Another West Berkshire Newbie

A

acm

Member
 Berkshire
Hi,

After almost 3 months lurking and reading all I can on the topic of 'Z4 Ownership' I guess it's time to introduce myself to the community.

Just before Easter I spotted a 2009 SDrive 35i, DCT, Space Grey metallic, advertised and after looking at and test driving it I decided to take the plunge (with wife's permission of course) so placed the deposit for collection the weekend after Easter.

It's not been loved - before I visited the dealer he was open with me and said bodywork is 'ok' but the interior 'lets it down'. Well, with not the time to commit to build my (second) kit car, I wanted a project car to keep me occupied for the winter months, but in the meantime enjoy it throughout the summer before getting down to things.

Some early remediation was needed - new battery, sidelights (I'll get to that in a mo'), there had been a hydraulic leak in boot so the padding around the roof opening/closing pump and the underside of the pump/battery compartment floor cover was full of oil. Been slowly getting the oil out of the floor cover - still not there, but I expected multiple attempts to degrease it. At least the compartment won't suffer from corrosion :D

List of to-dos is building up lights, wheels, brake calipers, interior (previous owner must have had long fingernails and lots of jewelry), but first thing is to get it into the paintshop the week after next to sort most the scrapes from the bodywork, a lot has buffed out, but some are too deep, rehang the front bumper and fix the headlight washers... problem yet to be determined.

One of the side repeaters had been loose and easy to pop out so I looked at replacing (maybe with the LCI chrome ones) but after a few minutes looking I found that for some reason the side emblem identifying the model is in between the BMW roundel and the side repeater.

Every other Z4 I've looked at (that hasn't been debadged) has it below the BMW roundel. Does anyone else have this configuration?

Offside Badge.jpg

It's prevented me from getting the LCI side repeaters since it's likely to look a bit odd with the chrome 'stripe' underneath the model type.

Anyway, another grinning Z4 owner...

Cheers!
Andy
 
Welcome to the forum. A little tlc and elbow grease and you should have yourself a cracker. :)
 
Hi and welcome from an East Berkshire member. :thumbsup:

Hopefully it won't be too involved getting it back up to scratch, but at least you can enjoy it through the summer. :driving:
 
I have exactly the same model, year & colour in Wokingham. My model badges are below the rounded. I’ve never seen them where yours are Could it have been de-badged & re-badged or maybe have had a front-end shunt?
 
Thanks all,

There has been at least one bump in the past, there is a sticker naming the bodyshop. What we were wondering is perhaps it wasn't badged originally and they were added at a later date, perhaps when the body repair was done.

At least they are genuine BMW badges, unlike the ///M bade that was put on the boot which had lost two of the coloured stripes - removing that eyesore was first job :D

Thrusty - think I saw yours a couple of weeks ago approaching the roundabout leaving Thatcham towards Reading just as I was going in the opposite dirdction to get home.

Lazza maybe I should swing by to see what mine should look like. I'm regularly at the office in Amen Corner.

You're a welcoming bunch of people, looking forward to talking to you all :driving:

Cheers!
Andy
 
No problem Andy. I live in Wokingham but work in Kingsclere.
We also attend a monthly meet at Pinewood in Crowthorne if that helps...
https://www.facebook.com/events/465582914270966?sfns=mo
(It’s an MX5 meet but we also have Z4, TT, Mini and others attending at times.
 
acm said:
Thrusty - think I saw yours a couple of weeks ago approaching the roundabout leaving Thatcham towards Reading just as I was going in the opposite dirdction to get home.
Click to expand...
Any excuse for a drive is good :driving: . We have a few locals now and another new one tonight, so perhaps a meet up for a drink and chat at a drinking hole one evening, is on the cards. :thumbsup:
 
Sounds like a plan... give me a few days to get mine back from paint/body shop where some of the previous owner's marks that were left behind are being sorted.

Thought clarker63 had dobbed me in to the picture police - Blue Thunder circled round a couple of times yesterday, then again today when I got back from the office. Good timing to get mine in the paint/body shop then :D

I'm missing tinkering... want to get halo rings done next 8) then move on to the CC and flappy paddle upgrade... but need work to slow down a bit, it's interfering with the fun.

Cheers!
Andy
 
Still lovin' it - yesterday popped out with missus for to buy some tealights from the local garden centre and ended up cruisin' 70-ish miles from Newbury -> Shefford -> Hungerford -> Tidmarsh -> past Thruxton then back to Newbury... some great lanes along that route :wink:

Cheers!
Andy
 
Every day is something new... last night while parked I noticed that the display for the PDC showed the plan view of the car with the roof off... just like the following picture

pdc.jpg

I know I'm too old to die young, so memories are getting more vague by the day, but I don't recall it showing the view with the roof off. I am now wondering if the image is dependent upon the position of the roof, which is a worry because the roof was up and when I opened and closed it again the image didn't change.

Can anyone with PDC let me know and put me out of my misery, or put me down :D

Cheers!
Andy
 
So you're worried about the picture but not bothered that it's talking to you in German? :wink:
 
Well spotted, I plucked the picture off the Zpost forum coz I couldn't be bothered to walk the 20 yards or so to take a picture of my own.
 
Hi,

What did I do in the past wet and windy few weeks? I sent my car to Leather Restoration Ltd in Newbury for a restoration of the interior leather, restoration of the steering wheel and steam cleaned throughout.

Done an amazing job, see pictures here where he's posted before and after... https://twitter.com/Leather_restore/ if asked I would recommend him to anyone.

FWIW I have no connection with the business, other than a (very) happy customer.

Colin is a proper petrol head - also deals in prestige cars with a colleague of his.

Cheers!
Andy
 
acm said:
Hi,

What did I do in the past wet and windy few weeks? I sent my car to Leather Restoration Ltd in Newbury for a restoration of the interior leather, restoration of the steering wheel and steam cleaned throughout.

Done an amazing job, see pictures here where he's posted before and after... https://twitter.com/Leather_restore/ if asked I would recommend him to anyone.

FWIW I have no connection with the business, other than a (very) happy customer.

Colin is a proper petrol head - also deals in prestige cars with a colleague of his.

Cheers!
Andy
Click to expand...

Nice, might get my seats refurbed this year, how much did it cost just to do the seats out of interest?
 
Hi,

Not cheap! £470 per seat, but mine were in a bit of a state.

Which involved "Full sympathetic seat restoration. Removal of old coatings from the leather. Leather repair, strengthening & filling as required. Application of 4 fine layers of leather colourant & 4 layers of Satin leather sealant. Two applications of leather protection (UV & friction) cream."

I think the number of layers applied was the minimum - he explained that he made a batch of each and just used them until it was all used up when I collected he said at least 5 or 6 layers of sealant were applied. The other jobs he did for me were dovetailed into the time between the work he did on the seats.

I had cheaper quotes from elsewhere near me, but I made some sacrifices and I think it was worth it considering the condition they were in beforehand compared to how they look now.

Cheers!
Andy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom