1st Week with a Z4C.......

[curvature]

I picked my car up last Sunday and drove 200 miles home without incident.

For the past week it has been tucked away in the garage and on Friday I took my friend to buy a Z4 3.0Si Roadster.

When I got home the sun was shining so I decided to get the Z4C out and pick my son up from school, in the Z4C, which is around 10 miles away. Less than 1 mile from his school some old guy in a Mini veers into my lane and when I hit the horn he stands on the brakes! I end up with a broken headlight and a damaged bumper.

So all in a poor start to Z4C ownership.

Anyway moving on I want to know what are the blue bolts that BMW say need changing if used? There is a sticker under the bonnet.

 

[buzyg]

Oh dear, not the ideal way to christen your Z4. But as long as every one is well, the car will mend. :wink:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Sorry to hear your first week didn't go well.

But hopefully you can get your Coupe fixed soon.

I think the single use bolts you are referring to are the aluminium ones that are used to attach any ancillaries like water pump, thermostat, cam-chain cover, etc. to the alloy engine block on the N52 engines. Steel bolts wouldn't stay correctly tightened due to a different rate of thermal expansion compared to the block.

 

[curvature]

Thanks, very annoyed with this past couple of days.

The last accident that I was involved with was in 1997 and I was not at fault and now this one it could go 50/50. I drive over 20k miles year so fed up.

I've looked but I cannot see any blue bolts. I'll dig deeper.

On the plus side I get a new headlight and the bumper gets a make over.

 

[Roberltd2]

There are some right idiots out there without a doubt. Just today I had just one such person in a Merc van tailgating me so close I was afraid to touch the brakes. He overtook me on a ridiculously short bit of straight road forcing me to brake. Felt like giving him the full power of a Z4 halogen flash but decided against it as visions of brake lights, stopping, demented machetti brandishing lunatic emerging from said van started to form in my imagination.
Get the Z4C fixed & enjoy.

 

[Mr Tidy]

I've looked but I cannot see any blue bolts. I'll dig deeper.

I'm not sure they are all blue, but anything bolted to the block will be attached with single-use aluminium bolts.

 

[Thrustyjust]

Watching the Car Ninja on youtube who is a german car repair shop owner, he doesn't always replace bolts on the engine when he does work on various repairs. He did an oil filter housing recently , which interested me as I have the gaskets and consider doing these things as maintenance repairs rather than waiting for the infamous leaks to appear at the wrong time. I guess its all down to if you dont change them, then we told you so, but for someone who works on these cars everyday and knows them better than us, i trust his judgement in re-using the originals. If there is specific stretch bolts, like head bolts, that's different matter.

 

[Barty]

That’s a poor start to the Zed experience… hope it’s mended quickly Normally we’d be swarming this thread demanding the addition of pics, but this may need to wait until the coupe’s mended… :tumbleweed:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Watching the Car Ninja on youtube who is a german car repair shop owner, he doesn't always replace bolts on the engine when he does work on various repairs. He did an oil filter housing recently , which interested me as I have the gaskets and consider doing these things as maintenance repairs rather than waiting for the infamous leaks to appear at the wrong time. I guess its all down to if you dont change them, then we told you so, but for someone who works on these cars everyday and knows them better than us, i trust his judgement in re-using the originals. If there is specific stretch bolts, like head bolts, that's different matter.

That's interesting but was it on a car with the N52 engines because the single-use bolts are specific to them, not M54s or S54s?

As I understand it that's why Pierburg electric water pumps come complete with new bolts.

 

[Thrustyjust]

Watching the Car Ninja on youtube who is a german car repair shop owner, he doesn't always replace bolts on the engine when he does work on various repairs. He did an oil filter housing recently , which interested me as I have the gaskets and consider doing these things as maintenance repairs rather than waiting for the infamous leaks to appear at the wrong time. I guess its all down to if you dont change them, then we told you so, but for someone who works on these cars everyday and knows them better than us, i trust his judgement in re-using the originals. If there is specific stretch bolts, like head bolts, that's different matter.

That's interesting but was it on a car with the N52 engines because the single-use bolts are specific to them, not M54s or S54s?

As I understand it that's why Pierburg electric water pumps come complete with new bolts.

Not sure Mr T. Its was the same engine cover and oil filter housing as I have in mine and he just said make sure you fit the same bolt in the same hole on rebuilding as they are different in length. At the end of the day, the bolts are only there for compressing the rubber gasket seal to the block and for the thickness of the seal, the bolts are pretty much overkill. So, suspect that the re-use is probably because of that alone. If torqued to the specific to keep the same load on each area of the housing then all should be good.

 

[curvature]

The car was inspected by the insurance assessors last Friday and after a week they have finally given the go ahead to get the car sorted. All being well I should have it back towards the end of next week.

My list of jobs -

• Replace rear BMW badge.
  Clay bar and full machine polish. I may add a ceramic coating
  Gtechniq C5 coating to wheels.
  Gtechniq C4 coating to any black trim.
  New mats. Original or aftermarket?
  Radio/head unit. My car has Bluetooth but it also has a Pioneer unit with CarPlay fitted so not sure if I keep that or put the original head unit back in. Any thoughts? I like the modern bits in the Pioneer unit but the prefer the looks of the original head unit.
  Restore leather. Not in good back condition but a little wear on the bolsters.

Picture attached of the damage.

 

[Mr Tidy]

That's a sad photo OP.

But at least the insurers have agreed to the repairs so hopefully you'll soon be able to get started with your plans.

Personally I'd be tempted to stick to OE mats. If you go for other options you can't tell what quality you are going to get.

As for the head unit I think OE looks better. What additional features does the Pioneer have? Only I think they are ways to get things like Bluetooth with OE ones.

 

[curvature]

That's a sad photo OP.

But at least the insurers have agreed to the repairs so hopefully you'll soon be able to get started with your plans.

Personally I'd be tempted to stick to OE mats. If you go for other options you can't tell what quality you are going to get.

As for the head unit I think OE looks better. What additional features does the Pioneer have? Only I think they are ways to get things like Bluetooth with OE ones.

I think you are right regarding the mats as OE ones from one of the main dealers on Ebay are £65ish.

The Pioneer head unit gives me CarPlay so one of the benefits is the up to date SatNav. I do agree though that the original head unit looks far better. Maybe I should just stick it back together and then get a cradle for my phone and sell the Pioneer unit.