control ONLY the fan speed for the rear. A bummer.

-A "bubbling" noise can be heard when at a stop in drive and the ac is on. Turn off the ac, and the bubbling noise stops. I wonder if all K9's do this?

-Memory auto hold. I love using auto hold at a stop light. A 2017 $20k civic has memory auto hold. But our K9's do not. Every time I turn off my K9 and turn it back on again later, I must re-press the auto hold button in order to activate it. I wish to turn it on once and it remain on for the entire ownership of the vehicle.

-Auto engaging e-brake. In my range rover, when I put it in park, the e-brake would auto engage. Not the case in the K9. You must manually press the e-brake button to activate it then turn off the car. This seems odd.

-AHBA. The K9 is a $68k vehicle and yet it does not come with auto high beam assist.

-I need to manually adjust the headlights on a level surface area... Currently they are set incorrectly and the beam spread doesn't have that correct "step" in it.

-Why can we not grab the door handle and the vehicle unlock? Instead we are forced to press the exterior button. A silly feature. Luckily, @K5 Optima Store is coming out with a module that will auto unlock the doors when approaching the vehicle.
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I'll hop off my high horse now and discuss current and future modifications.

Exterior:
-I removed all the stickers on the door jambs for a cleaner appearance upon entering.
-Remove all the rear badges on the vehicle except the KIA badge
-Painted to match exterior paint code both front & rear KIA badges along w/ wheel caps
-Installed 285 wide tires in the rear and 255 up front. Up 10 in width both front and rear to fill in the wheel wells since, thus far, there is no lowering kit offered on our K9's.
-S2BI In memory of on rear window
-Appointment scheduled for rear bumper chip in paint
-I need to research the brightest reverse LED bulb that will fit our K9's back up light housing
-I wish to retrofit 2016 K9 tail lights. But it's pointless since I'll be trading this 15 in on a 16 once the 16's come down in price
-I wish to bake open the headlights and paint all the chrome trim gloss black. But this is also pointless since these headlights are known to fail in time.

Interior:
-Removed rearview mirror
-Installed custom cut mirror glass inside sunglass holder
-Removed black plastic covering on windshield for better clearance of RD
-Installed Uniden R3 RD under LDWS camera
-Installed DDPai mini 2 dash cam (wish it was black instead of silver)
-Installed new cabin air filter. Thanks Gene for instructions
-Installed weather tech floor liners F & R
-Fixed the stuck rear sunshade button. Previous owner was a slob
-Cleaned and conditioned leather
-Removed rear center seat belt and headrest for a cleaner appearance
-Removed the window stickers that had the XM info & roadside assistance info
-Removed the random rubber bands on all the seat belt latches.
-Installed 5% limo tint on all windows except windshield

Mechanical:
-Latest SW update for transmission flashed. Shifts have improved TSB out there
-Latest SW update for idle flashed. Idle no longer fluctuates. TSB out there
-Installed air filter today 6/13/17
-Oil changed 6/2/17

PROGRESS PHOTOS

Removal of rear center seat belt.