BMW Z4 3.0si Coupe
Discussion
Hi Colin the BMW is looking very good , I can confirm your old car is going very well still , new coil pack fitted today now running very well again , first drive of the year ( always amazing as it’s so bloody quick ) , it leads a proper charmed life these days , a picture from earlier today. Amazing car !
Well, its been a few months, since I properly had a go at cleaning the old girl up. Its just been maintenance washes each week. The weather was forecast to be overcast with a bit of sun (actually it was quite sunny which made things a little more difficult but no biggie) which is perfect and around 10 degrees. Lovely. I have a tonne of stuff lying around in the shed so decided to try out some of the bottles I hadnt used yet.
First up was a snow foam, and out came the Car Chem snow foam soak
I also dug out the trusty Hydroshot, plugged in the hose and went to work, the easiest bit of the whole day really and one of the most satisfying!
It really does the job, given all the debris that seemed to get blown around on to the cars the last few days.
Gave the car a good rinse and already it was looking much better. Then out came the Bathe+ (no pic forgot!) to wash the car down, I have used this shampoo for a few years now, just brilliant stuff. Then rinsed it down, before drying I took the opportunity to run a clay mitt over the car, no need to use lube the way they say (which is usually a 10=15 quid bottle!) just ran it over the freshly rinsed car.
Another rinse down and then a little secret ingredient to avoid water spots, Sonax BSD, sprayed lightly on to the wet car then when wiped down comes up lovely. I used a Detailers United towel off ebay, its something like 1400GSM so super soft and really drinks up that water.
Went around the car and started to clean up the shuts on the doors and the boot
As a first clean it was looking none too shabby already
First up was a snow foam, and out came the Car Chem snow foam soak
I also dug out the trusty Hydroshot, plugged in the hose and went to work, the easiest bit of the whole day really and one of the most satisfying!
It really does the job, given all the debris that seemed to get blown around on to the cars the last few days.
Gave the car a good rinse and already it was looking much better. Then out came the Bathe+ (no pic forgot!) to wash the car down, I have used this shampoo for a few years now, just brilliant stuff. Then rinsed it down, before drying I took the opportunity to run a clay mitt over the car, no need to use lube the way they say (which is usually a 10=15 quid bottle!) just ran it over the freshly rinsed car.
Another rinse down and then a little secret ingredient to avoid water spots, Sonax BSD, sprayed lightly on to the wet car then when wiped down comes up lovely. I used a Detailers United towel off ebay, its something like 1400GSM so super soft and really drinks up that water.
Went around the car and started to clean up the shuts on the doors and the boot
As a first clean it was looking none too shabby already
Next up was to just polish up the windows, I hadnt used this Crystal Glass before so gave that a going over, and I have to say it was really good and left no smears with minimal wipes
I thought whilst I was at it, I may as well go the whole hog and found some C5 buried away, so on it went front and back, should help with water sheeting
Looking lovely from the side on in the sunshine
So really, it was now machine polishing time! I wanted something to help pop the paintwork a bit and not go into serious cutting so got my trusty bottle of Scholl Concepts S20 and gave her a good single pass over the bonnet roof and doors.
The machine polishing is what really gets that glass like reflection, and was happy with the outcome given it was just a single pass
Was really feeling it now a few hours in, so it was time for the Diet Coke break
Grabbed out my degreaser and did this little job often overlooked
As well as a few tough to remove dirt trapped in the nooks and crannies.
The plastics are now 14 years old so tend to go a shade of grey rather than black. Its a temp fix but it does make a lot of difference, and also on the tyres
I did give the wheels a good decontaminate just forgot to post it in the post above, for simplicity sake this is what I used
I got some Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel in the shed but it smells pretty bad and basically looks like Ive butchered someone when its washed off so decided to go low key with this
I thought whilst I was at it, I may as well go the whole hog and found some C5 buried away, so on it went front and back, should help with water sheeting
Looking lovely from the side on in the sunshine
So really, it was now machine polishing time! I wanted something to help pop the paintwork a bit and not go into serious cutting so got my trusty bottle of Scholl Concepts S20 and gave her a good single pass over the bonnet roof and doors.
The machine polishing is what really gets that glass like reflection, and was happy with the outcome given it was just a single pass
Was really feeling it now a few hours in, so it was time for the Diet Coke break
Grabbed out my degreaser and did this little job often overlooked
As well as a few tough to remove dirt trapped in the nooks and crannies.
The plastics are now 14 years old so tend to go a shade of grey rather than black. Its a temp fix but it does make a lot of difference, and also on the tyres
I did give the wheels a good decontaminate just forgot to post it in the post above, for simplicity sake this is what I used
I got some Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel in the shed but it smells pretty bad and basically looks like Ive butchered someone when its washed off so decided to go low key with this
Amazon dude arrived just at this point with some new super soft microfibres, so ripped em out the packaging and got them straight into the action
These are around 600GSM not that high but soft enough to do what I needed for the next job.
I am a bit old fashioned it seems now using a hard wax, anyway on it went and some arm busting buffing later. Done!
I need to polish out the headlamps at some point, not urgent as can be done anytime with little prep. The wheels are in need of a refurb, again didnt throw too much time at them on this session (which was now over 4 hours long).
But am a very happy chappy. And well earned sit down to write this!
These are around 600GSM not that high but soft enough to do what I needed for the next job.
I am a bit old fashioned it seems now using a hard wax, anyway on it went and some arm busting buffing later. Done!
I need to polish out the headlamps at some point, not urgent as can be done anytime with little prep. The wheels are in need of a refurb, again didnt throw too much time at them on this session (which was now over 4 hours long).
But am a very happy chappy. And well earned sit down to write this!
coldel said:
I never considered getting one, I was looking at SLK55s ready to spend around 15k on one and someone mentioned the somewhat overlooked E86. Drove one. Bought it! Stunning car for the money.
You know what cars I've been thinking about lately, seeing as I've done 2 threads on them, but somehow I keep thinking about the little z4 coupe, especially when I read of timing chain issues on jags meaning new engines and other similarly scary v8 bills.It's a beguiling combination of looking really, really nice and expensive, yet seemingly being fairly bullet proof and reliable. Decent on fuel, not too rapey on the road tax, the N52 is both sonorous and powerful yet robust.
I still can't rule it out ultimately, and what's interesting is that you were also looking at v8s but decided you were happy with this which speaks volumes I have to say
TameRacingDriver said:
coldel said:
I never considered getting one, I was looking at SLK55s ready to spend around 15k on one and someone mentioned the somewhat overlooked E86. Drove one. Bought it! Stunning car for the money.
You know what cars I've been thinking about lately, seeing as I've done 2 threads on them, but somehow I keep thinking about the little z4 coupe, especially when I read of timing chain issues on jags meaning new engines and other similarly scary v8 bills.It's a beguiling combination of looking really, really nice and expensive, yet seemingly being fairly bullet proof and reliable. Decent on fuel, not too rapey on the road tax, the N52 is both sonorous and powerful yet robust.
I still can't rule it out ultimately, and what's interesting is that you were also looking at v8s but decided you were happy with this which speaks volumes I have to say
And yes, love how the reflection dripped down onto the car, I spent a fair bit of time on the bonnet as its the most obvious bit and its glass like now. Love it.
davey83 said:
Great work, respects for doing all that on the roadside - car looks mega now
To be fair its a good way to meet the neighbours lolCar has done well this week, gave it a quick wash yesterday and the water ran off like glass so the wax has cured nicely. Im really impressed with the C5 really helps with repulsing the water off the screen.
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