Our new Z4 needs your styling and tweaking advice!

[MartinH]

Hello world!

We are picking up our Z4 tomorrow from a local sports specialist near Bristol - so will get some photos posted once we actually have it!!

It's a 2006 Sport, with upgraded M-Sport split rims, in lovely pearly Stratus Grey. We looked at a few (very nearly went for a Monaco blue one with less miles, but the Sratus colour change from grey to bronze was sooo pretty!) and settled on a 2.0l in the end because we want the car to be viable to use for 3 years in the face of spiralling fuel costs affecting the resale value down the line! That, and as former MX-5 owners (we heavily modded a 91 1.6) I'm a big believer that a smaller engine can make for a really entertaining driving experience - you have to work the car for speed, but reduced weight can mean a few handling advantages...and it's all about grin factor, right?

I'm a big forum user elsewhere, so I'm new here but post a lot of mountain biking forums, so I'm not uninitiated in the ways and benefits of online chitchat. When we had the MX we were super-active in both the club and it's forum...

However, it's been a few years of not being in a position to run a "fun" car (although my work VW T5 went straight in for styling when I collected it from VW and is full show spec!)...so we are going to need some help and support...

We realise that the 2l is never going to travel much faster, but we want it to look good, sound good and handle well. With the split rims and the sports suspension it looks great, but any input would be appreciated. The most obvious starting point would be the exhaust - that tailpipe looks and sounds a bit feeble! We don't want anything loud and lairy, but right now it doesn't sound much like a sports car! On the MX we went silly (specialist exhaust from the manifold back that cost a fortune), but we are on a budget. Any starting pointers for a back box?

It's already had the RFTs removed by the way!

We will post everything we do on this thread as we go, so hopefully it can help others too

Thanks, and hello again!

 

[MartinH]

Ok, just grabbed this pic from auto trader, plus a snap I took yesterday..,by the waym the damp light is being sorted by the garage - MCR near Yate.

 

[Machine monkey]

Hi Martin that's a good looking car And nice thinking cars dont have to have 500bhp to put a smile on your face. My wife just got a diesel Audi TT and i cant stop driving it.

Exhaust wise i am sure there are loads of options out there. I have made a quad conversion for a member on hear. we put in a bypass pipe and removed some wadding and it sounded REALLY NICE so it might not be necessary to spend a fortune

 

[Grumpyowl]

The car looks fantastic

There is a stainless boot rack for sale on eBay (Nothing to do with me)
Not for the looks but you could strap your pushbike to the car when needed.

Then take it off quickly before someone sees you


The first thing you'll be advised to do is get rid of the whip from the Stubby brigade

 

[Swiftly]

Hi and welcome Martin, thats a lovely looking zed you have

Is that condensation in the head lamp I see :?

 

[synthedup]

Hi Martin, Great colour if I say so myself,

Has it been mentioned by the dealer that the exhaust tip is missing? I know your thinking about changing it but by having the tip at least it would look nice until you get around to it.

 

[Adamski]

Hi Martin, welcome to the forum

Some tasty mods include:
Stubby aerial
Eibachs to improve the look without being too low
Exhaust (you had that already)

Apart from that, I think the car looks great. Enjoy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lynchy]

Great looking motor

 

[Dav the wheel nut]

Welcome. Nice looking zed and always good to have the sports seats.
Did MCR have a Z4M for sale in there showroom? Thought you might have been tempted

 

[Mau]

Welcome, good looking car.

Apart from what has already been suggested: a few modest mods that would improve the looks could be:

- X3 radio knob (with build in chrome ring);
- ZHP gearknob (which is the shorter heavier version, easily available through Ebay);

The mod which I am probably enjoying most is my Xcarstyle roof module. It does not improve the looks of the car, but works like a charm. Lots of alternatives available, but make sure to buy one which also functions when driving at modest speeds (Xcarstyle = up to 55 km/h). Imagine driving on the high way, it starts to rain too much for aerodynamics to correct, taking the first exit, raising the roof without having to make a full stop (and thus without getting really wet) and on to the high way again!

 

[MartinH]

What a nice forum - great to hear from you all!

The condensation in the headlamp (and indicators) is being sorted by the dealer, but the exhaust tip looked just like the others we viewed? What should it look like? If it's missing I'm sure they will deal with it...they seem nice guys.

And yes, they had a beautiful 2.5 Z4M in back, but at £4k more it wasn't really an option, this was £600 over budget already!

Mmm, don't think I'll be putting my bikes on the back anytime soon- they are worth more than the car

Interestingly, the points about aerials and radio knobs are where we are likely to head after the exhaust...but as a bit of an audiophile I can't imagine the stubby aerial would be great for FM reception? We might whip out the whole system...it all sounded a bit lacklustre. How easy is a head swap?

Back to the exhaust - I googled but didn't find much? Probably just want a nice raspy box...

 

[Disca]

The mod which I am probably enjoying most is my Xcarstyle roof module. It does not improve the looks of the car, but works like a charm. Lots of alternatives available, but make sure to buy one which also functions when driving at modest speeds (Xcarstyle = up to 55 km/h). Imagine driving on the high way, it starts to rain too much for aerodynamics to correct, taking the first exit, raising the roof without having to make a full stop (and thus without getting really wet) and on to the high way again!

There is most likely a reason you cannot do this normally. Unlike in the E89 I don't think the E85 has particularly a re-enforced mechanism to be able to take the roof going up at speed. Personally I wouldn't risk it.

I am pretty sure the exhaust tip is correct as it is, it looks exactly like the one on my old 2.0i, just a bit less clean. Please excuse how dirty the car is, it was mid wash

As for the stubby (seen above) I had no issues with it, its been said a lot that the FM receiver is actually in the rear view mirror but not exactly sure.

 

[synthedup]

The exhaust has a stainless tip that goes on the exhaust, it make its look a lot chunkier, Looking at both of the above pics id say that this is missing on both, I Will try take a photo later with the tip on and off so you can see the difference

 

[wilbo]

Mmm, don't think I'll be putting my bikes on the back anytime soon- they are worth more than the car

Welcome. Look forward to seeing an off topic thread on the bikes too

 

[Disca]

Mmm, don't think I'll be putting my bikes on the back anytime soon- they are worth more than the car

Welcome. Look forward to seeing an off topic thread on the bikes too

Yes because then someone can tell me how to stop the hydraulic disk brakes squeaking on my Banshee X

@Synthedup, Did you mean a tip like this?

In which case they are accessories brought from BMW

 

[synthedup]

=

@Synthedup, Did you mean a tip like this?

In which case they are accessories brought from BMW

[/quote]

Hi Disca,

Yes that's the one, is that not standard?

 

[Disca]

Nope its an accessory available from the BMW, £46.80 as shown above

 

[MartinH]

Squealing disk brakes suggest contaminated pads: bike brake pads are very susceptible to oil and lubricants creating noise and reduced power! Replace the pads and clean the discs with isopropyl alcohol and that should quieter them...although a few brands can just be noisy - does it happen in the dry or only in wet conditions?

Back to the car stuff - is there a website that offers good Z4 choices?

 

[Disca]

Squealing disk brakes suggest contaminated pads: bike brake pads are very susceptible to oil and lubricants creating noise and reduced power! Replace the pads and clean the discs with isopropyl alcohol and that should quieter them...although a few brands can just be noisy - does it happen in the dry or only in wet conditions?

Happens in both conditions. Will look at the pads when I eventually get round to getting the bike out

 

[Mau]

There is most likely a reason you cannot do this normally. Unlike in the E89 I don't think the E85 has particularly a re-enforced mechanism to be able to take the roof going up at speed. Personally I wouldn't risk it.

Even with the module, you cannot do this at high speeds: the module can be programmed to allow retracting the roof while driving up to 35 km/h, 45 km/h or 55 km/h. If you use it with some sense, it does not causes you any trouble whatsoever; both half the German and half the Dutch forum have been driving around with this module for a few years now and no problems have been reported whatsoever in this respect (not even as you might expect: "Oops, I thought the wind was to hard and yes it turned out to be indeed, now what". Simply no issues of roof damage reported as far as I am aware of, which is even against my own expectations)