Z4-forum.com

srhutch wrote:CJ

I presume your car is not a Daily Driver. I'm just wondering about the winter with all the crap on the roads and the protection from the wax especially from the joint.

Have you considered silicone, I know we discussed it before.

The Zed is most certainly a daily driver and sees the road 6 out of 7 days from local runs to for instance a near 400 mile business trip on Tuesday. She has to earn her keep.

Having dismantled the 108's I now have a better feel for the structure and do not perceive the silicone to be a worthwhile idea as at would just make any subsequent break apart that much harder. My gamble is that a little wax each month will offer better protection that relying on lacquer that will certainly breach as soon as it gets a tap, scratch, set of tyres fitted, etc. and then give corrosion a perfect trap to work in.

Time will tell. For now I just sneak one of the 108's into the lounge to look at until I can get some 452's

Well the project is finished!!! The Falken 452's arrived yesterday and had them fitted this morning, so a tantalising glimpse of the 'new' 108's finally on the car

I love the result and can't wait for this crap snow to move off so I can get out and about for some better shots when the car is clean and there is enough light to show them a bit better.

As an aside what a revelation the Falkens are. Only drove the mile from the fitter and on a mix of snow and ice, but it feels like a new car. No crashing and banging on the ///M suspension and felt so much smoother.

They do indeed look really good

Kudos!

Looking great
A suprisingly close finish to the paint colour. I can't believe you've had runflats this long

Will you be keeping the new alloys on for the Feb meet?

Lovely job there, mine need a full refurb as they look worse than yours did but as I lack a garage I'm going to have to employ a company to do the graft. Interesting point to leave the lacquer off for longevity though.

Hey Herminator - for sure they will be on for the meet. I only have the one set. My other set are already on their way to a new home.
Colour is a lot more mirror/chrome than today's grey snowy weather shows, but the fitters commented on the complement with the grey.

rich-v Depends where you are based but the Lichfield company that did the centres would be delighted to do some more 108's. He's currently working on a show version of what he did to my centres as he likes it a lot.

CJ, let me be the PITA and point out that whoever installed the tires didn't do a PERFECT job... I'm a perfectionist, so forgive me: the yellow dot (or the red one, not sure which one) is supposed to be aligned with the stem valve to minimize weight addition on the tire when balancing... If you look on your tires they are mis-aligned...

If you take a look here toward the end you'll see what I'm talking about...

I love the hard top!!!

ZetaTre wrote:CJ, let me be the PITA and point out that whoever installed the tires didn't do a PERFECT job... I'm a perfectionist, so forgive me: the yellow dot (or the red one, not sure which one) is supposed to be aligned with the stem valve to minimize weight addition on the tire when balancing... If you look on your tires they are mis-aligned...

If you take a look here toward the end you'll see what I'm talking about...

I love the hard top!!!

Well it's a good observation and one that was taken into account. As you note the general rule is to align the yellow dot to the valve stem, however if there is a red too it is aligned to the weigh mark on the rim, thus putting the heavy and light spot of each together. On the inside of the rims we found a punched mark That is what my fitters have worked to. Looking at your reference article it does say the same if you read futher down:

What if both dots are present?
Generally speaking, if you get a tyre with both a red and a yellow dot on it, it should be mounted according to the red dot - ie. the uniformity mark should line up with the dimple on the wheel rim, and the yellow mark should be ignored.

OK so I have refurbished the rims too, stripped lacquer and removed the centres. They too have multiple layers of powder coat and paint, etc. so any original weighting would have been lost, but we tried. As a final point the tyre fitter I use removes and remounts any tyres that the system shows to be out of balance and see if he can get a better 'natural' balance. (Although local he is actually the specilaist tyre fitter for all exotic makes for a 50 mile radius and was at the time about to fit a set of Ferarri tyres and had a set of 22" Brabus 4x4 to do - no doubt a local drug Barons car..lol)

I too am a perfectionist

Thanks for the comment on the hardtop. I love it too and very practical given the current weather

LOL... To be honest, I was actually surprised you let something like that go by you... Now it makes sense

CJ,

Did you experience many difficulties removing the bolts and separating the rims?

I've got 108s in need of a refurb, and after speaking to my local powdercoating guy he'll powdercoat the rims and centre bits - but only if I get them to him already separated. He's done similar Merc wheels before and says never again would he agree to separate wheels. Somewhat puts me off and make me wonder if it could become a PITA is I try it myself.

Bearing in mind my wheels/car are 4 years and 19k miles old.

I've got the luxury of time to do this as I can make do with using my van so I can take the Zed off the road to do this.

Cheers
Ally

P.S. I've decided I'd prefer powdercoating them rather than polish and relaquer - easier to look after to avoid a repeat of the corrosion, although not so quite a nice finish.

a11y wrote:CJ,

Did you experience many difficulties removing the bolts and separating the rims?

I've got 108s in need of a refurb, and after speaking to my local powdercoating guy he'll powdercoat the rims and centre bits - but only if I get them to him already separated. He's done similar Merc wheels before and says never again would he agree to separate wheels. Somewhat puts me off and make me wonder if it could become a PITA is I try it myself.

Bearing in mind my wheels/car are 4 years and 19k miles old.

I've got the luxury of time to do this as I can make do with using my van so I can take the Zed off the road to do this.

Cheers
Ally

P.S. I've decided I'd prefer powdercoating them rather than polish and relaquer - easier to look after to avoid a repeat of the corrosion, although not so quite a nice finish.

Zero problems at all, but I purchased a brand new 12 point spline drive set with 2 8mm bits in. All 80 out I am very careful how I undo bolts so 'feel' them rather than just hoping of the best (too many hourse spent fixing broken studs, sheared bolts etc.) Having cracked them loose I used the 2nd spline to spin them aout at speed. Once unbolted they are no more than a hnd tight fit.

I think you have to plan being off road a while if you have to remove tyres, strip down take to refurb, collect back and refit tyres and allow for a few delays.

Thanks

I've got the luxury that I barely need the car for work - I cycle in most days, and have my VW T5 as a back up too - so I could easily do without the car for a few weeks at a time. Obviously miss driving it though but would be worth it.

The guy can remove/fit tyres too so I make take the opportunity and combine this job with fitting of Falkens...

Damn, I just inspected my wheels properly and the corrosion on the inside isn't pretty. It's not that obvious unless you're looking for it, but it's there alright. No going back now: I've ordered my spline tools and a new torque wrench, refurbishment coming up

cj10jeeper wrote:

a11y wrote:CJ,

Did you experience many difficulties removing the bolts and separating the rims?

I've got 108s in need of a refurb, and after speaking to my local powdercoating guy he'll powdercoat the rims and centre bits - but only if I get them to him already separated. He's done similar Merc wheels before and says never again would he agree to separate wheels. Somewhat puts me off and make me wonder if it could become a PITA is I try it myself.

Bearing in mind my wheels/car are 4 years and 19k miles old.

I've got the luxury of time to do this as I can make do with using my van so I can take the Zed off the road to do this.

Cheers
Ally

P.S. I've decided I'd prefer powdercoating them rather than polish and relaquer - easier to look after to avoid a repeat of the corrosion, although not so quite a nice finish.

Zero problems at all, but I purchased a brand new 12 point spline drive set with 2 8mm bits in. All 80 out I am very careful how I undo bolts so 'feel' them rather than just hoping of the best (too many hourse spent fixing broken studs, sheared bolts etc.) Having cracked them loose I used the 2nd spline to spin them aout at speed. Once unbolted they are no more than a hnd tight fit.

I think you have to plan being off road a while if you have to remove tyres, strip down take to refurb, collect back and refit tyres and allow for a few delays.

when i did mine i took them out with an air gun

cj10jeeper they look great