As 20Ducks has alluded to, their is a small story behind a certain Strut Bar that was put on at Roadster Homecoming. Guess I will tell it real quick 
If you have followed the Homecoming thread, you well know that some of the vendors show up to display and sell their wares. I originally bought my Z4M with absolutely no intention of doing any mods to her. She had everything I could ask for,,, power, good looks, handling, and a convertible! Well, after seeing Zee42's install of the wood grain dash, I thought the touch of red in the woodgrain would look good in my car and set about ordering their kit. Received quite a few compliments at HC (except for F-n-I, she still hates it
) and will post the web link for the company at the bottom of this post. I have been looking at the armrest from LeatherZ for a while, due to the fact that the way the center console sits lower than the door armrest, my shoulder and neck on the lower side starts to hurt after several hours of driving in a tilted position. LeatherZ was there, and I inquired about their console armrest, and while I was at it, their underseat storage box (for a First Aid kit). They were more than happy to sell me the items and do the install of them right then and there 
Well, after that was done, I decided to see what the other vendors had. I was completely happy with myself at this point, only spending a little over $300 for the day (bought some shirts at the performance center too). Thinking that I was going to make it through HC under the budget I had originally made for myself and toys :lol: Let me step back a moment and outline a previous moment. Fire-n-Ice, and myself, were looking at the Dinan display at the hotel on Thursday night, and I was told at that time, that they did not make anything for the //M yet (about a month from now items will be available). So after finishing up with LeatherZ, I walked next door, and Fletcher BMW was there with the Dinan parts, installing all sorts of goodies on Z3's and a few Z4's. After looking at a beautiful strut bar on a Z3, 20Ducks mentioned that they had just installed a slightly different one on a Z4M.
Cue back to where I thought that NO Z4M parts were available yet, so I had to find the //M that was worked on, which I did (uh, oh, this is going to hurt my planned budget
)!! I have another interest in strut bars besides the stiffer body, BMW has a known issue on another vehicle with the Strut Tower mushrooming at the top, and the support rings for a strut bar add just enough bracing and suport to prevent this from happening. After a very one-sided conversation with 20Ducks (I really don't remember him saying anything :lol: ), I walked back over to the Dinan vendor and inquired about price and install.
I was originally quoted $450 and that it owuld take about 20 minutes. In for a penny, in for a pound. Anyways, 20 minutes later and only $399 (guess there was a special 8) ) I had a beautiful Strut Bar installed and a big grin on my face.
I was/am dreading what my wife is going to say if she sees the credit card bill from this "vacation" of mine. She does not yet know about the Strut bar, and she doesn't ever look under the hood (probably wouldn't recognize there is something new there anyway). So all is good, but if I suddenly disappear from the Forum and fail to turn up within a week, you know that I have been found out :chophead:
Here is a picture of the Strut Bar installed
The link for the woodgrain dash kits as promised:
http://www.wooddashexperts.com/customer/product.php?productid=34702&cat=272&page=1
Cheers!!
If you have followed the Homecoming thread, you well know that some of the vendors show up to display and sell their wares. I originally bought my Z4M with absolutely no intention of doing any mods to her. She had everything I could ask for,,, power, good looks, handling, and a convertible! Well, after seeing Zee42's install of the wood grain dash, I thought the touch of red in the woodgrain would look good in my car and set about ordering their kit. Received quite a few compliments at HC (except for F-n-I, she still hates it
) and will post the web link for the company at the bottom of this post. I have been looking at the armrest from LeatherZ for a while, due to the fact that the way the center console sits lower than the door armrest, my shoulder and neck on the lower side starts to hurt after several hours of driving in a tilted position. LeatherZ was there, and I inquired about their console armrest, and while I was at it, their underseat storage box (for a First Aid kit). They were more than happy to sell me the items and do the install of them right then and there Well, after that was done, I decided to see what the other vendors had. I was completely happy with myself at this point, only spending a little over $300 for the day (bought some shirts at the performance center too). Thinking that I was going to make it through HC under the budget I had originally made for myself and toys :lol: Let me step back a moment and outline a previous moment. Fire-n-Ice, and myself, were looking at the Dinan display at the hotel on Thursday night, and I was told at that time, that they did not make anything for the //M yet (about a month from now items will be available). So after finishing up with LeatherZ, I walked next door, and Fletcher BMW was there with the Dinan parts, installing all sorts of goodies on Z3's and a few Z4's. After looking at a beautiful strut bar on a Z3, 20Ducks mentioned that they had just installed a slightly different one on a Z4M.
Cue back to where I thought that NO Z4M parts were available yet, so I had to find the //M that was worked on, which I did (uh, oh, this is going to hurt my planned budget
)!! I have another interest in strut bars besides the stiffer body, BMW has a known issue on another vehicle with the Strut Tower mushrooming at the top, and the support rings for a strut bar add just enough bracing and suport to prevent this from happening. After a very one-sided conversation with 20Ducks (I really don't remember him saying anything :lol: ), I walked back over to the Dinan vendor and inquired about price and install.I was originally quoted $450 and that it owuld take about 20 minutes. In for a penny, in for a pound. Anyways, 20 minutes later and only $399 (guess there was a special 8) ) I had a beautiful Strut Bar installed and a big grin on my face.
I was/am dreading what my wife is going to say if she sees the credit card bill from this "vacation" of mine. She does not yet know about the Strut bar, and she doesn't ever look under the hood (probably wouldn't recognize there is something new there anyway). So all is good, but if I suddenly disappear from the Forum and fail to turn up within a week, you know that I have been found out :chophead:
Here is a picture of the Strut Bar installed
The link for the woodgrain dash kits as promised:
http://www.wooddashexperts.com/customer/product.php?productid=34702&cat=272&page=1
Cheers!!
