West Berkshire Newbie

Thrustyjust · Post by **Thrustyjust** » Sat May 11, 2019 10:24 pm

Evening all. Although been browsing the last few weeks, have just bought a 2007 Coupe today. Its black with a black leather interior. Collect it tomorrow and look forward to getting involved here. Interesting to see the group heading to the NC 500, as thats our plan for myself and the latest wife to do next year as I reach the five- oh milestone.
No pictures as yet , as was hoping to bring home today , but money got lost in hyper space, but has now landed. So another 70 mile trip to collect and a 70 mile straight six return journey

Plans for the car is :
1/ Drop the gearbox and diff oils , as I guess neither are on the BMW service schedule ? Has a complete dealer service record.
2/ CSL replica alloys . The originals need a refurb and rather invest in the wheels I like than get the originals redone.
3/ Stubby aerial
4/ Paint the calipers . Car is black, so calipers will be black. Nowt blingy

5/ Detail and ceramic coat . Just got a new DA and a shed load of pads to use. Not that it is bad , but a few marring spots, but is pretty mint .Same as the inside. Couldnt find a blemish.
6/ Dust cover in the garage , when cleaned and put away , as seem to do jobs in there than create a dust problem

7/ Tidy up the little scuff under the nose from a rogue kerb

Can't believe how long they are , as had to demolish my work bench in the garage to get its new home ready.

Anyway photos when I get back home tomorrow

buzyg · Post by **buzyg** » Sat May 11, 2019 10:28 pm

Great first post, I can feel your excitement.

Welcome to the mad house. Only one more sleep to go.

firebobby · Post by **firebobby** » Sat May 11, 2019 10:39 pm

And it was all going so well...right up to the stumpy aerial

Welcome to the forum, looking forward to the photos.
Don't fancy the English/Welsh meet and drive then ??

lucasxdiniz · Post by **lucasxdiniz** » Sat May 11, 2019 10:39 pm

Hey, there. Welcome to the forum. I'm also a newbie in Berkshire

I've changed the gearbox oil and it made shifting significantly smoother, and it seemed to get better/even smoother after a couple hundred miles with the new oil, so I can definitely recommend this as something to do. However, one of the first things you should get as soon as you can is a weighted shifter knob, it makes shifting much, much better (I have a ///M ZHP knob bought on Amazon).

I've painted my callipers and brake discs black and it looks very clean in my opinion.

Before:

After:

Thrustyjust · Post by **Thrustyjust** » Sat May 11, 2019 10:48 pm

firebobby wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:39 pm And it was all going so well...right up to the stumpy aerial
Welcome to the forum, looking forward to the photos.
Don't fancy the English/Welsh meet and drive then ??

Stubby aerial means I can fit the cover on as the passenger side is against the wall in the garage

Honest !!
As for English / Welsh meet, something I do daily as the wife is a bit Welsh . Creates issues during the Six Nations

Thrustyjust · Post by **Thrustyjust** » Sat May 11, 2019 10:51 pm

lucasxdiniz wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:39 pm Hey, there. Welcome to the forum. I'm also a newbie in Berkshire

I've changed the gearbox oil and it made shifting significantly smoother, and it seemed to get better/even smoother after a couple hundred miles with the new oil, so I can definitely recommend this as something to do. However, one of the first things you should get as soon as you can is a weighted shifter knob, it makes shifting much, much better (I have a ///M ZHP knob bought on Amazon).

I've painted my callipers and brake discs black and it looks very clean in my opinion.

If you are in Windsor, so is my mum . Usually there in the family wagon though as cant get dogs and family in a Zed.
Looks good and gives me ideas about the brakes. The calipers look a 'bit' orange current. Not anywhere as bad as the ones on a car I looked at last week that lived on the south coast.

Neighbour has a garage he works at at times and has a pit , so , a few litres of oil and a ketchup pump and we can change the oil in an hour or so.

lucasxdiniz · Post by **lucasxdiniz** » Sat May 11, 2019 11:04 pm

Just beware that some diffs only have a fill plug (like mine) and the oil must be pumped/sucked out. Hopefully your diff has a drain plug to make your life a lot easier.

firebobby · Post by **firebobby** » Sun May 12, 2019 10:05 am

Thrustyjust wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:48 pm
firebobby wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 10:39 pm And it was all going so well...right up to the stumpy aerial
Welcome to the forum, looking forward to the photos.
Don't fancy the English/Welsh meet and drive then ??
Stubby aerial means I can fit the cover on as the passenger side is against the wall in the garage Honest !!
As for English / Welsh meet, something I do daily as the wife is a bit Welsh . Creates issues during the Six Nations

Not with 40-50 other Zeds though

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Sun May 12, 2019 7:58 pm

Hi and welcome to the exclusive Coupe club from another Berkshire member (albeit it the East).

I had my gearbox oil changed 2 years ago, but my Indy told me the E86 3.0Si doesn't have a drain plug on the diff so that got left.

But a gearbox oil change and a ZHP gear-knob improved the change quality.

Mine came with a stubby, but I've gone back to a whippy - despite what people say on here it's just personal preference!

Anyway I'm sure you will enjoy the drive home - a 3 litre N52 engine just seems to lead your right foot astray!

Thrustyjust · Post by **Thrustyjust** » Sun May 12, 2019 8:42 pm

Lets see if this works.
Well I picked the car up at 9am in Bristol ( or just outside ) and had a nice 65 mile drive home. Car is well screwed together and almost serene with just the sound of the straight six ticking along. The rozzers seem to enjoy catch the speeders between the Swindon junctions, so with a car I was new to, just pottered at 75 all the way home. Happy with the car as a whole. Wheels, which I knew were pretty crummy , but after a nice clean this afternoon , the horror of the powder coat lumps were more noticeable. I will attempt new rims soon, but a couple of questions, which have probably been asked a billion times.
1/If I use after market wheels can I use the tpms on them ?
2/ Anyone point me to some decent quality , not bank shattering, csl replicas with the right offset and in silver please ?
So, the first mod was the ariel swop. Mate had a selection in a box from his Mini ownership from time gone by, so I swopped for a stubby and got a spare as well. The wand hadnt been off for a long time, so took some effort. I then ran an M5 tap down it to clean the boss out and then a touch of Duralac and in it screwed.
Pictures show the car pre wash and had a lot of crust in places like door and bonnet shuts, so a wide selection of Bilt Hamber and others from the crate of gear gave he car a new lease of life. Also gave the glass a quick go over and it 'just' fitted in the garage with about 10 inches to spare.
Took the latest wife for a spin and she is happy. Not sure if that was from the car or the gin distillery she had been to today though

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Sun May 12, 2019 9:00 pm

Looking good.

E86s don't use TPMS valves. I think they use the ABS/TC sensors - fitting other wheels definitely isn't an issue. I've got 295s from an E89 on my E86!

CSL Reps seem to come in so many different sizes you can almost pick what you want. The genuine ones were staggered 19s, but you can even buy square sets of 18s!

As a starting point the MV2s on your car are staggered with 8J x 18 fronts with an ET (offset) of 47 and 8.5J x 18 rears with an ET of 50. A lower number ET will make them sit further out in the wheel-arches.

Good luck with your wheel search, but unless they have to be new I'd start my search on here or Gumtree/Facebook, etc.

paddy wright · Post by **paddy wright** » Sun May 12, 2019 9:10 pm

Welcome- looking good!

Thrustyjust · Post by **Thrustyjust** » Sun May 12, 2019 9:16 pm

Cheers Mr Tidy. Not particular up to speed on Beemers and offsets being my first ever one, so any info is good. I want to keep the 18's to be honest as dont see the point in 19's as cost a shed load more for tyres and being the roads round here are modelled on Beirut , will only die an early death in a pothole.
Need to set the memory seats up next as the wife being vertically challenged , means we need to set both of us up. Job for the week .
Car is sat on the battery conditioner quite happy via the ciggie lighter ( unused !!)
We intend to keep this car for a long while and as it stands has a complete BMW service history, so question is , with Coupe's holding ground in values , would it be sensible to continue the S/H at BMW ? Dont need one for a while as only done 2k miles ago.
Sadly dont do stalkbook , but will have a nosey on Gumtree for wheels , but always seem to be a pain to find stuff on there. Ebay works for me , but I went on the German version the other day and the pc did a wobbly

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Sun May 12, 2019 10:33 pm

I know what you mean about keeping 18s - that's what my wheels are and I think you'd struggle to distinguish between 18" and 19" CSL reps from any distance.

I'm still using run-flats (mainly because the wheels I bought had decent run-flats already fitted) but most on here reckon fitting non run-flats gives a much better ride as the sidewalls have some "give" in them.

On the offset thing, the ET figures relate to mm. So the wheels I've got are the same sizes as E86 ones (8J front, 8.5J rear) but the fronts are ET29 instead of 47 so they sit 18mm further out. The rears are ET40 instead of 50, so they sit 10mm further out.

I've bought and sold several sets of wheels through the forum, but there are others (notably mr wilks) who has probably had more sets of Z4 wheels than I've had cars so if you aren't sure what will work just ask! Someone will know. And plenty get advertised on here if you can wait a bit.

Tough call on the service history issue. When I sold my 1st one it had full BMW history, but was due an oil service. I gave the buyer a choice and he chose BMW, so we did the deal based on me going to Sytner before he picked it up.

But my current one isn't all BMW so it just goes to my local BMW Indy who is ex-Sytner anyway. OK he doesn't have a coffee machine and free WiFi, but his hourly rate is about half of theirs!

The other issue now these cars are all over 10 years old is that there are probably plenty of main agent staff who've not seen one before, which isn't exactly confidence inspiring.

I think selling on here people would rather it went to a BMW Indy, but the general public would rather see main agent stamps.

If you give a rough indication of where you are people may be able to recommend a good Indy.

I recently got my 1st free prescription, so don't do all that twit-book nonsense either! For wheels I'd go here, other BMW forums, Gumtree or maybe E-bay.

Thrustyjust · Post by **Thrustyjust** » Mon May 13, 2019 1:41 pm

So, today , I have been to my bodywork guy and he will try and fit me in , in the next month for the front lower panel to paint. I am in no rush, but since he is retired, he said he is having 3 months off in the summer, or actually all of the summer

. If its not done this month, then September isnt a grind. His paint man is away a lot with his wife being very ill, so its not going to fall off and be an issue.
On another note the driving light on the o/s is wobbly

How do I get in there to find out whats wobbling ?

Have to take it to work this afternoon, as my MD is a serial Beemer owner and we have discussed coupes for many years. Now........... his M3 V8 ........... sure that engine would fit under the bonnet............

Aaaand, back to wheels. Would these work on the car with the offset on them ?
https://cmwheels.com/product/18-stagger ... 1-f30-e46/

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