Mr Tidy's MC Thread - 5 Years On!

[blobslosak]

Well I've only done about 100 miles since the CDV came off and while but it does feel slightly better, it's not the sort of "Night and Day" difference I noticed on my 3.0Si.

The suspension thing had been doing my head in too! :lol:

But based on what I have been told even on the highest setting (like mine is) the spring isn't any more compressed because the piston in the damper extends - unless it reaches the end of it's travel, and if that happened then you wouldn't have any droop. Which is why I thought I would measure my droop.

So if you encountered a dip in the road the wheel might briefly leave the ground because there would be no downward suspension travel if the damper was at the limit of it's travel.

Ah that makes sense, if in theory you could pre tension the spring enough to get no displacement when you put the car on the ground, you'd have zero droop.

Out of interest, was your spring slightly compressed so you couldn't move it by hand?

 

[Mr Tidy]

Out of interest, was your spring slightly compressed so you couldn't move it by hand?

Sorry, I have no idea as Ross did it! :lol:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Well my car went to Ross for some surgery this morning!

Then this afternoon he sent me a photo of the bearing shells he took out, and I'm glad I decided to get them replaced as now I won't need to worry about them any more. (Mileage just short of 78K).

 

[MrPT]

Yep. Good call.

 

[Mr Tidy]

So I got the car back from Ross today complete with the old shells and engine mounts in a bag as trophies. :lol:
ETA He said my shells were the worst he has seen to date.

It took a bit longer than expected because he noticed the cam-cover gasket he fitted in April was leaking. Luckily BMW replaced it F.O.C. and agreed to pay his labour for swapping it.

So at the sort of mileage I'm doing these days all should be good mechanically for a couple of years!

Just got to sort out the suspension now. I'm thinking of having the H & R springs I've got fitted and buying some Bilsteins - B6 I think.

And as much as I like the CSP Reps there are loads of Coupes with them so I'll probably get the 224s I bought from ag51bye refurbed, but I'm not sure what colour to go for. :roll:

Definitely not black anyway! I like Shadow Chrome but I'm not sure how that would look with Silver Grey. I've also seen wheels in Hyper Silver which might work better - decisions, decisions. :lol:

 

[IRD]

It must all be very stressful Iain having to make all these important decisions. :wink:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Thanks for your concern, Ian.

But seeing as I'm no longer working hopefully I don't have so many decisions to make, so will hopefully manage to muddle through! :lol:

 

[MrPT]

Maybe going back to 18s will make the suspension a bit more tolerable?

 

[ColinBR]

Hyper silver without a doubt.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Well hopefully getting the coil-overs off and 18s fitted will make a noticeable difference to the ride quality, as I want to use my Z4 more than I did.

Previously I always did more miles in my 3 Series because it was my "Mum Taxi", but now Mum is in a care home I don't need a car for that role so I can use the Z4 to visit her - now that visits are allowed again.

So I'm thinking I might as well sell the 330i because all I need is a shed I can use for Tesco, B & Q, the tip, etc. without worrying about trolley rash and door dings!

Added bonuses are 18" tyres are cheaper than 19s, and 224s look easier to clean than CSLs. :lol:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Hyper silver without a doubt.

Thanks - that's what I am erring towards.

 

[john-e89]

So I'm thinking I might as well sell the 330i because all I need is a shed I can use for Tesco, B & Q, the tip, etc. without worrying about trolley rash and door dings!

You won’t believe how much fun a shed is....leave it unlocked, park it anywhere, wash it, don’t wash it, rag it to death, shrug smile and don’t give it another thought when you get a car park scrape from some dingbat....such stress free transport it’s hilarious....! :lol:

 

[IRD]

I had 2002 4x4 Skoda Octavia Estate with the Golf GTI engine in it. When I bought it for £500 it had 120000 miles on the clock. I gave it an oil change and new tyres and ran it for two years without spending another penny on it. A neighbour was desperate for a cheap 4x4 and gave me £800. So that covered the cost of the tyres and oil change. In the two years I had it I didn’t care where I parked it. Sod’s law no damage at all. :roll:

 

[mc5]

Well my car went to Ross for some surgery this morning!

Then this afternoon he sent me a photo of the bearing shells he took out, and I'm glad I decided to get them replaced as now I won't need to worry about them any more. (Mileage just short of 78K).

That does not look good dodged a bullet there. How much to get them done and who did you use.

On another note i would avoid the bilstein b12 kit. Great at the rear but shocking at the front at any sign of a pothole or drain cover.

 

[Mr Tidy]

That does not look good dodged a bullet there. How much to get them done and who did you use.

On another note i would avoid the bilstein b12 kit. Great at the rear but shocking at the front at any sign of a pothole or drain cover.

Yes, I'm relieved I got them replaced now I've seen them! I got them done by Ross at RBMHampshire. https://www.rbmhampshire.co.uk/
who is also Bowser134 on the forum. New shells and engine mounts will probably cost you just into 4 figures.

I'm not planning on the B12 kit as I've already got a set of H & R springs, so would just be getting the Bilstein shocks. The guy who I plan to use to fit them reckoned H & Rs gave a better ride than Eibachs, but we'll see!

 

[Ed Doe]

Careful with bilstein dampers, one of my front dampers failed (burst a seal and pissed its lol everywhere) in under 25k/3 years. Bilstein didn't want to know when I tried to claim warranty.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Thanks Ed.

I asked Will at TWG for his thoughts as I'd read of some Bilstein issues so I was wondering about Koni, but he favoured Bilstein. TBH it's hard to know what to get as everyone has their own preference. :?

 

[Mr Tidy]

Well I have had my car a year already (picked it up 19 Dec 2019) so as it was dry today I thought I'd take it to the shops seeing as now I'm in Tier 4 that's one of my few excuses! And I'm still loving the sound of that S54. :wub:

Anyway I might have moved on to getting the 224s I bought refurbed, but Darren Slone put his silver/grey Aeros up for sale and as they were the right colour I just couldn't resist. So a huge thank you to Darren for fitting them for me - a real gent.

So the wheels will have to wait until my bank account recovers from the aeros and the Road Tax at the end of the month.

But this being Z4forum I took a couple of photos of my dirty car.

 

[maxman]

They should have been on as std.Really improve the side profile of the e85,e86

 

[BMWZ4MC]

That looks fantastic. It’s absolutely the best colour to show the aeroskirts and was high on my list of colour preferences when I bought mine.