My midlife crisis purchase; E86 BMW Z4 Coupe

[Court_S]

sprouting said:

How did you get on with the noise compliant? If I remember correctly, some busybody complained about you washing cars?

Edited by sprouting on Friday 19th April 20:07

Nothing after the letter from the council. I did speak to the guy who largely had no issue given the times that I do stuff (e.g. after 9am).

[Court_S]

Mr Tidy said:

It is a major undertaking, but the parts do exist from early E9*s and Z4Ms that had Hydraulic PAS.

I had a 123d with EPAS before I got my first Z4 and like you say the 1 Series set up was much better. But as they didn't get EPAS until the 2007 facelift they got a more refined installation - Z4s basically had EPAS designed in 2003!

I doubt the first EPAS is as and as the the system in the very latest cars which seems to get worse with each iteration. The steering in the G20 I had last year for a week was dire.

[Court_S]

GTPork said:

Congratulations on the Z4.

I’ve owned a total 3 Z4 Coupes over the years. 2 x 3.0si and 1 x M Coupe. Just something about the shape that’s like nothing else on the road. If I had the room I’d have another one in a heartbeat

Thanks.

They still look really unique, possibly more so because they were never replaced like the roadster was. On the surface they’re unique as well (e.g. most of the interior is bespoke to the Z4).

[Gallons Per Mile]

Court_S said:

Nothing after the letter from the council. I did speak to the guy who largely had no issue given the times that I do stuff (e.g. after 9am).

That's madness. He doesn't have an issue but reported you anyway?

Meanwhile, your car is looking lovely. You always make them so brilliantly clean and tidy. Shame about the kerb incident but I couldn't really see the issue in the pic before you cleaned up the scratch...

[Court_S]

Gallons Per Mile said:

That's madness. He doesn't have an issue but reported you anyway?

Meanwhile, your car is looking lovely. You always make them so brilliantly clean and tidy. Shame about the kerb incident but I couldn't really see the issue in the pic before you cleaned up the scratch...

Sorry, I meant the chap from the council who sent me the letter.

I think I know who it was who complained; a busy body at the end of the road who seems to thrive on causing issues and has been banned from the village shop. She commented a few times on the noise my 335i made on start up and another chaps Mustang.

Cheers, hoping to get it detailed properly next weekend. I was going to wait to for my painted wheels until then but I’m just about to go and get them. Im not very patient….

They’re either going to look bhin’ or awful

[Gallons Per Mile]

Court_S said:

Sorry, I meant the chap from the council who sent me the letter.

I think I know who it was who complained; a busy body at the end of the road who seems to thrive on causing issues and has been banned from the village shop. She commented a few times on the noise my 335i made on start up and another chaps Mustang.

Cheers, hoping to get it detailed properly next weekend. I was going to wait to for my painted wheels until then but I’m just about to go and get them. Im not very patient….

They’re either going to look bhin’ or awful

Ah, I see! She sounds like she just needs to be ignored in that case. Carry on, chap! Looking forward to pics of shiny wheels and car

[GTPork]

Court_S said:

GTPork said:

Congratulations on the Z4.

I’ve owned a total 3 Z4 Coupes over the years. 2 x 3.0si and 1 x M Coupe. Just something about the shape that’s like nothing else on the road. If I had the room I’d have another one in a heartbeat

Thanks.

They still look really unique, possibly more so because they were never replaced like the roadster was. On the surface they’re unique as well (e.g. most of the interior is bespoke to the Z4).

I just remembered that last year I contacted the chap who bought my Z4M off me to see if he still had it and wanted to sell. No answer. Shame it was a beauty

[Court_S]

Gallons Per Mile said:

Ah, I see! She sounds like she just needs to be ignored in that case. Carry on, chap! Looking forward to pics of shiny wheels and car

She most definitely is, awful woman who seems to thrive on causing trouble.

[Court_S]

GTPork said:

I just remembered that last year I contacted the chap who bought my Z4M off me to see if he still had it and wanted to sell. No answer. Shame it was a beauty

That looks ace. That’s definitely my favourite angle of the car.

[Court_S]

I didn’t end up doing anything with the suspension today.

I had planned to start last might but the weather put an end to that. We picked up this little monster this week who seems to do a really good of wasting time (and keeping us sleep deprived).



I also had a text message to say that my wheels were ready for collection, so I was distracted with that too.

Since I had easy use of the 330i, I headed over to pick them up. I was initially a bit shocked because they’ve tuned out a bit more gold that I was expecting (I chose a colour from an online catalog). I did have a bit of an ‘oh st’ moment unloading them at home. It turns out that it’s quite a hard colour to take pictures off with most of them looking very OTT.

First job was to hose them down and give them a few coats of Alien Magic ceramic wheel spray.



Then it was time to start fitting them….I’m still stting myself at this point.



I started to feel better about it once I saw the gold against the paint. It’s definitely darker / bolder than I expected but I think it works. It was time to pop out for a few better pictures which turned out harder than I thought because looking back, some of them are very yellow.











Despite being bolder than I’d envisaged (I was thinking more Porsche gold than Ferrari gold) I do like them. The 261’s look better than the 108’s and another unexpected plus is that the car drives much nicer on Good Years than the awful Dunlop’s it came with.

I have one day of leave left, which I’ll take next Friday and hopefully I’ll be able to sort the suspension.

[bodhi]

Will admit they do look very bright in the wheels only picture up against the wall, but on the car I reckon they look spot on - and a refreshing change from the CSLs these normally end up on.

[B'stard Child]

I like that a lot - I was a bit unsure until I saw them on the car

The 261 wheel style looks fine on the car



















[small]You are hopefully prepared for the "what sort of Subaru is it" questions

[d_a_n1979]

They look well Sam... I'm not sure on the pop of the colour, if that makes sense? More quieter/more satin I think would work really well... They're very gold I'd say

But the contrast to the cars colour works really well...

At the end of the day if you're not happy; you can always get them redone

I reckon you'll soon settle with them

[Court_S]

bodhi said:

Will admit they do look very bright in the wheels only picture up against the wall, but on the car I reckon they look spot on - and a refreshing change from the CSLs these normally end up on.

That was my first thought too….they were even more outrageous under the harsh florescent lighting at the paint place. I’m also well aware that the colour will be very marmite.

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

I like that a lot - I was a bit unsure until I saw them on the car

The 261 wheel style looks fine on the car



















[small]You are hopefully prepared for the "what sort of Subaru is it" questions

There is definitely a Subaru vibe going on which I wasn’t aiming for.

The 261’s seem to be one of the few wheel designs other than CSL’s that suit these and they’re much easier to clean.

[Court_S]

d_a_n1979 said:

They look well Sam... I'm not sure on the pop of the colour, if that makes sense? More quieter/more satin I think would work really well... They're very gold I'd say

But the contrast to the cars colour works really well...

At the end of the day if you're not happy; you can always get them redone

I reckon you'll soon settle with them

It definitely works better in the flesh than in photos. It was really hard to capture the actual colour on my phone which seems to make them very yellow.

It’s a strong colour but I think it works with the paint and with the shape of the car.

[bodhi]

Court_S said:

There is definitely a Subaru vibe going on which I wasn’t aiming for.

The 261’s seem to be one of the few wheel designs other than CSL’s that suit these and they’re much easier to clean.

That's because 261s are the wheel choice of champions

Will admit I'd only seen them on a roadster when I suggested them, but they look brilliant.

[Court_S]

bodhi said:

That's because 261s are the wheel choice of champions

Will admit I'd only seen them on a roadster when I suggested them, but they look brilliant.

I think they’re an underrated design. They look grand in the 1 series hatch too (the guy I bought them from has them on a 130i….clearly a man of fine taste).

A friend of mine has them on his coupe and I basically copied him after everyone shot down the 17’s that I liked.

[bodhi]

Court_S said:

I think they’re an underrated design. They look grand in the 1 series hatch too (the guy I bought them from has them on a 130i….clearly a man of fine taste).

A friend of mine has them on his coupe and I basically copied him after everyone shot down the 17’s that I liked.

They're very similar to the M Parallels which I think are still my favourite BMW wheel design ever.

Must admit I'll be interested in your thoughts of the Z4 Vs the 125i/130i, as when I got my 125 I was actually after a Z4, but our car allowance policy required 4 seats so I went with the 1er. Not going to be too upset obviously as the 125 has been brilliant and the car allowance policy came with a fuel card, but would be interested to hear your view.

[MightyBadger]

Court_S said:

I didn’t end up doing anything with the suspension today.

I had planned to start last might but the weather put an end to that. We picked up this little monster this week who seems to do a really good of wasting time (and keeping us sleep deprived).



I also had a text message to say that my wheels were ready for collection, so I was distracted with that too.

Since I had easy use of the 330i, I headed over to pick them up. I was initially a bit shocked because they’ve tuned out a bit more gold that I was expecting (I chose a colour from an online catalog). I did have a bit of an ‘oh st’ moment unloading them at home. It turns out that it’s quite a hard colour to take pictures off with most of them looking very OTT.

First job was to hose them down and give them a few coats of Alien Magic ceramic wheel spray.



Then it was time to start fitting them….I’m still stting myself at this point.



I started to feel better about it once I saw the gold against the paint. It’s definitely darker / bolder than I expected but I think it works. It was time to pop out for a few better pictures which turned out harder than I thought because looking back, some of them are very yellow.











Despite being bolder than I’d envisaged (I was thinking more Porsche gold than Ferrari gold) I do like them. The 261’s look better than the 108’s and another unexpected plus is that the car drives much nicer on Good Years than the awful Dunlop’s it came with.

I have one day of leave left, which I’ll take next Friday and hopefully I’ll be able to sort the suspension.

I like those, different. Good work.