New to me Deep Sea Blue Z4 35i DCT

[Phoenixboy]

seriously, wheel must not be cracked!
the corrosion side of it i can sort of understand as if you dont take care they are liable to corrode if chipped etc, but a crack should at least be considered providing it is not obvious you have driven into a crater.

 

[Dave1971]

no definately poor show.
they seem good at wiggling out of these issues.
still even at 1000 pounds, its pretty poor to say the least.
what is the warranty on oem wheels then?
although it would appear they seem to wiggle out of it in most cases.

The warranty is for 2 years from purchase of the part minus the following exceptions:
- Corrosion must be to the face of the wheel
- The wheel must not have been refurbed
- The wheel must not be cracked (unless the ovality is out by less than 1mm. Used to be 2mm)
- The wheels must be put on the car by BMW and have a VIN part reference for the model number (unless they're a performance set)
- Your car must be blue
- It must be a Tuesday
- You must be able to argue for a sustained period of at least 5 minutes without blinking
- Your name must have at least 5 vowels in it (middle names do not count)
- It must be a Thursday
- You must present, if asked, a 2 minute demonstration on how to yo-yo
- You must have at least 72% of your own teeth
- You must be minimum shoe size 9
- You must be maximum shoe size 9.5
- Finally, It must be a Wednesday

All joking aside you’re not far wrong. The whole reason I ended up buying those wheels was because 3 of the original 296’s had cracked. As soon as I spoke to the dealers and they said that the wheels had to be maximum of 1mm out of round I knew I was on a hiding to nothing, oh and they wanted £50 per wheel to get them checked.

I believe Smartbear had one of his wheels looked at, it was less than 1mm and they still refused him a new one.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I managed to get a new set of BMW wheels and tyres for £1000 but was still pissed off that BMW basically didn’t give a monkeys about the 296’s.

 

[Beeacon]

For the cracks its something to do with ovality. If the wheel has hit something particularly hard (like a big pothole) then the wheel will squash. They used to leave this at 2mm out of a perfect circle to account for manufacturing tolerances. This was lowered in 2015-16 to 1mm (I'm guessing they can now make wheels to a much tighter tolerance or they just want to void all claims).

As my wheels were at 1.02mm they have denied the claim because 'it is out of tolerance' even though they were manufactured in 2011; and even then, its only out of the new tolerance by 20 microns! If they stood the wheel up when it was lacquered they'd get more ovality than that!

As Dave1971 says they're going to try and wriggle out of it as best they can.

P.S. Laine, I'm just organising some accommodation with the Crooklands hotel and will be bringing the car to the National meet, hope to see you there

 

[Dave1971]

P.S. Laine, I'm just organising some accommodation with the Crooklands hotel and will be bringing the car to the National meet, hope to see you there

We’re coming over but we are camping this year. As we’re not so restricted on load capacity it means we can pack all the comforts of home. We won’t be going on the drives but we will bag a few Wainwright’s while we’re in the area. It’ll be good to meet up again.

 

[Beeacon]

Captain's log 5th of June 2019; today, my tyre exploded...



Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 225/40/18 (winter tyre) just coming off the M60 motorway and onto the sliproad and the tyre lets out a massive bang, and the sound of all the air escaping. Luckily I was able to coast to a stop as there was very little in front of me. Miraculously didn't damage the alloy either. Temperature was 12C so I can't see temperature being an issue and the tyre has done a maximum of 4000 miles.

I've contacted Michelin and will try and get it claimed back on warranty as this most certainly shouldn't happen and must be a manufacturing defect. I just don't seem to be able to catch a break with wheels at the moment!

After claiming 'shock from the very scary incident and near miss' to my fiancee I feel like I justified buying myself some new summer wheels... Don't tell her I said that...

Front: Replica Style 313M 19" 8J ET40 with 10mm H&R spacers (5x120 bolt pattern 72.6mm bore) on Vredestein Ultrac Vorti 235/35 R19 96Y
Rear: Replica Style 313M 19" 9J ET40 on Vredestein Ultrac Vorti 255/35 R19 96Y

Should arrive within the next few weeks in the run up to the National Meet. Onwards and upwards!

 

[mr wilks]

h never seen or heard anything like that happening before freak or defective tyre ?
I know its possible to tear the wall if you drive with low pressure & hit a hard ridge , the rim can cut through the sidewall but never seen a vertical split from the rim like that
Very lucky you weren't traveling any speed

 

[Beeacon]

h never seen or heard anything like that happening before freak or defective tyre ?
I know its possible to tear the wall if you drive with low pressure & hit a hard ridge , the rim can cut through the sidewall but never seen a vertical split from the rim like that
Very lucky you weren't traveling any speed

As I was just getting onto the sliproad I was still doing 70mph and was just about to start braking when it went pop. Very lucky I wasn't on the brakes or accelerating!

 

[Beeacon]

Well it has been a very eventful month for the 35i! Car has had a good few things tweaked and sorted over the past few weeks and everything is go!

The exploding tyre was replaced on the drive with a new Pilot Alpin 4 tyre and during the replacement the tyre fitter noticed that the rear driver's side coil spring had snapped near the bottom. The spring was quite rusted so it looks like it has been broken for quite a while and must have been compensated for by the adaptive suspension (no idea how it wasn't spotted by MOTs and BMW investigating my wheels).

I took the car to get its new Vredestein Ultrac Vorti tyres put onto the new style 313M wheels and took the TPMS sensors from the old wheels and put them into the new ones (simple click in system and just left the old valves in the old wheels). I then swapped the car from its winter rubber onto the new summers, taking the opportunity to check around the car for any other broken springs or elements (just the one spring thankfully).

Below you can compare the replicas (on the car) to the genuine style 313M wheels. Only real difference is a BMW Performance sticker near the valve and a space for an //M sticker under the hubcap.


Car was in need of a brake fluid service so picked up some ATE DOT 4 TYP 200 fluid for £15 from EuroCarParts, got a pair of new LESJÖFORS rear coil springs Part No: 33536785087 & 33536785088 (M-adaptive suspension) for the rear as they should be replaced in pairs and got a wheel alignment while I was at it. Springs have maintained the ride height and are as OEM as I could get.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENU...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The car has completely transformed! the new springs have made a massive difference to the handling of the car, the tyres stick like s**t to a blanket and the brake fluid is doing it job (don't think I'll ever test it up to boiling point).

One of the seals at the bottom of the driver's sill had dried up, cracked and started irritating me so I replaced it with no issues.



Oh and I got the engine strut brace powder coated in black for £20 because the white was annoying me after I spent a few hours cleaning it up.



All in all a very productive few weeks ready for a sunny summer ahead. Bring on the National Meet!

 

[Beeacon]

Been a long time since I've updated but figured I'd get the post caught up to current events.

Had a fantastic time at the National Meet and enjoyed meeting everyone.

My water pump failed on the way to a meeting in September, and had the AA tow me to my indy in Wigan. I sourced the new parts individually (pump, thermostat, and don't forget the screws). The indy runs a 135i about a year older than mine and had just replaced his a few months prior so was easy to sort.

Literally 10 miles after the pump was replaced the coilpack nearest to the front of the block went. A new £35 coilpack later and the car has been running smooth since. Apparently the two coilpacks at the front of the engine undergo the most hot and cold cycling, and so are first to go. Just have to keep a spare in the boot for when the other one near the front goes.

6 new spark plugs at its service and MOT in Jan with no advisories, but with the indy telling me that the rear pads will need replacing in the next 6k miles.

After reading about the salmon roof relays in the boot I've replaced them according to the thread below (at £15 each its cheap insurance to prevent having to buy a stupidly expensive roof motor in the future).

Scorch marks on inside of relay case:


Still getting some lovely beading after 18 months with the ceramic coating on too

Cermaic coating holding up:


Things to do this year:
1. Clean offside rear lamp gasket and prevent water getting in (tiny bit of misting this winter).
2. Maybe get some new exhaust tips.
3. Maybe get some new pedals and footrest.
4. Find some rear brake pads and maybe some street performance front pads.

Things not to do this year no matter how cool and fantastic they may be:
1. Don't add M3/M4/340i/440i brake calipers to the front with 370mm discs.
2. Definitely don't add H&R sway bar to front and M3 upper control arm and lower control arms. :?

Bring on the summer sun!

Salmon roof relay thread: https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=119167

 

[Haggisman]

Really good update, will look forward to how you resist the “not to do “ list haha

 

[Silverstar]

Beeacon how many miles has your car done?

 

[Beeacon]

Beeacon how many miles has your car done?

Just about to hit 70k mark now, pulls like a dream still!

Really good update, will look forward to how you resist the “not to do “ list haha

I'm gonna try my best but its a slippery slope!

 

[Beeacon]

While being quarantined and cooped up at home, I have taken the time to sort out a little niggle that was annoying me. Whenever the ambient temperature starts to rise, I was finding that my wingmirrors would squeak whenever the fold. This was caused by a buildup of grime over its life. Easy way to fix this was to follow these two guides:

1) Remove the wingmirror glass as follows:
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=71535

2) Remove the cover plate that is squeaking:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e89-z4-sdrive35i-roa/repair-manuals/51-body-equipment/51-16-mirrors-finishers-ashtrays-consoles/8IsFPGk7

3) Baby wipe it all down, particularly in the seal!

4) Job done. Next week, swap my wheel back over to summers and then look at maybe getting some pedal covers!

 

[clarker63]

While being quarantined and cooped up at home, I have taken the time to sort out a little niggle that was annoying me. Whenever the ambient temperature starts to rise, I was finding that my wingmirrors would squeak whenever the fold. This was caused by a buildup of grime over its life. Easy way to fix this was to follow these two guides:

I just was finding the same thing. very squeaky! Very useful thanks!

 

[clarker63]

Remove the cover plate that is squeaking:

what sort of thing did you use to pop off the cover?

 

[Beeacon]

what sort of thing did you use to pop off the cover?

Hi Clarker,

I used a thin plastic spatula that I have for 3D printing. If you use a thin, narrow, plastic scraper of some form it should work wonderfully (avoid metal to avoid scraping the paint).

 

[Beeacon]

Well it has been a long time since I have posted an update here but after nearly 5 fantastic years of ownership, the car is ready for it's next owner.

Do I want to sell it? Absolutely not.
Do I need to sell it? Begrudgingly, yes.
I recently welcomed my wonderful daughter into our family and had to come up with ways to keep the car. I came up with two options:
1) Cut the car in half, add two seats, turn it into a stretch limo Z4 because I don't want to sell it; or
2) Sell the car.

While I may have the gumption for option 1, my wallet doesn't. So it is with sorrow that I will be putting it up for sale. The car has been pampered and well looked after, and is still sitting shiny at 80k miles. Pulls like a truck, too...



I'm gonna miss this machine.
Beeacon.