What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter Buckz
- Start date
- Featured
Attleborough, Norfolk
Hmm, maybe if you have some sort of modified shock mount cup then they’re ok? I’m not sure.
I went with Bilstein ones in the end as they were the only ones AUTODOC had in stock when I ordered.
Car is now in with Autowerx to have the following done:
Front and rear shock mounts
4 x Bilstein B4 shocks
Front bump stops
Meyle HD front wishbones
Meyle HD lollipop bushes
Lemforder rear lower control arms
Front and rear drop links
Rear brake discs
Wheel alignment
Hopefully it’ll be driving nicely after the above!
TIMMOS29
Member
Be interested to see the total bill for that lot?
£832.32 in parts so far. I'm dreading the labour a little bit but not expecting to get a whole lot of change back from £1,500...
If that includes a proper 4-wheel alignment I guess that's not actually too bad.
The advantage of using a garage is a warranty at least.
Just picked the car up after having all the above done.
Final bill was £2k including alignment which was way out before. So that’s around £2.8k including parts and labour.
I still need to get the rear trailing arms refurbished but that’s pretty much all of the suspension components refreshed.
My drive home isn’t very far but the car feels a lot better. It actually rides now! Steering feels more direct and the wobble under brakes has gone now.
I’m going for a longer drive tomorrow so I can give a better write-up then.
Final bill was £2k including alignment which was way out before. So that’s around £2.8k including parts and labour.
I still need to get the rear trailing arms refurbished but that’s pretty much all of the suspension components refreshed.
My drive home isn’t very far but the car feels a lot better. It actually rides now! Steering feels more direct and the wobble under brakes has gone now.
I’m going for a longer drive tomorrow so I can give a better write-up then.
I’ve now been for a much longer drive and virtually all of the issues I had are gone and the car feels much more positive to drive.
Previous foibles just due to wear and tear:
The ride felt really crashy. Any kind of bump or undulation in the road and the car just wouldn’t be able to handle it. This was particularly bad over speed bumps where the car would thump going up and then crash going down. The new Bilstein dampers have completely fixed this. No more crashiness at all and it’s so much more composed down a bumpy road too. It also stays much more flat and composed in corners too. I would say the ride is still a bit on the firm side but still a heck of a lot better than before.
At speed, the steering became quite vague and wooden and it wasn’t really that nice to push the car past a certain point. You felt like you were making steering inputs without it having much effect on where the car went. This is now completely gone. The car feels really keyed into the road and it’s now confidence inspiring to push on. In fact, the more you push now, the better it seems to get.
When braking, there was a pronounced wobble from the steering and the front would wonder quite markedly. This has now been completely fixed. No more wobble, and it tracks arrow straight under brakes.
The car also seems to tramline less but I’m not sure if that’s due to the alignment now being sorted or because something was previously worn.
I can still feel a tiny bit of deflection happening at the rear which should hopefully get fixed by refurbishing the rear trailing arms. I’m almost there with the car now! It’s very close to how I would like it.
Previous foibles just due to wear and tear:
The ride felt really crashy. Any kind of bump or undulation in the road and the car just wouldn’t be able to handle it. This was particularly bad over speed bumps where the car would thump going up and then crash going down. The new Bilstein dampers have completely fixed this. No more crashiness at all and it’s so much more composed down a bumpy road too. It also stays much more flat and composed in corners too. I would say the ride is still a bit on the firm side but still a heck of a lot better than before.
At speed, the steering became quite vague and wooden and it wasn’t really that nice to push the car past a certain point. You felt like you were making steering inputs without it having much effect on where the car went. This is now completely gone. The car feels really keyed into the road and it’s now confidence inspiring to push on. In fact, the more you push now, the better it seems to get.
When braking, there was a pronounced wobble from the steering and the front would wonder quite markedly. This has now been completely fixed. No more wobble, and it tracks arrow straight under brakes.
The car also seems to tramline less but I’m not sure if that’s due to the alignment now being sorted or because something was previously worn.
I can still feel a tiny bit of deflection happening at the rear which should hopefully get fixed by refurbishing the rear trailing arms. I’m almost there with the car now! It’s very close to how I would like it.
Frazzle76
Member
This weekend my car passed its MOT with no advisories. So I treated it to a diff oil refresh and should soon have new track rod ends, alignment and a steering wheel that isnt offset. That should see the car into spring where I plan to replace the three brands of tyres (only one tyre isn't a budget tyre) with a set of Michelin PS4s, and hopefully get to trust the car a bit more.
TIMMOS29
Member
I would at the same time Dynomatted the outer skin of the door makes a hell of a difference.
TIMMOS29
Member
Hey there! So, I’ve been working on this project, and I’ve had a few ups and downs. First off, I tried to get the Ex Manifold out of the car to weld it together. The engine heat shield was surprisingly easy to remove, but I’ll have to undo the steering shaft next.
But guess what? I managed to undo the four manifold bolts after soaking them in WD40! It was like magic! I also noticed that the exhaust bracket was cracked, which might not have helped the cracks. Oh well, at least I’m making progress!
Would I have to renew the manifold to exhaust gasket or could i reuse it? as in the first photo?
But guess what? I managed to undo the four manifold bolts after soaking them in WD40! It was like magic! I also noticed that the exhaust bracket was cracked, which might not have helped the cracks. Oh well, at least I’m making progress!
Would I have to renew the manifold to exhaust gasket or could i reuse it? as in the first photo?
Attachments
New member first post here. I've had my Z4 2.5Si for 10 months now, coming from a 986 Boxster. The lack of a decent phone connection has bothered me for the past months, so I took the plunge and fitted a BlueBus over the weekend. Seriously impressed with it!!
Been using the Z4 as a daily for the past few months. Not really a fan of screens in the Z4 but the lack of Google maps, roadworks and subsequent traffic around Norfolk and Suffolk means that my usual temporary solution isn't good enough anymore.
I usually balance my phone in the ashtray when I have to use it like this:
However this usually results with the phone ending up in the footwells.
So I 3D printed an ashtray mount which can be removed when it isn't needed:
Haven't test driven it yet but if I end up liking it I'll sort out a charging solution.
You can get to heated seat buttons easily but to pop the roof down the mount has to be lifted out.
I usually balance my phone in the ashtray when I have to use it like this:
However this usually results with the phone ending up in the footwells.
So I 3D printed an ashtray mount which can be removed when it isn't needed:
Haven't test driven it yet but if I end up liking it I'll sort out a charging solution.
You can get to heated seat buttons easily but to pop the roof down the mount has to be lifted out.
