Tom's Z4

T

tomcuthbertson7

Member
 Leicester
Site Supporter
Hi everyone, after purchasing my second Z4 I have decided to jump on here and create an ownership thread inspired by my cars previous owner, Dave.

I bought the car from Dave earlier this month with the intention of daily driving, the occasional track day, and my once (sometimes twice) a year Nürburgring trips. The spec of the car really appealed to me as it appeared to have been built with this in mind! Some of the stand out items on the car for me were the BC coilovers, Carbotech brakes, shorter diff, Pilot Sport 4S tyres, and the E89 heated seats. And of course, the meticulous preventative maintenance was a bonus!

Here is a picture of the car at home, all cleaned up, next to my E36.
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I have tackled a couple of tedious jobs over the weekend whilst we had some rare February sun. I restored the headlights using the 3M kit, used this before and really rate it! I then gave the soft top a thorough clean and protect using the Autoglym soft top kit, I have used others before and this seems to give the best results from my experience. I also swapped the gear knob out for the ZHP shifter from my old car, much improved over the standard knob. and of course cleaned and hoovered the interior whilst I was there.
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I don't have any major plans for the car for now but I would like to try out a Blackline diff before my Nurburg trip in August. If anyone has any real world, long term experience with one of these diffs please get in touch! I have seen good reviews, but I can't find any long term reviews covering a lot of mileage for example.

I will update the thread in a couple of weeks as I am taking the car on a road trip to North Wales in the first week of March. I'm sure there will be plenty of photo oppurtunities!

Looking forward to getting more involved in the forum.
 
Welcome aboard Tom. I've had first hand experience with that car and it truly is well sorted. What impressed me most was how well it dealt with the bumpy Norfolk roads, albeit with the suspension on its softest setting I believe.
Look forward to more updates. :thumbsup:

I think Dave left you a card with my number on it in the car somewhere. Feel free to call if you need any help; if I can't do it then I know a few others who can. 8)
 
Thank you very much, and I'm glad! My previous car was on Eibach springs and run flat PS3's on my daily wheels, so the ride wasn't great on that one. Yes I found your card in the drivers door card! I'm a little far from you but will for sure keep you in mind, thanks again :thumbsup:
 
It looks like you have found exactly the right Z4 for how you plan to use it, so enjoy and keep us posted. :thumbsup:
 
Wales trip update!

Not sure how to start these things, or if anyone will have an interest in this, but I also think it is good for my own history of the car, so I’ll kick straight off.

Seen as this was mainly a holiday with the girlfriend, I thought the squealing Carbotech pads wouldn’t be appreciated or even necessary, and would be best saved for the Nurburgrung trip later in the year. So, I set about changing these for a spare set of PBS pads I had from the old car. As is usual when working on a car, you find other jobs to do whilst you are there. I found the passenger caliper to be seized, so that was also replaced with a spare from the old car, lucky I had them! And a quick clean whilst the wheels were off was too satisfying to pass up.

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Other than driving the car home, this was my first decent stint in the car. The plan was originally to drive the car to our Airbnb destination, spend a couple of nights, then drive home. Until I was recommended by an experienced Welsh holiday maker friend of mine plenty of scenic driving routes through Snowdonia and the north of Wales. I have added a screenshot of the planned route for the Friday.

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The majority of the drive there was mostly uneventful, the M6 around Birmingham is enough to slightly stress me out even out of rush hour… things get much nicer as you pass through Shropshire way into Wales. The first issue came when arriving at our destination, greeted with skinny, single track, pothole filled lanes. The BC coilovers were put to the test here! Luckily, we were far enough from any civilization that we managed to avoid any oncoming vehicles.

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The first stop was a small pod, with a hot tub and a view, rented through Airbnb by the owners of the farm further down the lane. Of course, this was the first opportunity for some pictures of the car!

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After a couple of days of sunshine, we set off on the Friday morning with grey skies and fingers crossed that the overnight rain didn’t flood any of the route out! As we were pretty out in the sticks, the satnav took us down a fair few concerning routes with even more potholes, and even ‘weak bridges’, at this point I was still trying to convince myself that I didn’t regret bringing the Z4 for this trip!

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Eventually we arrived at a junction greeted by two lanes of traffic, smooth tarmac, and national speed limit signs, 60mph never felt so fast! We then proceeded towards the roads that were recommended, with the weather still holding out for us. Driving through Wales immediately reminds you of what scenery is supposed to look like, after being so used to the dullness of concrete, bricks, and routine. Around every corner is constantly changing scenery, winding roads that suddenly open up to wide valleys, high up hill tops with waterfalls, still, blue lakes, and overall stunning views. We travelled through nice villages, slate mines, and thankfully a Shell petrol station, before finding ourselves on what I would consider the best stretch of road up to and through the heart of Snowdonia, the Llanberis pass, it’s hard not to stop for a photo opportunity every 2 minutes!

But enough about the scenery, this is supposed to be about the car, I think..? As I expected, from owning one previously, there were no issues the entire trip, other than a headlight bulb going out, but I would hardly consider that a real issue. As well as the brakes, the only preparation was a small top up of oil before leaving, and a good clean. I didn’t get many chances to really push the car, but the shorter diff and the M54 were always ready to pull on the steeper inclines. The suspension and tyres felt great on the smoother surfaces, and the heated seats were an added treat that I was never able to experience with the old car. The only downside would be the fact that we kept the roof up for most of the journey as the clouds flowing over the mountains looked like they could give in at any moment.

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We headed north out of the mountains of Snowdonia and onto the North Wales Expressway, along the coast to the next stop, the coastal town of Conwy. Another night in an Airbnb, a little walk on the pebble beach, and a nice meal at a restaurant after cooking for ourselves the previous two days. We headed home from here the next morning after a walk around the castle. The skies were blue, so the roof was down until the first services. From here we decided to stop in at Oulton Park as a quick google said there was a track day on. A couple of hours of watching cars at the track with the low sun was enough to make me jealous and decide I need to book a track day soon!

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We covered just shy of 400 miles over the 4 days, problem free. Trips like this are ideal to build confidence in the car, reliability mainly. The next step will be to build confidence in the car on track before a Nurburgring trip. I am thinking a Donington session May/June time.

Appreciate anyone who has took the time to read and reply!
 
Yes, long extended road trips/bonding sessions are such a good way to build trust in a new purchase, providing it ends without issue.!
I hardly use mine, just for small trips mainly so I've never really stretched it's legs for extended journeys.
I recently did a road trip and I know the car much better now and feel there's no surprises round the corner.
I've said it now! :o
 
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