My First Zed Thread (2003 E85 3.0)

[Timmyboybunter]

Yes definitely - really enjoying this car. I'm a facelift set of headlights away from finishing my first sweep of changes.

I wonder how many people follow a similar route and conclude they should have just forked out for a facelift car in the first place (hindsight ever helpful)

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Grrr, next door's cat

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Completed the sound deadening mod on the passenger side today. Nice and simple, took 2 hours, other side will be quicker now I know what I'm doing (includes 25 min wait for the side airbag).

Was slightly skeptical about this one but the results are fantastic - well worth the time and money (thanks WonkeyDonkey for the suggestion). I love these simple changes that I'll appreciate literally every journey.

Slightly disappointed to find someone has had the door card off before, and took the easier way through the membrane (i.e cutting a hole in it) but I don't get any water in the car so one to keep an eye on. What will I find on the driver's side

Only have a boring 'before' picture, I completely forgot to take one of the deadening applied!

 

[wonkydonkey]

Excellent! For the time, cost and improvement, it's a very rewarding no-brainer

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Added sound deadening to the driver's side today.

Same story with the membrane, in a bit of a mess:



Sound deadening added, seemed to be a bit easier today and used more 'complete' sheets without jigsaw puzzle cutting, even remembered to take an 'after' photo



So now have 2 doors that shut with a resounding CLUNK, just like a Golf

Used 22 of my 30 sheets in the end.

 

[paulc_bkk]

Nicely done. This is another job that you’ve done that I also have on my list of things to do.

It’s always weird finding the handiwork of previous owners - no idea what they might’ve been trying to achieve with that ‘modification’

 

[Timmyboybunter]

No I'm baffled too.

 

[Davz]

You do realise that your 0-60 time is now going to be 0.000000000001 sec slower........why tf bmw didn't fit sound deadening is beyond me! :?

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Luckily the Z4M wheel I have fitted gives me at least another 10 bhp, so will hopefully cancel out the additional weight due to sound deadening

Funny actually, I missed the delivery of the sound deadening material and it was taken to our local post office. My wife then picked it up when walking our dog, and was none too impressed to find a fairly small box which weighed a ton - it is surprisingly heavy!

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Update on the Autoglym roof treatment now it's been on there a few weeks.

In summary: I won't be using it again. The cleaner made no noticeable difference - to be fair I had scrubbed it with Milton solution recently, but I was hoping for some kind of positive change.

My biggest gripe is the treatment. It does indeed bead water all over the roof - it then looks ridiculous until the beads fall off or the roof properly dry out. Worse, because the water is just sitting on the roof, I have noticed water dripping into the car when opening and closing the roof as it just runs off and splashes.

Compare to pre treatment (or other brands that do *not* repel water), a soaked in wet roof looks nice and black and doesn't drip into the car.

Total rubbish :evil:

Also had the M wheel airbag off today. For some reason the horn was not working if the right hand side of the airbag was pushed (left and bottom fine). For some reason the 'C' shaped clicky springy bit inside was not giving a metallic click sound when pressed on the right, despite making clear metal contact. Didn't investigate, just swapped the part from my original wheel and now working fine.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Fitted my 2nd hand euro light from Ebay Germany. Has a scratch which wasn't mentioned, but not really noticeable.

Tidies the rear up a bit and I definitely prefer the look, but far from a must do mod. Just need a red bulb to finish.

Before:



After:

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Also gave my hard top a good clean to remove the salt stains from the interior, and used Gummi Pflege on all the rubber bits (did the whole car a few weeks ago too).

The seller, who had misplaced the cover, was good enough to post it to me when he found it - it does have a broken zip, but I'm impressed how much better protected it is than just using sheets and towels etc. with padding in all the vulnerable places.

 

[paulc_bkk]

The hardtop cover looks great - I missed out on one unfortunately, but mine has been on the car most of the time since I got it so I haven’t really needed one.

I remember seeing a thread where you mentioned the other hardtop accessories - is there anything you’re still looking for?

My hardtop came with all covers and I’ve asked my girlfriend to look into 3D printed copies - still waiting.


I stripped the headliner out of mine as the cloth had sagged quite badly in places. I’ve got oem cloth but not sure when I’ll have time to get around to actually changing it.

I’m planning a trip to the UK soon so hopefully I can share either 3D scanned files or a set of covers by then....

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Yes getting the covers scanned is on my to-do list - nearly finished my list of car mods so I'll look into it when complete.

The only thing I'm missing now is the little round cover in your photo which goes over the top lock. Can't find one anywhere!

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Replaced the undertray with a 2nd hand item - not straightforward though. The 2nd hand one came of a 2005 3.0 model, but is different to the one fitted to my car - though as you can see in the photo below mine (on the left) has 'Z4' written on it, suggesting it is already a replacement part.

The sticking up bits actually offer more protection, and the replacement one has 3 holes at the front which are each in recesses which stick out of the bottom - so it's not a perfect fit when slotted into the plastic section right at the front of the car, just behind the lip of the front spoiler.

Overall though, as mine was split in several places it's still fixed far more securely to the car and looks a lot better underneath.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

I've been looking forward to this one for ages - facelift headlight time

Everything went almost exactly to plan and was an easy job. I was then being fussy with the alignment of one of the lights, and when clicking the bumper back into place for the 4th time snapped the fixing bracket - it's still held on firmly enough though so I won't bother with a new one.

Before pic of sorts - just disconnecting the fog light bulbs is enough to simply lay the bumper on the floor, without disturbing the washer jet plumbing etc.



And the finished result - massive different to my eyes, for a relatively subtle light design change. Very pleased - thanks to synthedup for the lights.

 

[kis]

Looks good! I guess all thats left is a facelift rear light conversion :evil:

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Ta

No there's a few things I actually prefer on the pre facelift - front bumper and rear lights for example. Visually I'm pretty much done, just need to sort the calipers out.

 

[kis]

I'm a mish-mash. I love the rear LCI lights and bumper... but front I much prefer the aero front bumper...

Are the halogens a straight plug and play for the pre and post facelift?

You upgrading the brakes (fronts) while you're there?

 

[Timmyboybunter]

I'd love the aero kit - way too much money to change though. It's becoming apparent that there are many cars around (with aero kit or sports seats etc) which are clearly worth more in parts than they are as a car sale. Shame really. I'd love to hear from synthedup after he's completely finished with his car what the takings were after postage etc etc.

Halogens are easy - yes you can swap between pre and post facelift without issue, it's only the Xenons which can not be swapped over.

No plans to upgrade the brakes. I'm only toying with getting the calipers done because they just look strange at the moment, all red with black spots - just a non-strange looking set of clean dark coloured calipers will be fine. I'm trying to keep some kind of reasonable limit on spending, for a very good reason: I'm really enjoying this car (and the whole 'convertible' 2 seater thing, this is my first) and I'm not overly keen on the E89 models, so almost certainly I'll want to upgrade at some point - which only leaves a 3.0SI or an 'M' roadster realistically, at which point it's all start again

I'm just happy to be rid of all that nasty orange!