Buying a Z4MR, advice needed from wiser heads...

[srhutch]

I got my M-Roadster last Nov and this is the stuff I wanted to have present.

When I looked at the car, I wanted to see things like an "Honest" engine bay. This means, that it should be tidy with no oil leaks etc, but I didn't want it to look like it had an engine/bay clean. Cars with shiny clean bays, means there was something that needed cleaning up or is done to hide something. Also, my old man was a car detailer for 20 years and he usually would refuse to clean an engine as it is a risky thing. Back when his business was part of a francise, the larger company would do the RAC rally, cleaning off the race cars at the end of day stage. Because of the pressure washer, some of the cars could be killed off if high pressure water hit the wrong part.

You also wouldn't want to look at many forum members engine bays with regards to ///M's as most will be spotless (Garage Queens anyway)

[Bing]

Mine is not a garage queen, but the bay is very clean. My OCD requires it

[Jembo]

Mine is not a garage queen, but the bay is very clean. My OCD requires it

My Z’s a Garage Queen & how the ##### u keep it cleaner than mine is a modern day miracle

[Bing]

Mine is not a garage queen, but the bay is very clean. My OCD requires it

My Z’s a Garage Queen & how the ##### u keep it cleaner than mine is a modern day miracle

My front end paintwork sucks now after so many miles... discussion for a different thread though.

[Felix79]

I got my M-Roadster last Nov and this is the stuff I wanted to have present.

When I looked at the car, I wanted to see things like an "Honest" engine bay. This means, that it should be tidy with no oil leaks etc, but I didn't want it to look like it had an engine/bay clean. Cars with shiny clean bays, means there was something that needed cleaning up or is done to hide something. Also, my old man was a car detailer for 20 years and he usually would refuse to clean an engine as it is a risky thing. Back when his business was part of a francise, the larger company would do the RAC rally, cleaning off the race cars at the end of day stage. Because of the pressure washer, some of the cars could be killed off if high pressure water hit the wrong part.

You also wouldn't want to look at many forum members engine bays with regards to ///M's as most will be spotless (Garage Queens anyway)

Dad use to get asked to do engine bays all the time back when he was running his valeting business. He really didn't like doing them, as it was too easy to cause problems.

If you're doing a concorse/show car, then sure it's understandable. The Z4M's engine bay is actually a good blank canvas, to put some shiny bits on and have it all looking nice.

With my M, I have been much more reserved about taking it out like I did with my previous cars. But both my Alpina and Impreza P1 ended up with so much rust on the rear arches. We had 3 cars in the household back then, so my car would spend most of it's time outside. It was seeing my P1 rotting away on the driveway when my back was really bad, that made me sell it. It was too painful seeing it just rust away, after all the things I had done to the car. At least now, with the house only having two cars, I am able to keep my M garaged when I'm not using the car.

Back on topic a bit more. My car had two previous owners who both owned the car for about 5/6 years each and going through all the paperwork/history of the car, you can tell they both really loved the car and I wouldn't be surprised if they were once members on here. Both of them had put private plates on the car and when ever the car was getting it's service, there would always be little extra bits they would get done. I got really lucky with my M, as I didn't have anything else to check over remotely close to Oxford. I was actually wanting to check out a blue '06 E85 M, which was lower millage, but the dealership (which was down Portsmouth way) never bothered to call us back when we told them that we wanted to buy their car, but ideally do a P/X with the JCW Mini.

I'm not sure for other parts of the UK, but for Z4MR's and the Alpina roadsters, they all seemed to be around 100 miles away from me in Oxford. Because of my lower spinal damage, it was really difficult for me to do long round trip to look at any of the cars. All the guides that I read say that you should never just buy the first car you look at, but I ended up doing just that. I'm not sure how active the E85M marketplace is, but there were 6 real M's for sale when I was looking in Nov (there was a guy who had a 3.0, and he done all the cosmetic changes to make it look like an M and even posted it on a few sites as an M, with a line of text mixed in with it's info that it was "just" a 3.0) , which is meant to be a better time to buy a roadster/convertible.

[Marlon]

After the trouble my dads E46 M3 had, I would only buy from a dealer who would do a full cover warranty. This saved my backside, as there were 3 things that came up that meant I had to get stuff done on the car.

I’d beg to differ, as all based on experiences.

Whilst a form of trader warranty can save your bacon, I’ve often found talking to the owner of the car gives you far better insight than a dealer ever could... & have walked away from many Dealer / Private cars before choosing mine.

Finding a forum car that hasn’t wanted for anything, with a fastidious owner who warms the oil properly before being enthusiastic is where I believe is best to look... and normally you don’t have to ask, they’ll be genuinely excited about the car, plus you’ll have a digital history here to complement the service history, which should tell you everything they don’t.

Good hunting

. . . . . . .

While a "digital forum history" is good in principle, I think it's not going to have as much "value" as a folder with invoices/receipts detailing everything in the eyes of the general public. Also, with people being able to edit their forum posts, it wouldn't be too hard for someone to "add/remove" things that have been done to a car. While I believe that most people on forums such as this are honest people, all it takes is one person taking advantage and the reputation of a whole forum can be tarnished by their actions

. . . . . .

They wouldn't get away with that here
This is policed by the members themselves and is so active that any attempt by a forum member to pull the wool over buyers eyes would be jumped on pretty swiftly. Editing historical posts to give a more favourable sales advert would be picked up on very quickly. Basically any forum car that comes up for sale gathers huge attention by the existing members and will therefore be as honest an advert as you are likely to see. In fact sales adverts are sometimes so honest they undersell their cars picking out every minute flaw and imperfection on a 12 year old car

[mr wilks]

Marlon i think anyone attempting to manipulate this forum would soon be outed in fact without wanting to name names it happened pretty recently a member picking up choice bits & pieces seemingly for his own car then offloading them on ebay immediately after with a significant hike
For the most part the forum does police itself & its also a positive experience for 99% of buyers & sellers who trade through here

[Felix79]

I’d beg to differ, as all based on experiences.

Whilst a form of trader warranty can save your bacon, I’ve often found talking to the owner of the car gives you far better insight than a dealer ever could... & have walked away from many Dealer / Private cars before choosing mine.

Finding a forum car that hasn’t wanted for anything, with a fastidious owner who warms the oil properly before being enthusiastic is where I believe is best to look... and normally you don’t have to ask, they’ll be genuinely excited about the car, plus you’ll have a digital history here to complement the service history, which should tell you everything they don’t.

Good hunting

. . . . . . .

While a "digital forum history" is good in principle, I think it's not going to have as much "value" as a folder with invoices/receipts detailing everything in the eyes of the general public. Also, with people being able to edit their forum posts, it wouldn't be too hard for someone to "add/remove" things that have been done to a car. While I believe that most people on forums such as this are honest people, all it takes is one person taking advantage and the reputation of a whole forum can be tarnished by their actions

. . . . . .

They wouldn't get away with that here
This is policed by the members themselves and is so active that any attempt by a forum member to pull the wool over buyers eyes would be jumped on pretty swiftly. Editing historical posts to give a more favourable sales advert would be picked up on very quickly. Basically any forum car that comes up for sale gathers huge attention by the existing members and will therefore be as honest an advert as you are likely to see. In fact sales adverts are sometimes so honest they undersell their cars picking out every minute flaw and imperfection on a 12 year old car

From talking to various people in PM's etc, I have been impressed by the conduct of members and staff. When I discovered one of the mods had been in the armed forces (From my time working in the NHS, I dealt with a lot of guys coming back from the middle East in the mid 00's , I witness first hand everything that makes servicemen/women people to look upto and respect.) I knew that none of the following would be tolerated. On an old forum I used, the "staff" would love the sense of power their forum rank gave them. Some were good, but others were bullies and would look the other way if one of their minions would break the rules.

For someone who is totally new, they are not going to know the integrity of the boards moral compass. I hope I wasn't coming across as being disrespectable towards how things are done on here. I've helped admin a massive forum before and know how much time and effort is needed to make sure a board runs smoothly. I wanted to point out that on most forums, people can reedit a post that could allow them to take advantage of any buyers etc. While I still feel somewhat an outsider on here, as I am yet to meet people, I have guided people to these boards on other sites, when someone wanted to know more about Z4's. I wouldn't do that if I felt there was people abusing their status on these boards.

[srhutch]

No issues from me felix

[Marlon]

None from me either Felix, I hope my post didn't come across as negative or accusational - keep on posting fella

[buzyg]

Just to add a comment on valve clearances. It's a check and adjust if required. My MR has had them checked 3 times now. They have, thus far, not required adjustment in almost 70k.
Also on the bearing shells. It's a rare thing for them to fail. The work is as a precaution. To my mind spending around 1k on an engine like the S54 to give yourself several years peace of mind, is a no brainer. That said I am happy to leave mine until my next Ins2, by which time I would expect to be around 85k miles. But then I know how the car has been driven, for almost all of those miles. OP has a good few miles before such work is warranted.

[Felix79]

No issues from me felix

None from me either Felix, I hope my post didn't come across as negative or accusational - keep on posting fella

Thanks for saying that guys, I was worried that it seemed like I was saying that stuff like I was talking about being a possibility, actually would be able to happen on here.

[MichaelPorter80]

Just to add a comment on valve clearances. It's a check and adjust if required. My MR has had them checked 3 times now. They have, thus far, not required adjustment in almost 70k.
Also on the bearing shells. It's a rare thing for them to fail. The work is as a precaution. To my mind spending around 1k on an engine like the S54 to give yourself several years peace of mind, is a no brainer. That said I am happy to leave mine until my next Ins2, by which time I would expect to be around 85k miles. But then I know how the car has been driven, for almost all of those miles. OP has a good few miles before such work is warranted.

Thanks again for the guidance. I’m going to take it to a local Indy for a check up, and talk through the options to future proof the engine. Probably have the Vanos checked at least and the bearing shells perhaps... It’s had new rear springs, roof motor moved, and new pads and discs front and back recently.

I’m in Winchester in Hampshire can anyone recommend a good Indy nearby? I have iridium very local which I have seen mentioned on here, but has anyone heard of Etech in Havant? Or know any others? I don’t mind travelling for the right one.

[Mr Tidy]

Funnily enough I called my local BMW Specialist (TWG in Camberley) to get an idea of the cost of replacing the bearing shells, and he said in his experience he'd come across more failed head gaskets on S54 engines than failed bearing shells. Admittedly that is a sample of one though.

But he suggested getting an oil analysis done before jumping into replacing rod bearing shells.

[ocrx8]

Very useful thread OP - I'm going to look at an MC next week.

Have a great day on Sunday, and don't forget the photos!

I do hope you finally get a MC!