2003 E85 Body Mods - Looking for links and input please :)

IAmOrion

Senior member
Cambridge, UK
Hello,

As some may have seen I've been busy with multiple projects on the go at once. I've now finally finished my headlights, my wind deflector will be finished this week, hopefully so will my minor diy led sills. (I've still got to remove my double din fascia though and get it smoothed and 'finished' properly)

Anyways, on my to-do list is to look at a few body mods and was looking for some suggestions. I don't want to really get into debates about sticking to OEM or as close as etc - we each do what we want with our own cars, to our own tastes 8)

So, here's the things I'm considering and looking for some advise or rather to be guided to some preferable products.

1) The Aero Boot spoiler... I've seen some on eBay for around £85 delivered, unsprayed but primed, made in GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic). Opinions?

2) Quad Exit exhaust? - I'm not too fussed on function, I personally just love the look of twin exhaust exits either side of the vehicle. On my old Saab 9-3 2.8 v6 it had a twin exit, single pipe, either side as standard. The Z4 of course has a twin exit on the passenger side as standard. But love the look of the quad exit on the Z4M. (See (3))

3) To go with the Quad Exhaust I would obviously need to either chop my rear bumper, or, the next obvious question would be, would a Z4M Rear bumper just bolt straight on in place of the current bumper?

4) Front Bumper... The front kits that I've seen I've not really been impressed with, or rather, they just weren't to my tastes. Can anyone suggest a nice subtle mod for the front bumper? A nice lip perhaps?

5) I have the standard steering wheel, without the multi function buttons. The buttons are irrelevant since I don't have the OEM stereo etc so was thinking about a nicely stitched replacement, or perhaps trying a leather trim kit thing that you kinda sow up your self... anyone tried one before or have a link to a decent one?

5b) How hard is it to get the steering wheel off if I was to do a replacement (Since I keep seeing the odd refurbished one by [insert company name here that I've forgotten])

Many thanks in advance, and if you have any tasteful mod suggestions please do let me know. I know the stubby/whippy aerial is a hot topic :rofl:
 
Some after market head units are compatible with steering wheel controls, may need a adapter,

Steering wheel is royals that most use
 
Z4m rear bumper is slightly different around the lights so trim to fit or fit facelift rear lights, jingle had a m style quad made for his 2litre by a company in st Alban's I think, but it looks really well made
 
Z4m rear bumper is slightly different around the lights so trim to fit or fit facelift rear lights, jingle had a m style quad made for his 2litre by a company in st Alban's I think, but it looks really well made
 
IAmOrion said:
5b) How hard is it to get the steering wheel off if I was to do a replacement (Since I keep seeing the odd refurbished one by [insert company name here that I've forgotten])

Took me under an hour (including leaving the battery disconnected for atleast 20 mins) to swap the steering wheel over. I found the trickiest bit to be how short the wires are that go to airbag! You'll need a long/deep 16mm socket to get the bolt undone, but other than that, it's easy :-)
 
markplant said:
Some after market head units are compatible with steering wheel controls, may need a adapter,
Steering wheel is royals that most use

That's was the name.... Royals :thumbsup:
Also, I'm not fussed, my steering wheel does not have the buttons anyways and tbh I'm not bothered

markplant said:
Z4m rear bumper is slightly different around the lights so trim to fit or fit facelift rear lights, jingle had a m style quad made for his 2litre by a company in st Alban's I think, but it looks really well made

Ahh I see. I actually found a company (mstyle.co.uk) that offer the bumper and quad exhaust fitted, but it's £1300

groovy_hippy said:
Took me under an hour (including leaving the battery disconnected for atleast 20 mins) to swap the steering wheel over. I found the trickiest bit to be how short the wires are that go to airbag! You'll need a long/deep 16mm socket to get the bolt undone, but other than that, it's easy :-)

Ah ok, pretty straight forward then, thanks :)
 
A few sites to try:

https://www.schmiedmann.com/
https://bimmian.com/
https://www.madmotors.co.uk/
http://www.mstyle.co.uk/
 
Also these on ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/leder-lenkrad?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ihr-Leder-Lenkrad-Meister/_i.html?_nkw=z4&submit=Search&_sid=216583819

Edit: Also the ebay spoilers are perfectly fine
 
Mine has the front lip from a SEAT Cupra, great fit and only about £47 from the bay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SEAT-LEON-TOLEDO-MK1-CUPRA-R-FRONT-BUMPER-SPLITTER-SPOILER-1ML805903-/201543454596?hash=item2eeced0f84:g:ptQAAOSwFe5XzoIb
 
scooobydont said:
Mine has the front lip from a SEAT Cupra, great fit and only about £47 from the bay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SEAT-LEON-TOLEDO-MK1-CUPRA-R-FRONT-BUMPER-SPLITTER-SPOILER-1ML805903-/201543454596?hash=item2eeced0f84:g:ptQAAOSwFe5XzoIb

Any pics of your car with this?
 
Here you go:

i.php


i.php
 
markplant said:
Do search on m style , Jonny Essex and exhaust, personally I'd find a bumper an go to the shop jingle used

Hopefully JINGLE will come across this thread and let us know where he got his done :)

M Style in Essex is where I saw the Z4M rear bumper + Quad exhaust kit for £1300

thanatu55 said:
A few sites to try:

Thanks for the links :thumbsup:

scooobydont said:
Here you go:

Looks pretty good - I'm very tempted by that! Thanks for the link :thumbsup:
 
Hi IAmOrion, mark plant inboxed me about this thread as I might have missed it.

I wouldn't recommend going the m style route.... as mentioned above Jonny Essex had his quad done there and it didn't end very well.... they do the "T" section along the inside of the bumper and then just welded it at a right angle and literally just welded a scrap piece of metal to blank off the rear of the 2nd set of tips, it really wasn't good.

BUMPER:
As stated above the //M rear bumper is for the facelift so you have 2 options here.... modify it to fit your pre facelift lights (I think this leaves a small gap which looks unfinished to me) or fit the facelift lights and then it should be a straight swap for the //M bumper.
(Also if your buying 2nd hand, don't forget to check if the small plastic grill/mesh is included)

EXHAUST:
I went with a company called EMP Performance, based in St Albans. The reason for this was a recommendation from forum member "ESP" who also had his done there as he is local. I'm so glad I listened to his advise as we are both very happy with our quads and to date havnt had a single issue.
The cost was £550, just booked it in, dropped car off in the morning (with the //M bumper already fitted by myself) went for a beer and some shopping and came back in the afternoon and it was all finished!

Some photos for reference:
 

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scooobydont said:
Mine has the front lip from a SEAT Cupra, great fit and only about £47 from the bay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SEAT-LEON-TOLEDO-MK1-CUPRA-R-FRONT-BUMPER-SPLITTER-SPOILER-1ML805903-/201543454596?hash=item2eeced0f84:g:ptQAAOSwFe5XzoIb

That lip looks great....was it tricky to fit?
 
JINGLE said:
Hi IAmOrion, mark plant inboxed me about this thread as I might have missed it.

I wouldn't recommend going the m style route.... as mentioned above Jonny Essex had his quad done there and it didn't end very well.... they do the "T" section along the inside of the bumper and then just welded it at a right angle and literally just welded a scrap piece of metal to blank off the rear of the 2nd set of tips, it really wasn't good.

BUMPER:
As stated above the //M rear bumper is for the facelift so you have 2 options here.... modify it to fit your pre facelift lights (I think this leaves a small gap which looks unfinished to me) or fit the facelift lights and then it should be a straight swap for the //M bumper.
(Also if your buying 2nd hand, don't forget to check if the small plastic grill/mesh is included)

EXHAUST:
I went with a company called EMP Performance, based in St Albans. The reason for this was a recommendation from forum member "ESP" who also had his done there as he is local. I'm so glad I listened to his advise as we are both very happy with our quads and to date havnt had a single issue.
The cost was £550, just booked it in, dropped car off in the morning (with the //M bumper already fitted by myself) went for a beer and some shopping and came back in the afternoon and it was all finished!

Some photos for reference:

Jingle your exhaust is awesome coupled with the M bumper. Massive improvement from facelift. Part of me is wishing I'd gone down that route!

Iamorion; if you follow the above I'd definitely go down the facelift rear light route rather than modding the bumper.
 
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