A few issues after owning the Z4 for a few weeks.

M

mad_mackem

Member
 bristol
Hi all, i have had my 03 z4 for a few weeks now and have decided after a few weeks of enjoying a new car i have noticed one or two things which either need to be fixed or might need fixing. i would greatly appreciate any help on the below.

firstly, its got 108s with the compulsory corrosion, i want to stick with the 108s prefferably so took them to a garage to get a quote on refurbing them, the response i got was along the lines of the following, that they were unprepared to split the rims apart because they were corroded together and were alot of effort to get apart especially if the bolts holding the 2 pieces together broke. they also pointed out to me that the polished lip had been painted previously by somebody so even after stripping them back down i could only have a painted lip again, they offered to paint the whole wheel rim and centre stars for £70 a wheel. But i am not 100% comfortable with this as if they dont split the rims apart then corrosion will still lurk beneath the surface and they could easily bubble up again, your thoughts?? another option i have is a friend has a genuine set of MV3s which have come off a E90 335d coupe, the wheels are the right width and size but i believe the offset is different? does anybody know if this is correct? and if it could be resolved with spacers as i could get these at a good price ??

secondly, the passenger side headlamp appears to be clouded, as far as i can tell this is internally, it doesnt appear to be normal condensation as theres no water runs or driplets on the inside and the clouding appears to stay constant rather than come or go? has anybody had this on their zed? is it fixable ? i will post pics later to illustrate better what i mean.

Thirdly, at low speeds driving on average street roads there is a fair bit of clunking coming from the front of the car. is this just normal firm suspension noise or is this something that needs looking at? the car was MOT d by the previous owner in august so i would hope its nothing to serious!?

any light anybody can shed on the above would be much appreciated, appologies for the long post!

thanks in advance

Andy
 
Stick with the 108s as they look the best (all my biased opinion though...). Wouldn't go along with painting them without splitting because as you say the corrosion will still be there. I know because I split my wheels myself and it's horrible in there.

Best option IMO would be to have them split, have the inner surface of the outer part of the wheel painted (the bit you see looking through the spokes) including the mating surface to the inner star. But I'd stay with a polished lip but ensure they're properly lacquered. Best of both worlds as painted is tougher than polished so should resist the corrosion better on the areas that matter, while the polished lip retains the looks of the wheel. It's what I've done to my own 108s, although my lacquer on the polished lip is a bit sh*te and I'll be redoing them again sometime soon.

Whether you do this yourself or find somewhere to do it is your choice! I did mine myself and suffered a few knackered/corroded in bolts and the subsequent search for replacements was a PITA (search).

Ally
 
Just a few comments from me.

I've never known problems splitting 108s. I suggest you try someone else if the current refurber doesn't have confidence in his abilities.

Re low speed driving noises from front end - this sounds like worn drop links - it is quite common and an easy fix. MOT may not pick this up and is not serious.
 
Hi Ally thanks for your response, it appears as though the previous owner already had the polished lip painted over and subsequently this has corroded again, is it possible to strip these back down completely removing the paint on the lip and the corroison and polish them back up??

Cheers

andy
 
If your lights look like mine http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13631 then they might just need a bit of restoration, need to see if it is on the inside or outside. They can get damp internally and there are a few threads about changing the gaskets and drying them out if you search, believe if they are xenons they are supposed to be open to the air so might just need to leave them on for the heat to dry them out in this damp weather.

Clonking is hard to tell if you are not used to driving the Z then the suspension is quite firm, if there is noticeable noise it is likely you need new front suspension bushes, drop links or it could be a spring has cracked.

I had my 108s split and refurbed though it was around £500 paid by the dealer to get them done, probably cheaper seeing if the other set fits then you could sent your 108s for a refurb and sell them on here after.
 
Thanks Crusoe, they are xenons and i had thought they might need drying them out so as a matter of course i have been using the headlights when ever driving night or day. for some reason the pictures wont load on your post on my work computer so will have a look at it in more depth at home tonight.
 
If your doing 108's do them properly. Split, clean right back, re-spray, even if it's over the lip again, it needs to be done with them split if you want it to look at all nice.

Not sure on the MV3's, I'd stick to Z4/E46 wheels in the right offsets ideally.

Headlamp is probably leaking in water, or had done at some stage. Remove back cover and let it dry out on a dry day. Helping with a hair dryer is a good plan, mine did this when I swapped bulbs in the rain. The seals around the back of the headlamp panel are also worth checking (the bit you remove to swap bulbs), they can get creased/dirty and not form a nice seal.

It shouldn't clonk much from the front. Mine bangs on speed bumps at speed mildly, but that is it. Clunking sounds like worn bushings to me.

Dave
 
hi i had the same problem with my headlights as crusoe as i previously had a z3 i had some bmw convertible rear screen paste to clean the plastic window i used this on the headlights on my z4 and it worked a treat i suppose any good plastic cleaner would do the job i think the bmw paste was only about £5
 
Crusoe said:
direct links to the pictures before and after
http://www.imagedum.com/images/178_before1.jpg
http://www.imagedum.com/images/221_After.jpg

The plastic can degrade a bit in the sun leaving a foggy area on the light, some elbow grease and polish might help you tell if it is on the outside before going on to any more abrasive techniques.
Click to expand...

I wish I'd have seen this post earlier, I cleaned both cars today but couldn't sort the lights (mine are very foggy), looks like I need of these kits, cheers for the information (an that video is very good) :)
 
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