130i
So, I’ve had the car just over a month and have done a few bits and pieces to it. Hopefully, money permitting, there will be a few more minor modifications whilst the car is in my ownership so I thought I’d create this thread to document it. This is how the car looked the day we picked it up:
There were a few cosmetic things that I wanted to do straight away. The previous owner had stuck a Union Jack badge next to the Z4 badge… I’m guessing as the colour is similar to a British racing colour green. So that went, along with the Z4/3.0si badges. I hate clutter and the badge on the back was huge. I also ordered new plates to get rid of the dealer embossed ones. I ordered the front one a bit smaller than standard size. It’s only smaller by about a cm vertically and 1.5cm horizontally so hopefully won’t have any issues with the police. Next up were the side reflectors on the front arches. These came on the facelift model but stand out like a sore thumb and imo ruin the lines at the front. I did plan to spray them body colour but as I found some old tint spray in the shed I gave that a whirl first. I’m pretty chuffed with the result so will leave them like this until spring when think I’ll order an aerosol of matched paint and do them properly.
The car was tramlining like a bugger when we got it (bizarre how I didn’t pick it up on the test drive?). I thought it may have been the RFT’s so ordered up 4 Falken 453’s and sold the Bridgestone’s on Ebay. I got £300 for them so only made a net loss of less than £200 – not too bad as the RFT fronts were pretty worn. One thing with all Z’s with standard wheels is how weak the offset is. You can see how much the wheels hide in the arches here:
I ordered some spacers (15mm front/20mm back) and put them on this weekend. Shiny:
Much improved afterwards:
Whilst the wheels were off I thought I’d attack the fogs. They were incredibly corroded and full of condensation and caught my eye every time I looked at the front of the car:
They were a bit fiddly to get to through the arch liner. I’m a bit torn about what to do with them. They are beyond repair, and new ones aren’t cheap. I think again I’ll spray them body colour in spring but did a high quality masking job in the meanwhile… electrical tape
Surprisingly it actually looks pretty good. I’ll do a proper job come spring. Next item on goodness was the ZHP gearknob. It’s quite a bit shorter and heavier than standard and makes for a much improved gear change.
Before:
After:
The grill also went black – chrome is nasty. So this is how the car now stands (i'm no photographer, ha):
I'm happy with the way it's looking now. The only thing that irritates me is there is still a bit of tramlining. It's not too bad but it means you lose a bit of confidence when pushing on. The car goes in next week for new bushes (polybush) and allignment. If it's still there i may swap the front tyres as i have now heard bad things (re tramlining) about the Falkens, grr. Next things are to do to fit new stereo/speakers and lower the bugger. AND wrap the wood interior. These will have to wait until after my wedding in July. Tbh i’m in the dog house for what I’ve done already.
Andy
There were a few cosmetic things that I wanted to do straight away. The previous owner had stuck a Union Jack badge next to the Z4 badge… I’m guessing as the colour is similar to a British racing colour green. So that went, along with the Z4/3.0si badges. I hate clutter and the badge on the back was huge. I also ordered new plates to get rid of the dealer embossed ones. I ordered the front one a bit smaller than standard size. It’s only smaller by about a cm vertically and 1.5cm horizontally so hopefully won’t have any issues with the police. Next up were the side reflectors on the front arches. These came on the facelift model but stand out like a sore thumb and imo ruin the lines at the front. I did plan to spray them body colour but as I found some old tint spray in the shed I gave that a whirl first. I’m pretty chuffed with the result so will leave them like this until spring when think I’ll order an aerosol of matched paint and do them properly.
The car was tramlining like a bugger when we got it (bizarre how I didn’t pick it up on the test drive?). I thought it may have been the RFT’s so ordered up 4 Falken 453’s and sold the Bridgestone’s on Ebay. I got £300 for them so only made a net loss of less than £200 – not too bad as the RFT fronts were pretty worn. One thing with all Z’s with standard wheels is how weak the offset is. You can see how much the wheels hide in the arches here:
I ordered some spacers (15mm front/20mm back) and put them on this weekend. Shiny:
Much improved afterwards:
Whilst the wheels were off I thought I’d attack the fogs. They were incredibly corroded and full of condensation and caught my eye every time I looked at the front of the car:
They were a bit fiddly to get to through the arch liner. I’m a bit torn about what to do with them. They are beyond repair, and new ones aren’t cheap. I think again I’ll spray them body colour in spring but did a high quality masking job in the meanwhile… electrical tape
Surprisingly it actually looks pretty good. I’ll do a proper job come spring. Next item on goodness was the ZHP gearknob. It’s quite a bit shorter and heavier than standard and makes for a much improved gear change. Before:
After:
The grill also went black – chrome is nasty. So this is how the car now stands (i'm no photographer, ha):
I'm happy with the way it's looking now. The only thing that irritates me is there is still a bit of tramlining. It's not too bad but it means you lose a bit of confidence when pushing on. The car goes in next week for new bushes (polybush) and allignment. If it's still there i may swap the front tyres as i have now heard bad things (re tramlining) about the Falkens, grr. Next things are to do to fit new stereo/speakers and lower the bugger. AND wrap the wood interior. These will have to wait until after my wedding in July. Tbh i’m in the dog house for what I’ve done already.
Andy
