My Second Zed Thread (2010 E89 sDrive30i)

[Chippie]

Noted - thanks. I'm not overly concerned, it still cranks enthusiastically and I've had no unexpained error messages pop up as yet - we've also had a good few frosts already which is usually what kills an ailing battery after the summer. I'll have a look around and see what is available - also need to read up on this battery registration I've seen mentioned on the forums.

I changed mine a few weeks ago, it still started ok with the old battery but now turns over a lot stronger with the new one, if you get the same rated battery you just have to let the car know it has a new battery, I did mine with ISTA, there are a few tutorials on YouTube

 

[Timmyboybunter]

If the battery is the original I would be changing it sooner rather than later, The last thing I’d want is the battery letting me down on a cold frosty morning or at night miles from home.

Turns out to be great advice - I had ordered one at the beginning of the week just as a precaution, then out of the blue the roof started playing up a few days ago - as shown here. Great advice from RobbiZ4 seemed confident it was the battery...

Like for like battery ordered from Tayna:



Fitted today, along with a used T-bolt to replace the one I snapped...



... and also added a new Ctek harness, without snapping it this time . I went for the 'M8' size one, so I could put the positive lead on that secondard mounting point where the thick red cable attaches rather than on the main terminal clamp nut - as being unable to close the little plastic protective flap was playing havoc with my OCD. I know the recommendation is to not charge the battery directly on the E89 and use the bonnet connections instead, so I'll keep an eye out for any problems when I do eventually use it.

Battery registered quickly with Carly - no additional purchase required thankfully, given how much the subscription charge is nowadays. Car cranks much better, roof issue now resolved - so gave it a wash as a treat.

So far, so good. Just need some damn alloys.

 

[Silverstar]

Good to see the roof issue was resolved by fitting the new battery.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Yes, thought there would be some money burning there - very pleased.

 

[Smartbear]

If the battery is the original I would be changing it sooner rather than later, The last thing I’d want is the battery letting me down on a cold frosty morning or at night miles from home.

Turns out to be great advice - I had ordered one at the beginning of the week just as a precaution, then out of the blue the roof started playing up a few days ago - as shown here. Great advice from RobbiZ4 seemed confident it was the battery...

Like for like battery ordered from Tayna:

20200125_131852.jpg

Fitted today, along with a used T-bolt to replace the one I snapped...

20200119_113958.jpg

... and also added a new Ctek harness, without snapping it this time . I went for the 'M8' size one, so I could put the positive lead on that secondard mounting point where the thick red cable attaches rather than on the main terminal clamp nut - as being unable to close the little plastic protective flap was playing havoc with my OCD. I know the recommendation is to not charge the battery directly on the E89 and use the bonnet connections instead, so I'll keep an eye out for any problems when I do eventually use it.

Battery registered quickly with Carly - no additional purchase required thankfully, given how much the subscription charge is nowadays. Car cranks much better, roof issue now resolved - so gave it a wash as a treat.

So far, so good. Just need some damn alloys.

Hi Tim, whereabouts is the additional mounting point on the positive terminal you mention?
I went straight onto the battery post mount & looking at the insulating cover sticking up at a jaunty angle has been driving me mad as well :x
Rob

 

[Chippie]

Glad you got it sorted Timmyboybunter

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Glad it's not just me Rob 8)

See photo below, arrow 1 shows the thick red cable, it attaches under that red cover where arrow 2 is pointing under a 13mm nut (the plastic cover bit pulls away at 90 degrees, then just clicks back into place). My postive ctek cable is attached under that 13mm nut. Give it a good tighten as a loose connection there would be bad news I think.

 

[Smartbear]

Cheers matey
Rob

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Looking out for a suitable set of alloys is now taking over my life, so partially because it's annoying me and partially because I'm bored - it's time to crack on with the 294's.

All the quotes received, apart from my local guy, were £450 plus - said local guy is more of a hobbyist (but will give them a proper acid dip/power coat) so we've agreed I'll do the dissassemly/reassembly and he'll sort the wheels in 8 pieces.

I haven't had the wheels checked over, so bit of a risky strategy - but the very worse case scenario right at the end (if the wheels aren't usable) will be I'll have a brand new set of tyres to use at some point and be £180 down on refurb costs. That's good enough for me I think. I also need to remove the tyres and to my surprise, my local tyre place (Bathwick, Midsomer Norton) just said to pop in and they'd do it for free so I'll visit at the weekend armed with doughnuts. I've used them many times over the years and they are excellent.

Not particularly confident I'll get to the powder coating stage - it's only going to take one of the many [very hard] bolts to snap on me in an inconvenient place to reach the end of my DIY skills, but I like to get my hands just a little bit dirty. There are no obvious cracks on the wheels and they appear ok visually, but it's quite hard to spot whether any are out of shape or not.

First things first then, here's what the wheels look like currently:



And the bolts:



I've ordered what I think is the right socket adapter to get those bolts off - so will see if I can get past even the first hurdle with the tyres off and a liberal spraying of WD40.

 

[Silverstar]

Since the wheels have been kind of refurbed and painted red at some point I suspect you won't have any problems getting the bolts off. When you first got the car with these wheels on them, was the car driving fine? in that case I think they should be fine and not bent or anything. For that money it is definitely well worth saving and I think this style actually looks good on the E89, that is why I keep going back on forth on weather I should change mine and go for some 19"s or just stay with these 294s since they actually look ok. Many neighbours and friends have complimented these wheels, they can't believe that they are original BMW factory fitted.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

I'm hoping so - I'm already making progress, as I ordered a set of 'spline' sockets from Amazon last night which arrived today and it turns out the bolts on these wheels require a M8 size socket (I ordered one set which included M6, M8, M9, M10 but then read online that all the BBS bolts need an M7 socket - so cancelled my order and chose another set which included the M7 socket just in case these bolts are M7 too - they're not!).

Unfortunately I literally only drove the car with the original wheels twice, once on the test drive and once on the 4 mile drive home - but nothing jumped out as being obviously wrong with them as I would have jumped on it during the first drive. I could just get them all balanced before proceeeding I guess, but where's the fun with that?

I do love these style wheels so I hope I can come out with a positive result. Fully prepared to fail though

 

[Mr Tidy]

I think getting them done is probably a good plan as they are a good looking wheel.

And yours look to be in good condition, so hopefully the bolts should come out OK. At least you've only got 14 on each wheel, rather than the 20 per wheel on 108s!

Good luck anyway.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

that is why I keep going back on forth on weather I should change mine and go for some 19"s

Forgot to say, these have been on my mind for a few weeks simply down to the price:

https://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/bmw_alloy_wheels/z4_e89_alloys/19_bmw_276_wheel_1416

£658 for a set o brand new BWM alloys with 2 year warranty sounds very appealing - once you add delivery and a set of tyres obviously the price shoots up well into 4 figures but, peace of mind wise... bit of a bargain. You don't see many cars with the 276 wheels on.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

294 wheel update:

Good progress this weekend. True to their word, my local tyre place were happy to split the tyres from the rims - total cost £3.60 (10 doughnuts, 10 cookies).



Then attacked the bolts (they were soaked in WD40 overnight). The front wheels were both torqued significantly higher than the rears - to the point where I had to apply enough force where each one felt like it was near to breaking. I got all but one bolt off the first wheel, then I think I got impatient with the last bolt and pushed it too hard too quickly and the bugger snapped . 55 out of 56 out successfully though, not too bad. Took about 1.5 hours. My IT worker hands are feeling it today



Also, further to my post earlier - as far as I can tell the bolts themselves are M7 shank, but a M8 splice socket is needed to remove. They are 32mm long including the tip, which I think makes them the same as the common titanium BBS bolts you see available. I've bought a set of 10 replacements from Ebay to replace the single one I snapped, plus any more which may go when I re-assemble. Hopefully they'll be the same, size and thread wise, will report back and post all the sizes up for future reference.

The snapped bolt is beyond my pathetic DIY skills, especially considering it's titanium - so my engineering friend is going to have a crack at it (though he thinks he has all 'easy out' sizes EXCEPT M7). I've not overly concerned if I end up with one bolt having to be glued on for show, I can't imagine having only 13 bolts present on one wheel represents much of a safety issue.



I was working on each alloy sitting on top of 3 tyres - this makes them a perfect chest height to be able to apply my [considerable!] body weight to get the bolts out, plus the rubber base just about stopped the wheels from spinning around. On each wheel, the 'face' was well and truly stuck to the round part and needed some decent persuasion with a mallet - one of the spare tyres was also useful for this purpose (the one on the mat) as there is enough room to balance the wheel on top of the tyre, but giving the face enough room to fall through having been suitably whacked.



And the finished result - will await feedback from bolt extracting friend before ploughing on. Gave all the bolts a scrub today but they didn't really need it to be fair, they're in remarkable condition for a decade old.

 

[Silverstar]

that is why I keep going back on forth on weather I should change mine and go for some 19"s

Forgot to say, these have been on my mind for a few weeks simply down to the price:

https://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/bmw_alloy_wheels/z4_e89_alloys/19_bmw_276_wheel_1416

£658 for a set o brand new BWM alloys with 2 year warranty sounds very appealing - once you add delivery and a set of tyres obviously the price shoots up well into 4 figures but, peace of mind wise... bit of a bargain. You don't see many cars with the 276 wheels on.

I think I'd rather stick with the 294s they are much better looking than these. So it's a good job you managed to get all the bolts out except the one, now you can get them refurbed and looking good again. As you say if you have to stick or weld one bolt on for show it won't matter I doubt it will affect the security / safety of that wheel.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Brilliant job OP.

Not you've got that far I think I would keep your 294s once they have been refurbed as they are a good looking wheel - just not in red! :lol:

Any ideas on colour? I think Shadow Chrome would look good on a black car, but that's just my opinion - you may have other ideas.

 

[Zed Baron]

294 wheel update:

Good progress this weekend. True to their word, my local tyre place were happy to split the tyres from the rims - total cost £3.60 (10 doughnuts, 10 cookies).

20200208_154746.jpg

Then attacked the bolts (they were soaked in WD40 overnight). The front wheels were both torqued significantly higher than the rears - to the point where I had to apply enough force where each one felt like it was near to breaking. I got all but one bolt off the first wheel, then I think I got impatient with the last bolt and pushed it too hard too quickly and the bugger snapped . 55 out of 56 out successfully though, not too bad. Took about 1.5 hours. My IT worker hands are feeling it today

20200208_172947.jpg

Also, further to my post earlier - as far as I can tell the bolts themselves are M7 shank, but a M8 splice socket is needed to remove. They are 32mm long including the tip, which I think makes them the same as the common titanium BBS bolts you see available. I've bought a set of 10 replacements from Ebay to replace the single one I snapped, plus any more which may go when I re-assemble. Hopefully they'll be the same, size and thread wise, will report back and post all the sizes up for future reference.

The snapped bolt is beyond my pathetic DIY skills, especially considering it's titanium - so my engineering friend is going to have a crack at it (though he thinks he has all 'easy out' sizes EXCEPT M7). I've not overly concerned if I end up with one bolt having to be glued on for show, I can't imagine having only 13 bolts present on one wheel represents much of a safety issue.

20200208_170758.jpg

I was working on each alloy sitting on top of 3 tyres - this makes them a perfect chest height to be able to apply my [considerable!] body weight to get the bolts out, plus the rubber base just about stopped the wheels from spinning around. On each wheel, the 'face' was well and truly stuck to the round part and needed some decent persuasion with a mallet - one of the spare tyres was also useful for this purpose (the one on the mat) as there is enough room to balance the wheel on top of the tyre, but giving the face enough room to fall through having been suitably whacked.

20200208_164208.jpg

And the finished result - will await feedback from bolt extracting friend before ploughing on. Gave all the bolts a scrub today but they didn't really need it to be fair, they're in remarkable condition for a decade old.

20200208_172828.jpg

I had a set of 20" split rims on my Jag, one night coming down the motorway I could hear a noise coming from the back of the car. Next day I noticed one of the rear alloys looked dirty (always kept my wheels spotless) on closer inspection 3 bolts were missing! Loose 1 bolt then it puts pressure on the rest (weakest link etc), I got the wheel professionally fixed and I wouldn't have split rims ever again.

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Any ideas on colour? I think Shadow Chrome would look good on a black car, but that's just my opinion - you may have other ideas.

Not sure yet - I do quite like shadow chrome but sometimes they can end up looking like just a dirty set of standard silver wheels. I'm going to keep the car pretty much standard including the chrome kidney grilles etc. rather than going for the batmobile look, so most likely I'll just get something close to the original standard shiny silver colour. Also makes them a bit easier to either sell on at a later date or swap to another car. Not that I'm looking for a 35i or 35is, obviously.

I had a set of 20" split rims on my Jag, one night coming down the motorway I could hear a noise coming from the back of the car. Next day I noticed one of the rear alloys looked dirty (always kept my wheels spotless) on closer inspection 3 bolts were missing! Loose 1 bolt then it puts pressure on the rest (weakest link etc), I got the wheel professionally fixed and I wouldn't have split rims ever again.

Thanks for the warning, yes if I can't get the bolt out I'll be keeping a close eye on things - all the "it will be fine" theory kind of goes out the window when you have a wheel thrashing around at 90mph doesn't it

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Picked up another set of replacement stalks with cruise control, this time including the heated steering wheel button and required slip ring/lower shroud.

Not high on my to-do list by any means, but if a heated wheel comes up for sale I may think about a retrofit (or at least get AnubisZed to do it for me )

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Ouch.