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IroningBoard

Member
Hi,

I'm new! I Have enjoyed getting to know more about my car by reading through the forum. It's only fair to show my face (or cracked wheels).

I had been driving this into the ground for 5 years and it just wouldn't die.

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The corsa was so cheap to run and annoyingly reliable, it got to 118K miles on the original clutch before I gave up first!

I have now been custodian of this number for 5 months now. Let's just say, as a second car: one hell of an upgrade to the 1.2.



62 Plate, 20i sdrive M sport in white. White leather Interior. 38K miles.

I'm the second owner, purchased from a local garage (non-bmw) who chucked in a '2-year warranty' and free MOTS.

Love the debate on 6 pot vs 4 pot. As a younger driver and coming from a small engine, the upgrade in power to the N20 engine is plenty enough to get me started on more serious cars. Probably also the only option when it came to insurance.

Please excuse the uninspiring scenery. A trip to the shops is about as far as we can get at the moment.





It took me a couple of washes to remove spots of mould within the lines of the long body, it looked as though the car had not been washed properly for some time or sat in a damp place before being prepared for sale.

The garage I purchased from have genuinely surprised me with service;
- Alloys refurbed
- Skirts and lower front bumper resprayed to remove minor blemishes.
- 2 new rear tyres.

2 months in, I noticed the external rubber seal on top of the windscreen was perishing, I showed the garage and they had it replaced within 3 hours of me opening my mouth. No quibble.

When looking at z4's I did note the alloy wheel issue, but unfortunately, I *assumed* that as the alloys would be refurbed, any cracks would be discovered and 'rectified'.

Please can someone confirm this is what I think it is on the 326M alloys on both rears:

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Am I right in thinking that the weights attached to this section of the rim are there to offset the imbalance generated by that crack?
Therefore suggesting that crack was present at time tyre was fitted?
Garage due to reopen later this month, so will see what they have to say regarding warranty and the wheel cracks. They have been great to me so far but could be interesting.

I do not appear to be loosing any air pressure at the moment. I am not doing big miles either, so wondering how urgent this is?
Fronts are both ok.
 
Nice to have a fellow Board on the forum.

Great looking car. Would be good to get some interior pics too, white on white is a pretty rare combo.

The wheel looks like a pretty serious crack from the pic, I would not drive at speed with it like that.
 
Welcome to the madhouse. :thumbsup:

That's quite an upgrade from your Corsa so I can see why you seem to be enjoying it, even if only going to the shops!

If you were losing any air you ought to be getting a warning light on the dash as Z4s have a Tyre Pressure Warning System.

Your photo of the wheel suggests you might have lost a balance weight, but it could just be the residue from a weight that was there from a previous set of tyres seeing as the wheel rim doesn't have a clean surface. Although that crack doesn't look good. :o Assuming the wheels are 19s they seem to be prone to cracking, especially with the OE run-flat tyres so once it is fixed you might want to think about fitting non run-flats.

Then just enjoy it (as much as you can at present). Maybe find a shop that is a bit further from home! :roll:
 
Hi, the weights won’t be placed there to compensate for the cracked rim, cracks have no effect on wheel balance.
Welcome to the world of cracked bmw 19” wheels, are you still on runflat tyres? They’re going to make cracked wheels even more likely I’m afraid! Change the tyres over to normal ones & hope the rims don’t crack as often, buy quality aftermarket 19’s or fit smaller wheels :thumbsup:
Rob
 
Hi and welcome, lovely looking Zed you have there. It sounds like you bought it from a decent garage so they should hopefully sort the damaged wheel for you
 
That's a great looking car, congrats - the M-Sport body kit looks particularly good in white.

Depending on how bad your insurance currently is, one of the options available to you is an ECU remap - will literally transform the power you have currently (but most likely load your insurance 10 to 20%) :evil:
 
Wheels aside, that’s a lovely clean looking Z4 and a nice upgrade from the Corsa.
Nice of the garage to take those bits and pieces into consideration and get the front end tidy.

Good luck with getting the cracked wheel sorted. Definitely ditch the run flat tyres if you/someone hasn’t already and hopefully there will still be some summer left to enjoy the car.
 
Mr Tidy said:
Your photo of the wheel suggests you might have lost a balance weight, but it could just be the residue from a weight that was there from a previous set of tyres seeing as the wheel rim doesn't have a clean surface. Although that crack doesn't look good. Assuming the wheels are 19s they seem to be prone to cracking, especially with the OE run-flat tyres so once it is fixed you might want to think about fitting non run-flats.

Then just enjoy it (as much as you can at present). Maybe find a shop that is a bit further from home!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcomes,

The 2 new rear tyres garage installed at point of sale are non-run flats. The front 2 remain run flats and will seek to phase these out in due course.

I know of a local and well respected alloy welder and refurbisher, which have reasonable prices. So if the non-oem warranty doesn't cover me I will be straight over to them once they reopen.

It's frustrating because I hate the look of rashed wheels and have parked the car religiously to keep them otherwise prestine since refurb.

Are people running winter wheel sets? - I have my eyes on 290 style which look much safer for 'daily use'. However, I won't be breaking 4000 miles a year so this may or may not be worth it.
 
Deepseaskateboard said:
Nice to have a fellow Board on the forum.

Great looking car. Would be good to get some interior pics too, white on white is a pretty rare combo.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

The interior went from cream to Ivory White after some gentle brushing with warm soapy water and a good leather cleaner / conditioner. This also revealed the black stitching!

The previous owner must have been shorter and had run the seat quite far forward, leading to some wear on the drivers side bolster. I am 6ft 4 so the seat is now right back and hopefully no further wear to come. I have put on a leather patch to the lower section of the drivers side bolster just to prevent my jeans causing unnecessary wear in an area only i'll be concerned about.

Passenger's seat is still in top condition and that's what counts :wink:

49862642631_2846b51cee_b.jpg

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Anyone have any idea how much a repair to the drivers bolster could set me back?
 
The centre console has a small mark on the passenger side, so thought I would take the opportunity to upgrade to a seat colour matching centre console.

However, it appears it's either very dirty or not Ivory White! - Going to send it back unless someone wants it?

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Instead I will get some kiwi black liquid shoe polish to hide the mark.
Does anybody know if the extended leather pieces actually come in my seat colours - which I assume is Ivory white?
 
wouldnt have thought you see enough snow in Wallingford to warrant winter tyres, i'm further north than you and didnt have any snow at all the winter just gone!
 
brillomaster said:
wouldnt have thought you see enough snow in Wallingford to warrant winter tyres, i'm further north than you and didnt have any snow at all the winter just gone!
Click to expand...

Haha when I say winter wheels I mean a set of 17inch alloys to save the nice albeit chocolate 326m wheels for occasional use..
 
IroningBoard said:
Are people running winter wheel sets? - I have my eyes on 290 style which look much safer for 'daily use'. However, I won't be breaking 4000 miles a year so this may or may not be worth it.
Click to expand...

I run them on my daily, and was so glad I had them a couple of years ago when we had the "Beast from the East" because on summers I wouldn't have been going anywhere!

Assuming it is your only car, if you would have to use it even if we did get some snow I'd say they are worth it. But if you could avoid having to use it by working from home, etc. then you probably wouldn't need them.

But if you manage to find a used set they needn't cost much. I used a set I bought on here for £180 on my old 3 Series for 4 winters and sold them for £125 after I had sold the car.
 
IroningBoard said:
Deepseaskateboard said:
Nice to have a fellow Board on the forum.

Great looking car. Would be good to get some interior pics too, white on white is a pretty rare combo.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

The interior went from cream to Ivory White after some gentle brushing with warm soapy water and a good leather cleaner / conditioner. This also revealed the black stitching!

The previous owner must have been shorter and had run the seat quite far forward, leading to some wear on the drivers side bolster. I am 6ft 4 so the seat is now right back and hopefully no further wear to come. I have put on a leather patch to the lower section of the drivers side bolster just to prevent my jeans causing unnecessary wear in an area only i'll be concerned about.

Passenger's seat is still in top condition and that's what counts :wink:

49862642631_2846b51cee_b.jpg

49862642661_32c4249702_b.jpg

Anyone have any idea how much a repair to the drivers bolster could set me back?
Click to expand...

Have a look at this thread.
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87049

There is a discussion on this and some links to companies where you can get quotes. By the time you have driven somewhere and let them do their job, I would presume to not get much change out of £200 but could be wrong.
Every small job on BMWs seems to be about £200!!
 
brillomaster said:
wouldnt have thought you see enough snow in Wallingford to warrant winter tyres, i'm further north than you and didnt have any snow at all the winter just gone!
Click to expand...

Winter tyres aren’t just for snow, as the name suggests they are for “winter” and work better than normal tyres under 7 degrees.
 
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