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Thread: New Ride

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    Lawrence, Kansas
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    126
    My Cars
    2000 BMW Z3 2.3

    New Ride

    20181028_080617.jpg20181028_080651.jpg20181028_080439.jpg

    In 2015, we bought a 2000 BMW Z3. It was steel grey with a tanin red interior. It was a beautiful car, but it had 128K miles on it.

    In September, 2018 we found the same year and same color combination on ebay. But the new car had only 41K miles on it. We couldn't resist. After some wheeling and dealing, we traded up for a net difference of $3,000. Yes, we bought an additional 87M miles for only $3,000.

    Loving the new ride.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by gfish; 12-16-2018 at 03:49 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    West Bend, WI
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    553
    My Cars
    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Congratulations. Beautiful car. We just bought our first with just under 20k miles. We’re both very fortunate.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Ma
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    none yet
    That's the color combo I want. Does it have the sport seats? I have silver with black sport seats with 61K.
    Last edited by campy1951; 12-10-2018 at 05:08 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Milwaukee, WI
    Posts
    83
    My Cars
    1998 BMW Z3 2.8
    That color combination is begging for chrome accents: kidney grills, roll hoops, door pulls, exhaust tips.
    Last edited by JayZ3; 12-10-2018 at 09:38 PM.

    US-129

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    553
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Depends on how much you like chrome, especially in our present era of blacking everthing out. I believe my red M would look good with blacked out trim, but really like the chrome that it came with. I think black roll hoops look way better than chrome. Personal taste.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Lawrence, Kansas
    Posts
    126
    My Cars
    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Thanks for the great comments!

    Tigershark48 - Tell us more about your new ride! Low mileage red M? Sweet. Pics? I learned that there were only seven Ms in my color combination ever built.

    Campy1951 - It's got the standard seats. The silver & black is beautiful too. Almost bought a low mileage, silver & black one the first time around.

    Jay3 - I explored the possibility of adding exhaust tips, but found that my tail pipers have become elongated by a steep driveway so they won't fit.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    West Bend, WI
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    553
    My Cars
    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Happy to comply. Located our 2000 M Roadster on Cargurus.com after spending countless hours, days and months looking everywhere else. It was being sold on consignment through a dealership in Virginia by its original owner with just under 20k miles on it. Driven only on perfect days and kept garaged and covered in between. The only thing on the car that doesn’t look brand new is the bottom of the front bumper where it lightly scraped a parking curb. I intend to sand off the damage and repaint that area. I detailed the entire body with cleaning and polishing compounds followed by sealer using a Porter Cable DA orbital polisher.

    The dealer was great, answering all questions and providing full documentation along with additional pictures I requested under the hood and well lit bottom shots of everything. There’s zero grease, oil or rust anywhere. For a first experience with owning a BMW roadster, we couldn’t be happier.

    The car was bought sight unseen last month and shipped to our driveway in Wisconsin in an enclosed trailer after I wired the money from my bank to the dealership. My wife and I managed to get one 80 mile drive in the day it arrived before putting the cover over it for winter storage in our attached garage. It’s stablemate is a 2017 BMW F700GS motorcycle, so it’s in good company.

    Prior to covering it up, I pulled out the viscous clutch fan based on multiple forum recommendations.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Tigershark48; 12-11-2018 at 10:00 AM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Lawrence, Kansas
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    My Cars
    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Absolutely gorgeous! What a find. Well worth the extensive search for such a unique, low mileage car. Thanks for sharing the pics and your buying experience. Unbelievable that you bought it sight unseen.

    I did the same touch up repair on our front spoiler. I ordered a can of factory matched touch up (spray) paint and clear coat. I achieved amazingly good results with a simple rattle can. I wouldn't have tried this approach on a high visibility place like the hood or doors, but I figured the front spoiler was far enough removed from the rest of the car that it would blend in fine. And it looks great. A body shop would have charged $300 to $400 for similar results.

    My buying experience was exactly opposite of yours. We loved our Z3 and we really were not looking to replace it. But it did have 128K miles. Then it's low mileage twin with 42K miles popped up on ebay. From the time I saw the listing to the time I made an offer was less than an hour! It took about thirty minutes to convince my wife that I hadn't lost my mind. Then I booked a flight from KC to Dallas to seal the deal. Then we had "the twins" sitting side by side in our garage for about a month.

    Our winters are milder than yours. So we will drive it periodically through the winter months if the streets are dry. I also own an airplane, so our Z3 shares a hangar with our plane during the winter months. Garage kept during Spring, Summer and Fall.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    All’s well that ends well. Like me, you got a good one.

    Any chance you have a link to your source for the matching paint and clear coat you bought? Pretty risk free area to spray can being hidden the way it is. One has to look for activities on cars this clean, like doing the fan delete. A service manager friend gave me the name of an excellent BMW tech for any service needs. I plan to have him replace all fluids this spring.

    I also bought and installed the Windblox rear wind screen and a Roadster decal to stick onto the third brake light.

    No airplane plans on our horizon.
    Last edited by Tigershark48; 12-11-2018 at 01:40 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    Lawrence, Kansas
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    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Happy to give you the source. It's at home. I'll send you the info later this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

    s-l300.jpg


    Another addition you may want to consider...the seat belt guides on Z3s are notorious for breaking. One way to preserve is to add a simple velcro stiffener. These devices will prevent your guides from breaking; will make operating your seatbelts smoother; and will repair your guides if they are already broken. It's a really simple fix.

    Here's a link...

    https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...R+KIT&_sacat=0

  11. #11
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    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Thanks for the tip. Velcro is ordered.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Ozark bumps
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    410
    My Cars
    00 M Roadster 17 Cayman
    Ok well I’ve come across another seat belt guide solution that is pretty cool and of course, pricey. I just ordered a set today ( I was going for the matte black but they are out of stock and the guy (Peter) offered the M version that he had just finished a run of 20). Z3beltfix@hotmail.


    Perfect for your roadster...
    42E80509-83E8-4EAE-9A7F-62E171FD284F.jpg

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Define pricey. The address you displayed did nothing. Thanks anyway.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Charlotte, NC/Denmark
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    1,112
    My Cars
    2K Z3 2.8
    Beautiful car. Love the red seats.

    As you do maintenance on it - remember, stuff still ages even on a low mileage car. Vacuum hoses etc. All that stuff gets brittle, so don't forget to check it.
    Zed's dead baby. Zed's dead.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    From the other low mileage roadster. That’s what I thought too, so I inspected all the rubber everywhere under the hood and car. Nothing brittle or hard anywhere. I’m not sure if the way it was driven or cared for makes a difference, but everything looks good. The only sign of aging is the permanent dark stain inside the cooling pressure reservoir from antifreeze. As I said, all the fluids will be changed on mine in the spring. I guess the calipers should also be cleaned up and lubed where appropriate.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Lawrence, Kansas
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    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Hello Tigershark48...

    The aerosol paint system I used was Automotive Touchup. Granted, their name isn't too clever, but their product line is great. I purchased the base coat, clear coat, primer and adhesion promoter. Not really sure if the adhesion promoter is needed when using the primer.

    Is your paint code 405 Imola Red? If so, here's a link...

    http://www.automotivetouchup.com/tou...int/bmw/2000/m[dash]series/

    I've had incredible luck with their product line. I've repaired the front spoilers on two different cars with incredible results...even by professional body shop standards.

    On another note, you can't go wrong with the simple velcro seat belt guide kit. It's clean and simple. And it's not noticeable once it is installed. The maker says that you can install with either side facing out (either fuzzy side or hook side). I would recommend the fuzzy side out as shown in the picture. Looks better and less wear on the webbing on your seat belt.

    And thank you Coconut Pete for the reminder that "stuff still ages". Good advice. I once looked at a 1968 Piper Cherokee with 70 hours on it (that equates to about 2,100 miles on an automobile odometer). The dealer that was selling the plane tore down the engine, just to make sure there were not any parts that were decayed by age.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Thank you sir. I just ordered all materials from your link for painting the bottom of my bumper. 405 Imola Red is correct. I also ordered the velcro seat belt retainer straps.

    And thanks spdf for the other link.

    Good spring projects when she comes out of storage.

    Cheers.
    Last edited by Tigershark48; 12-12-2018 at 04:26 PM.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Velcro fasteners delivered and installed. Easy, peasy, inexpensive and very solid seat belt guide bracket reinforcement.

    Thanks gfish.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Lawrence, Kansas
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    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Glad you like them. So simple. Yet they work! They fix broken guides. They protect unbroken guides. And they make operation smoother for any guides!

    And you can remove them at any time, without leaving a trace.

    Easy to find the materials for a do it yourself velcro job. But the guy on ebay sells them for only $12. Gotta reward him for his sense of innovation.

    Just did another rattle can repair job. This time on my rear bumper using factory matched paint from Automotive Touchup. Saved $250 and the results are absolutely perfect. I'll post pics in a day or two.

  20. #20
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Sounds great. My paint will be here within a week, but touchup will be in warmer weather in the Spring. Looking forward to your oics.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Lawrence, Kansas
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    My Cars
    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Another rattle can paint job with Automotive Touchup. Two weeks ago I noticed that the middle portion of my back bumper was cracked/broken. Fortunately, it's a separate piece from the full length bumper cover. So I bought a new OEM part from our local BMW dealer for $45 (felt pretty good about the price). A local body shop quoted $250 to paint it. So I put my factory matched rattle can to the test. Two coats of base and two coats of clear coat. Ended up with professional looking results.

    First pic is the bad part (foreground) and replacement part (background). Second pic is the installed replacement part.

    20181211_203940.jpg
    Part 2.jpg

  22. #22
    Join Date
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    West Bend, WI
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    MRoadster,Tacoma,DR650
    Very nice. Looks like you found a new profession ;-)

  23. #23
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    Lawrence, Kansas
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    2000 BMW Z3 2.3
    Thank you. And no thank you! Already done that.

    In my younger days, I painted motorcycle helmets. Literally, over 1,000 helmets per day. Over a period of six months, I painted over 100,000 motorcycle helmets (clear shells, sprayed on the inside). That was over 40 years ago. And even though we used face masks, I'm probably still carrying around metal flake in my lungs. The owner of the company created the "stars & stripes" helmet used in Easy Rider.

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