Hardtop/M side grills

[Chris_st2]

Hi, Has anyone had any issues before with one side of their hardtop being slightly higher than the other side. I fitted a hardtop to my car a couple months ago and the drivers side (rhd) is higher than passenger so air comes in before the sun visor and bits of water also leak in ?? Also do z3m side grills just straight fit where factory z3 one does or anyone selling some in the Uk as I want some. Any advice muchly appreciated
Thanks
Chris

 

[Stevo7682]

Unfortunately cant help you with the hardtop but the M side grilles are straight fit on
I have them on my Dakar

Stephen

 

[Zephyr]

Hi. I am on my second hardtop.
my first one was warped and had to do repairs to fix.
For the second one, that is straight,I started installing front to back and when I was satisfied with a snug fit on the A pillars then adjusted the rear accordingly.
fits ok after this. Seems that adjustments from previous owners are not plug and play for all cars.

 

[Chris_st2]

Unfortunately cant help you with the hardtop but the M side grilles are straight fit on
I have them on my Dakar
View attachment 247501

Stephen

Looks smart with them grills do you remember them being a lot of money to buy ?

 

[t-tony]

They usually are good money, especially if none of the fixings are broken.

Tony.

 

[Chris_st2]

Hi. I am on my second hardtop.
my first one was warped and had to do repairs to fix.
For the second one, that is straight,I started installing front to back and when I was satisfied with a snug fit on the A pillars then adjusted the rear accordingly.
fits ok after this. Seems that adjustments from previous owners are not plug and play for all cars.

Might try that as I secure the clips are the rear in first then tighten the bolts by the windscreen

 

[Duncodin]

Hi, Has anyone had any issues before with one side of their hardtop being slightly higher than the other side. I fitted a hardtop to my car a couple months ago and the drivers side (rhd) is higher than passenger so air comes in before the sun visor and bits of water also leak in ?? Also do z3m side grills just straight fit where factory z3 one does or anyone selling some in the Uk as I want some. Any advice muchly appreciated
Thanks
Chris

In this picture look at the vertical line of the hardtop and the leading edge of the rear wing. This needs to be perfectly in line. If the roof is just a few mm too far forward or too far back then it won't line up properly with the top of the windscreen.

Then look at the front.

Across the top of the windscreen there's a rubber ridge. Look where the front edge of the hardtop is directly up against that ridge. Not overlapping it and no gap behind it. The leading edge of the hardtop sits real snug up against that rubber lip. Difficult to see in the picture but the top surface of the rubber ridge is pretty much inline with the top surface of the hardtop. The edge of the hardtop is hardly above that rubber ridge so no wind noise either.

But the key is that vertical line at the 'B' pillar. Get that right and fore/aft alignment at the front should work.

 

[Stevo7682]

I paid £200 for mine already in Dakar yellow ( which is a difficult colour to find any second hand colour coded bits
Stephen.

 

[Chris_st2]

In this picture look at the vertical line of the hardtop and the leading edge of the rear wing. This needs to be perfectly in line. If the roof is just a few mm too far forward or too far back then it won't line up properly with the top of the windscreen.

View attachment 247515

Then look at the front.

View attachment 247513

Across the top of the windscreen there's a rubber ridge. Look where the front edge of the hardtop is directly up against that ridge. Not overlapping it and no gap behind it. The leading edge of the hardtop sits real snug up against that rubber lip. Difficult to see in the picture but the top surface of the rubber ridge is pretty much inline with the top surface of the hardtop. The edge of the hardtop is hardly above that rubber ridge so no wind noise either.

But the key is that vertical line at the 'B' pillar. Get that right and fore/aft alignment at the front should work.

My passenger side sits absolutely flush and we’ve taken it on and off a few times to see what’s happening but it’s almost as if the part to screw it in is missing something doesn’t let you secure it all the way as that side doesn’t let air in and it’s easy to do up but drivers side didn’t let you do it up and let’s air in

 

[Chris_st2]

I paid £200 for mine already in Dakar yellow ( which is a difficult colour to find any second hand colour coded bits
Stephen.

Ok good to know been offered some on fb but not sure if I trust fb

 

[t-tony]

There are many idiots and time wasters on F B Marketplace, more so than eBay in my experience.

Tony.

 

[Duncodin]

My passenger side sits absolutely flush and we’ve taken it on and off a few times to see what’s happening but it’s almost as if the part to screw it in is missing something doesn’t let you secure it all the way as that side doesn’t let air in and it’s easy to do up but drivers side didn’t let you do it up and let’s air in

Sitting in the car looking up at the corner there's three little screws. Loosen those just a bit and that'll relax the thread/bracket. While those 3 screws are loose tighten up the main torx bolt again - does it go further now? If it does you can now tighten up those 3 little screws

 

[Jack Ratt]

I'm sure that there is also some height adjustment at the rear fixings. You'll need a very slim M24 spanner.

 

[RickyBobby]

When I had the hardtop fitted on my previous 2.8 I noticed it didn't seem to fit level on the rear - turned out one of the rubber bump stops was missing. There should be 2 one on each corner so I ordered a replacement from Sytner wgich sorted the fitment issue - so might be worth checking you have both

 

[Chris_st2]

There are many idiots and time wasters on F B Marketplace, more so than eBay in my experience.

Tony.

Sadly yes but we shall see

 

[Chris_st2]

When I had the hardtop fitted on my previous 2.8 I noticed it didn't seem to fit level on the rear - turned out one of the rubber bump stops was missing. There should be 2 one on each corner so I ordered a replacement from Sytner wgich sorted the fitment issue - so might be worth checking you have both

What rubber stops sorry I’m new to these cars so learning as I go

 

[Chris_st2]

I'm sure that there is also some height adjustment at the rear fixings. You'll need a very slim M24 spanner.

Sitting in the car looking up at the corner there's three little screws. Loosen those just a bit and that'll relax the thread/bracket. While those 3 screws are loose tighten up the main torx bolt again - does it go further now? If it does you can now tighten up those 3 little screws

I haven’t seen the car in a month currently away in storage but will take a look next time I see it

 

[RickyBobby]

What rubber stops sorry I’m new to these cars so learning as I go

Circled in the photo - you'll notice in the other photo the drivers side one is missing.

 

[Chris_st2]

Circled in the photo - you'll notice in the other photo the drivers side one is missing.View attachment 247533View attachment 247531

Thanks I will keep an eye out next time I see the car and spot if there present

 

[Dxbolton]

Where the rear pin locates, that can also be adjusted for height. I moved my hardtop and fixing brackets between my cars and the fit was completely different. One car was perfect but the second one was pulling the roof right down onto the bodywork. Took about half an hour to adjust the rear clamp, and similar playing I g with the front locating bracket. Stick with it and persevere