Good evening fellow Zaddicts,
as I'm starting to fix more and more minor (and major) flaws on my Z3, I thought I could as well start to write down the progress.
The car was always maintained properly and never had any noteworthy defects, resulting mainly from the fact that it was carefully looked after and every part that looked worn was replaced preventative.
The greatest change lately was a new set of wheels, once again. Although I have no problem with keeping my cars several years, I feel the urge to change wheels from time to time. None of us would like to wear the same shoes all the time, would we
As I found a pretty worn set of BBS RS wheels, the idea of refurbishing them (partly) on my own had me firmly in its grip. They had a stainless steel rim protection which already had some kerb marks. Before ripping them off I wanted to try if the damaged spots could be smoothed down.
Okay, I admit that doesn't look too professional but it worked out. The rim protection was too thin though (1 millimeter I guess) so I had to stop otherwise I would have grinded through the material.
Plan B than, disassembly and complete restoration. I felt lucky because I had the proper nut among my tools. Didn't even manage to loosen the first bolt though. Must have been superior quality, obviously...
Another try with proper tools then. When disassembling the rims I can highly recommend to cross arms when grabbing the wheel. Like that you can grab it firmly and loosen the bolts without any problems.
While the original BBS bolts are made from titanium, the hidden valves (look incredible by the way) are made from steel and therefore have been quite corroded.
Great tv program while disassembling the wheels
After I dropped the wheels off for powdercoating I cleaned all of the bolts. Can you tell which one is factory new?
Some thread cutting was necessary to clean the threads from powdercoating remains.
When everything was ready for reassembly, it turned out that the new titanium valves were slightly bigger in diameter than the original ones what meant the gasket sealing was peeled off once the valves were screwed in. So I ordered dozens of different gasket seals and made some trial'n'error until I found the right size.
Last step before reassembly: polishing, lots of polishing. Bolts, valve caps, centre caps.
I absolutely love the new look. They were powdercoated in 'champagne metallic' and that looks just awesome, especially the way they glow in sunlight.
Will need to change the indicators though, clear ones will look better I guess.
as I'm starting to fix more and more minor (and major) flaws on my Z3, I thought I could as well start to write down the progress.
The car was always maintained properly and never had any noteworthy defects, resulting mainly from the fact that it was carefully looked after and every part that looked worn was replaced preventative.
The greatest change lately was a new set of wheels, once again. Although I have no problem with keeping my cars several years, I feel the urge to change wheels from time to time. None of us would like to wear the same shoes all the time, would we
As I found a pretty worn set of BBS RS wheels, the idea of refurbishing them (partly) on my own had me firmly in its grip. They had a stainless steel rim protection which already had some kerb marks. Before ripping them off I wanted to try if the damaged spots could be smoothed down.
Okay, I admit that doesn't look too professional but it worked out. The rim protection was too thin though (1 millimeter I guess) so I had to stop otherwise I would have grinded through the material.
Plan B than, disassembly and complete restoration. I felt lucky because I had the proper nut among my tools. Didn't even manage to loosen the first bolt though. Must have been superior quality, obviously...
Another try with proper tools then. When disassembling the rims I can highly recommend to cross arms when grabbing the wheel. Like that you can grab it firmly and loosen the bolts without any problems.
While the original BBS bolts are made from titanium, the hidden valves (look incredible by the way) are made from steel and therefore have been quite corroded.
Great tv program while disassembling the wheels
After I dropped the wheels off for powdercoating I cleaned all of the bolts. Can you tell which one is factory new?
Some thread cutting was necessary to clean the threads from powdercoating remains.
When everything was ready for reassembly, it turned out that the new titanium valves were slightly bigger in diameter than the original ones what meant the gasket sealing was peeled off once the valves were screwed in. So I ordered dozens of different gasket seals and made some trial'n'error until I found the right size.
Last step before reassembly: polishing, lots of polishing. Bolts, valve caps, centre caps.
I absolutely love the new look. They were powdercoated in 'champagne metallic' and that looks just awesome, especially the way they glow in sunlight.
Will need to change the indicators though, clear ones will look better I guess.
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