What have you done to your car today?

yetanotherx said:
If by "today", you mean "the past several weeks while I take care of the backlog", then you can count...
  • Replaced the diff and MT fluids
  • Flushed the coolant
  • Installed a BlueBus
  • Replaced the cracked third brake light
  • Replaced the destroyed splash guard that had several holes in it
  • 3D Printed a screw fitting for the ashtray to replace the hole for the cigarette with an aux jack:
  • Applied some fresh foam tape from the hardware store to replace the 23-year-old foam which had been reduced to dust:
  • Took the wheels off and gave them a good ol' scrub:
Of course, the more I get done, the more things I find and want to fix. The car is sitting idle while I wait for the DISA replacement kit to arrive, so it's a good chance to take care of the outstanding cosmetic issues. There's still one piece of trim under the bumper that is completely destroyed (PN: 51717168995), but that's a job for another day (and when I feel like spending the money for another one).
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You're gonna love the BlueBus! 😁
 
Well, I didn't do anything to the car, but I did drive it this week after a 30 day hiatus..
Recovering from a total knee replacement. It took almost 30 days to achieve enough range of motion to be able to get back in the damn car! 🤣
It sure was great to drive again though.
 
This morning, I removed the calliper that was causing the disc to overheat. The wheel turned, but as the disc get hot, they must expand, causing them to stick. I think I’ll just buy new carriers and callipers. The cost isn’t worth the hassle, especially after 19 years, and the old boy deserves it.
 

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TIMMOS29 said:
This morning, I removed the calliper that was causing the disc to overheat. The wheel turned, but as the disc get hot, they must expand, causing them to stick. I think I’ll just buy new carriers and callipers. The cost isn’t worth the hassle, especially after 19 years, and the old boy deserves it.
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Carriers can be kept. Rub down and a lick of paint. Not much can happen to them.
 
enuff_zed said:
Carriers can be kept. Rub down and a lick of paint. Not much can happen to them.
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Yeah, one carrier is the same price as a pair of callipers! I did find a piece of gravel on the carrier when I took the pads off. I also greased the slider pins with normal grease, which I now think wasn’t a good choice because they were sticky.
 
In January 2003 I received the then latest issue of Car And Driver Magazine. One of the best editions, ever! Everything was in it! The Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, Volvo XC90, BMW X5, Mazda RX-8, Subaru WRX, and the brand new BMW Z4. I was in love with them all, but the Z4 forever held my heart. Fast forward 22 years and I am fortunate enough to have a Z4. Not perfect, but nevertheless I can’t help but love every minute that I’m behind the wheel. Over the years I declutterred and purged, but I never let go of my Jan 2003 issue of Car And Driver magazine. A very talented friend, and professional framer, helped commentate the Z4 and protect my issue in this magnificently framed presentation of the article. Now, if only I could go back to Sunday mornings with Car And Driver TV lessIMG_8531.jpegIMG_8516.jpegIMG_8535.jpegIMG_6937.jpegCarAndDriver Magazine.jpg
 
dferguson08 said:
In January 2003 I received the then latest issue of Car And Driver Magazine. One of the best editions, ever! Everything was in it! The Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, Volvo XC90, BMW X5, Mazda RX-8, Subaru WRX, and the brand new BMW Z4. I was in love with them all, but the Z4 forever held my heart. Fast forward 22 years and I am fortunate enough to have a Z4. Not perfect, but nevertheless I can’t help but love every minute that I’m behind the wheel. Over the years I declutterred and purged, but I never let go of my Jan 2003 issue of Car And Driver magazine. A very talented friend, and professional framer, helped commentate the Z4 and protect my issue in this magnificently framed presentation of the article. Now, if only I could go back to Sunday mornings with Car And Driver TV lessView attachment 287437View attachment 287438View attachment 287439View attachment 287441View attachment 287442
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HERES A RETOUCH FOR YOU
 

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Thought I would do a spark plug and coil pack change whilst the sun is out for more than 5 mins today.

6 x OE Delphi coil packs and 6 x Genuine BMW Bosch spark plugs:

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Super easy job to get the strut brace and engine cover off and I have access to all 6, no worries. If only all BMWs could be as easy as this! My wife's F30 335i was considerably more of a faff.

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Looks like the car was still on the original Bosch coil packs which I believe have been discontinued for some time now. The car has done 93k miles on these which is pretty good but I know they can fail around this mileage so I thought I would just replace them rather than deal with misfires happening at random.

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From the service history it looks as though the spark plugs were last changed around 50k miles and they seem to have held up really well. The car was still driving really nicely but the time seemed right to change them again.

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Everything installed and torqued correctly. I took the car out for a quick drive and it was buttery smooth as usual. If anything it felt smoother and revvier than it was but I don't know if that's just placebo.

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The car is going in next week for a big suspension overhaul so I'm looking forward to that and I'll do an update on here just to let everyone know how I got on.
 
Yesterday technically, but the detailer* came and took the Z4 away as its finally stopped watering us from the clouds. Full clean, polish, ceramic coat applied and a roof protection applied. Looks pretty damn shiny as we go into the worst months for keeping a car clean.

* Attention 2 Detail in North Shropshire if anyone local wants someone who loves working on interesting cars. Should probably plug him once, he's looked after both my Z4's for a few years. Also these are his pictures, so credit to Mitch :)

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I do enjoy cleaning my Z4 but when a proffesional does it, it looks so much better. In my opinion money well spent!
 
Installed a first aid kit box under the passenger seat. Installed one under the driver's seat a few weeks ago. Not standard equipment in the US and it took a while to find two decent used ones.
 
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Managed to replace the front calipers fairly easy to be fair, anyone that hasnt got a pneumatic bleeder should get one...so easy.
 

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Here we have a comparison of the infamous Meyle HD rear strut mounts with Febi and original BMW from 2003. You can clearly see why the Meyle mounts are making clonking sounds.

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Mr_Reeves said:
Baffling why they did them like that when everyone else does it the same way as the BMW ones.
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Hopefully word will spread and they wont get much custom. Though maybe for race car application, where noise is somewhat irrelevant, they still serve a purpose?
 
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