Roof closes with quite a slam? Is this normal?

G

Guitarman

Member
Hi Guys,
I bought my 2011 Z4 23i from Sytner in Birmingham last Friday. Have full 12 month warranty.
I love the car but am a bit worried by the action of the roof mechanism. I assume that it is supposed to be smooth in operation and quite damped, but when I close the roof it slams into place which is alarming me!!!
Do they all do that? Or is there something wrong?

Cheers, guys!
 
It does make a bit of a clonk when the last bit comes in but I'd not really call it a slam. Can you do a video with sound?
 
Mine does it, I know exactly what you mean, it alarms me too but I guess it's normal. I put it down to the force needed to close if you're travelling up to 25mph.
 
I added several layers of felt on the rubber stops and mine closes fairly nicely now. Before that it slammed with force enough to make it bounce a little off the rear deck, despite faffing by dealer techs which seemed to make it worse. I still get a bit of a jerky movement when the rear clamshell moves from the front of the car to the rear on the close cycle which I'll try and suss at some point. I suspect worn dampers.

[youtube]JFXKvUQ9O3o[/youtube]
 
Thanks guys, when closing the roof, the front of the roof also seems quite aggressive when it locks onto the top of the windshield?
Does anyone else get that?
 
I was just going to say I was talking about the front section to windscreen, which was what I thought Guitarman was as well, not the rear deck. The front or top section on mine really bangs down, hence I suggested it's the force needed to engage closed properly at 25mph, the rear is absolutely fine, smooth and quiet.
 
Yes, the front section banging down on the windshield worries me more than the back section. You would think that they would have damped the action a lot better than that!
I was wondering if mine was faulty, but maybe not?
 
Do yours have that same jerky movement on the last part of the closing process when the rear clamshell moves from the front to the back when closing as in my video? It's bugged me for ages, when the rear clamshell starts to move it jerks then as weight moved past thb12'oclock position it jerks again before going smooth and seating against the rear deck.

I looked at the mechanism and there are two small rods that go from the pivot point into the front part of the roof, perhaps into dampers that I can't see as if have to remove the roof liners.
 
I doubt there's dampers as the hydraulics should naturally dampen the movement.
The cylinders could, but probably don't have some sort of restrictor at the end travels to dampen the movement.
Jerkiness probably due to the load change on the over travel.
Bit like pushing a sack of cement over a wall.

I believe it was all developed in Italy.
So it will always go quicker one way than the other :)
 
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