Battery Issues & Door Crunch... [UPDATED w. PHOTOS!]

[Psy]

Saturday morning, up at 8am to go to Brighton for the weekend with GF.
Rubbish events that followed now leave me with two questions...

Battery
Go to unleash the Z from the garage only to find the battery is stone dead. Flat as a pancake. :thumbsdown:
Once jump-started (from my neighbour's Yaris ) and given a good run over the weekend, the battery has been fine.

An issue in itself - haven't been using the Z more than twice a week recently as busy with work, and it has been cold, but this shouldn't be happening. I understand the Z has a small battery to save weight, but if it's starting to stutter/fail, should I get a new one or just give it a full discharge and recharge? (Car is a '56 plate with only 13k miles).


Crunch
Because of the length of the Z's nose, the jump cables couldn't reach - I had to push the Z out of the garage.
Damn thing ran away from me, not a problem, except that the driver's door wasn't fully closed and swung open right as the car passed through the mouth of the garage, hitting the edge.

All the good work done by my 'garage wall-mounted carpet' protecting the door edge has been undone.

As you can see in the picture [will upload this evening], I now have a scar down the length of the vertical door edge, approx 0.5" at its widest. It goes right down to the metal, but is thankfully not in a massively visible area - it's only down that edge and the 'skin' of the door is undamaged, there is no change to the shape of the metal.

Can I fix this myself, or is this a shop job? I'm pretty handy and am not scared to have a go myself if I can get the right primer/paint, but if I can get it fixed for ~£100, I'd rather do that. Is it worth asking BMW for a quote? :?

Thanks in advance,
Si

 

[krusty]

Because of the length of the Z's nose, the jump cables couldn't reach - I had to push the Z out of the garage.

One could also connect directly to the battery in the boot ... I know the official manual recommends against this and instructs one to charge from the connector in the bonnet ... but I don't see why it is an issue.
One problem for charging directly to the battery in the boot is that normally you would have to leave the boot open, which activates the light ... but you can also get around this by bringing the cables in through the windows.

 

[geepee]

Sounds more like a "Chips-Away" sort of job than a full workshop job.
My local guy is brilliant - but as its a franchise you'd best ask around locally if your guy is any good.

re: connecting to battery in boot.
Possibly this is discouraged as the battery can give off explosive fumes which may collect in the confined space.
One spark from attaching your cables &

 

[Psy]

Because of the length of the Z's nose, the jump cables couldn't reach - I had to push the Z out of the garage.

One could also connect directly to the battery in the boot ...

Not a bad idea, but I had reversed in and the grill was ~1m from the doorway, so no way the cables were going to reach, even with the Yaris' nose in the garage too...

S

 

[Psy]

OK, here's the photo update guys...

Would love to hear your thoughts! :?

Thanks,
Si

 

[Herminator]

My thoughts would be ouch

I would take it to a pro, hoping they could spray the edge and blend it in without having to do a large area. I've had decent results doing the bottom edge of a door on my old 840, after treating rust, but that was helped by being below an undercutting crease in the door. I got a small pot of paint mixed up at halfords and used a small airbrush with cans of air for propellant.

 

[Psy]

Hmm, sadly the auto-refresh place with 'smart' scratch fixing can't fix it as it's too big and deep.

If I were to try this myself, does anyone have any thoughts as to the procesS?

I'm a bit clueless, but pretty handy.

Sand-down, undercoat, paint, some sort of top coat, polish, sand back, polish, finish????

Thanks,
Si

 

[IK.]

I would personally try speaking to a few bodyshops first. I always weigh up the costs in terms of the following (which normally helps me decide):

- How much will it cost me to attempt it myself?
- How much will it cost if I make the situation worse?
- What is the cost of my time? (Both in terms of the amount of research I'd have to do and the amount of work that would be required; especially considering a bodyshop would do it a lot faster)
- How much is the warranty of a bodyshop worth? (In the event it starts peeling, for example)
- If the finish isn't perfect doing it myself, what will the impact on the resale value of the car be?

I'd get a few more quotes initially before making any rash decisions to attempt it yourself. Not a situation I'm in, but perhaps you could work some overtime at your job in order to pay for it. Time invested may well be the same, or a lot less.

 

[VvrooomM]

I had an edge done on mine before collection years ago - whoever did it, did a a fantastic job, its all in flicking the lacquer apparently!

 

[Mangozac]

I would personally try speaking to a few bodyshops first. I always weigh up the costs in terms of the following (which normally helps me decide):

- How much will it cost me to attempt it myself?
- How much will it cost if I make the situation worse?
- What is the cost of my time? (Both in terms of the amount of research I'd have to do and the amount of work that would be required; especially considering a bodyshop would do it a lot faster)
- How much is the warranty of a bodyshop worth? (In the event it starts peeling, for example)
- If the finish isn't perfect doing it myself, what will the impact on the resale value of the car be?

I'd get a few more quotes initially before making any rash decisions to attempt it yourself.

^^ This. I'm all for DIY, but correcting issues like this is sometimes best left to a professional. I had disastrous results trying to blend paint after cutting rust out on my last car...

 

[Psy]

Just to update this -

Battery kept being lame, had to jump it on two other occasions so bit the bullet and went to Halfords - £126 for a Bosch Silver premium battery, 2 minutes to fit in the dark at Halfords Wandsworth. It's more powerful, 780 AH rather than 680 AH standard, and fits perfectly in the Z4 battery slot. It had a handle and the Z4 cables fit comfortably on and around the terminals. Also comes with a 5-year guarantee and they take the old battery off your hands. The guys there were very helpful though, despite the fact that I was in head to tow combats and filthy after paintballing all day!

Have a couple of quotes on the scratch. BMW wanted to respray the entire door and said they 'couldn't give me a quote'. They said it's not their policy in case it ends up being much higher. They couldn't even give me a ball park figure so I had to take business elsewhere. Garage I bought the car from (family friend dealer who buys excess stock from BMW/Porche/Merc) are going to take a look but est. £60-80. Fine if they can do it for that.

S

 

[AlanJ]

Psy,

Which BMW franchise was that, sounds a bit lame to me that they can't give a quote to spray a door - how on earth do they get on with insurance work?

 

[Psy]

Just an update here, garage I bought the car from have just finished the work for £95 which I don't mind at all for such a stupid error of my own doing...

Going to collect Friday pm and give back the black A-class they leant me. 1.6 engine, 4 door, not too bad, obviously nothing like the zed, but cute little thing that was HUGE with the back seats down. Used it to collect Xmas tree and was able to pick up a load of stuff I had at my parents house, including a dining table!.

Will post pics of repair job once I have car back.


Alan - dealers were BMW Berry in Chiswick. Still haven't heard anything from them. Not impressd :thumbsdown: