Let me first introduce myself. My name is Mark, 32 years old and living in The Netherlands. I have always been a great fan of DIY; I am riding motorcycles since I was 18 years and have always done all maintenance myself. Since about a year I am the proud owner of a BMW Z4 E85 3.0 in the color Maledivenblau, including a hardtop. So far, I have also done all maintenance and repair myself: replaced all cooling system components, fixed and relocated the roof motor, installed X-Car Style roof module, installed BMW E46 M3 seats + whole bunch of other stuff
Unfortunately, the car came without the three interior covers for the hardtop. There are two side covers (BMW / Webasto OEM number 542170763989.9 and 542170763990.9 , item 3 in the exploded view) and a so called Front Lock Cover (BMW number 54217076388, item 12 in de exploded view). These covers are not available anymore and hence quite rare. If somebody is selling a pair separately from a hardtop, quite often an extremely high price is asked.
As I have quite some experience in designing (as a mechanical engineer) and since I am also a 3D printing enthusiast, I decided to design my own covers and to 3D print them. The goal was to replicate the OEM covers as much as possible, but with some small changes in the design to optimize it for 3D printing, to make sure that the covers are sufficiently stiff and strong. After many hours of work and a quite a few iterations, this is the result
The two side covers also include upholstery; you will see on the pictures a comparison between the original OEM covers and the 3D printed covers. The covers are printed as a solid from PETG; this material has some important benefits compared to the widely used PLA: higher temperature resistance and significantly less brittle.The price for a pair of side covers (left + right) is 90 Euro’s excl. shipping costs. This is including upholstery as displayed, only with black instead of white text on the inside. The printing of the side covers takes two days and also putting on the upholstery properly is quite time consuming.
The front lock cover is available for 30 Euro’s excl. shipping costs. Combined with the side covers a complete set is 115 Euro’s excl. shipping.
I am based in The Netherlands. Shipping to most EU Countries is roughly 10 Euro’s, UK is 12 Euros and to the US is around 20 Euro’s. Shipping worldwide is possible. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards, Mark
