Need advice on specific damage on Z4 (looking to purchase)

[Boomlaars]

Hey guys,

I've been looking online for ages now to find a suitable second hand Z4 3.0i, and I recently came across one that I would potentially like to buy. However, the seller informed me of some minor damages to the car; a scratch or 2 which arent so significant, and damage to the area surrounding the front wheels. I have attached the photos to illustrate how it looks. My question to you is if this damage is in anyway serious, or that I can simply get it fixed at a garage without many problems.

Overall, the car looks like this

As can be seen on this photo, the wheels are 19", which causes them to be quite close to the car.

The seller said that when you're on a bumpy road on occasion it even touches the car, which lead to the following damage:

Would you consider this damage to be considerable?

 

[mmm-five]

The size of the 19" wheel alone wouldn't have caused that problem, assuming the wheel offset and tyre width & profile are correct.

If it's hit that part of the arch liner then either the offset is wrong and the wheel is sticking out too much, or the tyre is too wide resulting in the same. Either way, when the car hits a bump, the tyre is more likely to hit the arch than if it was fitting properly in the arch.

Check the offsets & tyre sizes - if they all seem to match up to the (corrected) sizes for the 19" wheels then it sounds more like a suspension problem.

The front tyre could be a 235/35/19, 245/30/19 or 245/35/19 without causing any trouble, assuming the wheel offset & width is suitable.

Standard front offset is et47 on a 8" wide wheel.
If the one fitted is a 8.0" wheel then the offset of et33 (as shown in one of those pictures) would have the effect of pushing the wheel 20mm further out, which is probably what's causing the rubbing.
If the one fitted is a 8.5" wheel then the offset of et33 (as shown in one of those pictures) would have the effect of pushing the wheel 14mm further out, which is probably what's causing the rubbing.

Are those wheels genuine BBS CH's or are they replicas?

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like its had the wrong size/offset wheels on it at some point?

Those inner wheel arches are about £30 each from main dealer, and fix on with severel screws and some plastic rivets, so not a big job.

 

[Boomlaars]

Thanks alot for the info so far guys its much appreciated. I forwarded this to the seller to see what he has to say about it.

 

[Boomlaars]

Also, the dealer said this problem of the wheels hitting the arches is still occurring on bumpy roads. In this case I should make sure that they are fitted properly etc, which is the most likely problem, otherwise it would be a more serious issue related to the suspension?

 

[Boomlaars]

Ok I spoke to the seller; the wheels are completely original. He said the size of the tyre at the front is 265/30/19. Also, he said the suspension is new and was replaced last month (m-sport suspension). Lastly, he said that he thinks its because of the brand of the tyre, he used to drive the car with Dunlop and that he barely had any problem with those before. I'm not to sure what to think of this now..

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a very wide tyre to have on the front although very low profile, probably why its hitting the arches over bumps!

Also looks like it has ET35 stamped on the wheel in the pic....i think.....which would sit the wheel further out than standard by about 12mm.

Could be wrong, sure someone will correct me if i am :roll:

 

[GAZA62]

The seller is telling porkies they are not origonal wheels and looking at the ride hight it does not look like its running M.Sport suspension

 

[cj10jeeper]

Anyone who has wheels so out of whack that they crack lumps off the wheel arches and then mentions that they have just changed all the suspension leads me to expect an endless bunch of problems to rectify it.

Largest OEM wheel was an 18" so this is one too far. Although some have made it owrk it's with careful rim and tyre selection

I'd have to say walk away and find a clean straight car or get the owner to swap all the wheels and repair the damaged arches. Never buy in the hope of fixing it cheaply, else the original owner should/would have done it already

 

[RustyZ4]

I agree, I think he telling porkies too,

But the liner is easy enough to fit and not expensive, but replacing the alloys and tyres will be, because there is no way you can continue on those, just have the same problem.

 

[Boomlaars]

Ok, I have reconsidered and decided not to go with this car. Indeed I would rather spend some hundreds more on a decent car, than having to worry about fixing things or unveiling other problems. Thanks for your help.

I have found a similar model, a little bit more expensive, but with also a bit more options and also with 19" wheels.

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?lang=de&id=115244959&pageNumber=7&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=3500&makeModelVariant1.modelId=52&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&fuel=PETROL&siteId=GERMANY&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&colors=GREY&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=NO_EXPORT&customerIdsAsString=&tabNumber=1

let's see if this one works out

 

[cj10jeeper]

I think that's the right decision.

Wow though the 'new' one is expensive. Is that the going price in Gernmany as it's several thousand more than in the UK?

 

[Boomlaars]

On hindsight this new one won't be the one either. It looks to flashy (in a bad way) to me.

Well, I'm getting it from germany because its cheaper than getting it from holland (where I live). All in all I'm expecting to spend around 20-21.000 (the german price + 3500 euro import taxes) Euro. Brits are indeed lucky with the low prices.