Hi Guys.
So i have had Little Ben since June 2014, but only found zroadster.org a few days ago!
Its a 1998 2.8 on the wrong side of 109,000 miles.
I've had more cars and vans in the past 3 years or so, than i probably have had in my lifetime. I guess this is my mid life crisis car, and to be honest never really took a second glance at them until my other half suggested it. Once i started looking online i was hooked.
We're a 2 car family and our car is currently an X5 4.8i and we have always had big engines, so I had to have the 2.8, as the Z3M was out of my reach.
Mechanically its is sound, but the bodywork is a complete mess. It has been resprayed ( Very Badly ) at some stage, so it ideally needs a complete respray, but again its all about the dollar.
So I will go over what i have done so far.
New Roof fitted from http://soft-tops.co.uk/ in Croydon. Very knowledgeable and very good value. Used him twice now and he's a really nice bloke.
Strut brace.
Clear side lights & general De tango of all lights
Angel eye headlights
Three times I have 'Plasti Dipped' the car. Basically it is a fairly new 'thing' from USA.
Its a liquid plastic that you spray on to the car. I'm no sprayer, but i bought the starter kit from Matt Pack, hired a cheap Gazebo and thought sod it what have i got to lose.
Like everything in life, its all about the preparation, which took longer, MUCH longer than the spraying itself.
My first go at it was last year in the summer, and it was boiling hot.
To be honest this is something that really needs to be done inside and in a controlled environment, ie no dust. In my case it was the flies and midgies. The spray is very toxic, and you have to wear all the safety gear, but i guess the midgies didn't know that, and coming within a few metres they dropped like stones onto the car.
But as a newbie sprayer, the plastidip is very forgiving and ridiculously easy to do. 5 coats and your done. In warm weather each coat is dry within minutes.
Once its done thats it, you dont need to clean the car, just wash it over with soapy water and dry. When youve had enough of that colour it just peels off like vinyl. Its very strong and lasts about 3 years.
The main reason i tried it was simply because its much cheaper than vinyl or proper re spraying.
June 2014
First attempt using Plasti Dip
Yes i know it looks like Primer, but its supposed to be Gun Metal Grey !!
I have 'dipped' it 3 times in total, ending up with a more silver more glossy finish, but i'm not really happy with result so wrapping it is the only viable option now.
This shows what happens when you dont research wheel sizes correctly!!!!
Zee German Numper Plates
So this brings me to where i am at with Little Ben now..... WRAPPING.
Again i'm not a wrapper. I have done it before on my business vans, but that was using standard vinyl which isn't conformable, ie: it doesnt go round corners!
I will tell you what i do know about purely on my experience so far and what the very helpful guys at the vinyl store have told me.
If you want to wrap you car properly, quite simply you have to use the best vinyl. For me it is a Avery, the stuffi am using is Avery Supreme
Its £25 a metre so for a soft top 10 - 12 metres is what i will probably use.
The biggest problem us Z3 users will have is that the vinyl only comes in rolls that are 15200mm wide, and we have very wide bonnets.
That means the bonnet has to be done in at least 2 sections, which means there will be lines!!
the guys at the shop tell me this is the norm in the wrapping world on some vehicle panels, which is why you might see some cars with bonnets that have 2 different colours on them
Anyways using the wrap again is all about preparation. Take off all the ancillaries, and use a good 'pre dip' or panel cleaner.
This again is best to be done in a controlled environment, ( or a garage )
As i dont have a garage i did it outside, which is fine, but any dust or things that are flying around get stuck on the vinyl easily and then you will have a little dot on your vinyl. it all depends on how good you want the finished job to look.
Appying the vinyl is pretty straight forward, start with an easy panel first like the doors, as they are the straightest panels. Measure your panels first, measure again then cut the required vinyl size.
Just by peeling the back off the vinyl you can feel the vinyl stretching so do this gently.
I generally go from left to right, top to bottom on the panels, it works ok for me, but dont quote me to this being the correct way of doing it.
You dont need to apply water or any other lubricant, this binyl can be pulled on and off quite easily.
Use a squegee to straighten out the vinyl, and when it comes to the angles, this is when you need heat.
I use a bog standard hair dryer. So if you imagine the concave part of the door handle. The vinyl needs to be stretched to fit this hole. Apply some heat to that area, and the vinyl becomes soft. You can then squegee the vinyl into the hole.
The same applies to corners, bends and wrapping around edges of panels.
This viny requires heat to activate the glue. So when you have finished a panel all of the vinyl should be heated up to 80oc. This will stick it to the surface.
To get a perfect cut, ie when your cutting the excess from the back of a body panel you can use this
Its called wrap cut, its a tiny wire wrapped in vinyl that you peel onto the body panel.
You then put your vinyl over it.
You can then pull the wire from under the vinyl and it leaves a perfect cut straight line.
You will need a squegee
You will need gloves as you dont want to be touching the back of the vinyl as it will take the glue off.
All i can say is you need to have a practice, as to be honest my attempt is far from perfect, and i am sure the pros would laugh at it. Sure there are a few mistakes, with some greases here, and little lumps there, but im getting better at it, and I've saved myself a fortune doing it myself
So i have had Little Ben since June 2014, but only found zroadster.org a few days ago!
Its a 1998 2.8 on the wrong side of 109,000 miles.
I've had more cars and vans in the past 3 years or so, than i probably have had in my lifetime. I guess this is my mid life crisis car, and to be honest never really took a second glance at them until my other half suggested it. Once i started looking online i was hooked.
We're a 2 car family and our car is currently an X5 4.8i and we have always had big engines, so I had to have the 2.8, as the Z3M was out of my reach.
Mechanically its is sound, but the bodywork is a complete mess. It has been resprayed ( Very Badly ) at some stage, so it ideally needs a complete respray, but again its all about the dollar.
So I will go over what i have done so far.
New Roof fitted from http://soft-tops.co.uk/ in Croydon. Very knowledgeable and very good value. Used him twice now and he's a really nice bloke.
Strut brace.
Clear side lights & general De tango of all lights
Angel eye headlights
Three times I have 'Plasti Dipped' the car. Basically it is a fairly new 'thing' from USA.
Its a liquid plastic that you spray on to the car. I'm no sprayer, but i bought the starter kit from Matt Pack, hired a cheap Gazebo and thought sod it what have i got to lose.
Like everything in life, its all about the preparation, which took longer, MUCH longer than the spraying itself.
My first go at it was last year in the summer, and it was boiling hot.
To be honest this is something that really needs to be done inside and in a controlled environment, ie no dust. In my case it was the flies and midgies. The spray is very toxic, and you have to wear all the safety gear, but i guess the midgies didn't know that, and coming within a few metres they dropped like stones onto the car.
But as a newbie sprayer, the plastidip is very forgiving and ridiculously easy to do. 5 coats and your done. In warm weather each coat is dry within minutes.
Once its done thats it, you dont need to clean the car, just wash it over with soapy water and dry. When youve had enough of that colour it just peels off like vinyl. Its very strong and lasts about 3 years.
The main reason i tried it was simply because its much cheaper than vinyl or proper re spraying.
June 2014
First attempt using Plasti Dip
Yes i know it looks like Primer, but its supposed to be Gun Metal Grey !!
I have 'dipped' it 3 times in total, ending up with a more silver more glossy finish, but i'm not really happy with result so wrapping it is the only viable option now.
This shows what happens when you dont research wheel sizes correctly!!!!
Zee German Numper Plates
So this brings me to where i am at with Little Ben now..... WRAPPING.
Again i'm not a wrapper. I have done it before on my business vans, but that was using standard vinyl which isn't conformable, ie: it doesnt go round corners!
I will tell you what i do know about purely on my experience so far and what the very helpful guys at the vinyl store have told me.
If you want to wrap you car properly, quite simply you have to use the best vinyl. For me it is a Avery, the stuffi am using is Avery Supreme
Its £25 a metre so for a soft top 10 - 12 metres is what i will probably use.
The biggest problem us Z3 users will have is that the vinyl only comes in rolls that are 15200mm wide, and we have very wide bonnets.
That means the bonnet has to be done in at least 2 sections, which means there will be lines!!
the guys at the shop tell me this is the norm in the wrapping world on some vehicle panels, which is why you might see some cars with bonnets that have 2 different colours on them
Anyways using the wrap again is all about preparation. Take off all the ancillaries, and use a good 'pre dip' or panel cleaner.
This again is best to be done in a controlled environment, ( or a garage )
As i dont have a garage i did it outside, which is fine, but any dust or things that are flying around get stuck on the vinyl easily and then you will have a little dot on your vinyl. it all depends on how good you want the finished job to look.
Appying the vinyl is pretty straight forward, start with an easy panel first like the doors, as they are the straightest panels. Measure your panels first, measure again then cut the required vinyl size.
Just by peeling the back off the vinyl you can feel the vinyl stretching so do this gently.
I generally go from left to right, top to bottom on the panels, it works ok for me, but dont quote me to this being the correct way of doing it.
You dont need to apply water or any other lubricant, this binyl can be pulled on and off quite easily.
Use a squegee to straighten out the vinyl, and when it comes to the angles, this is when you need heat.
I use a bog standard hair dryer. So if you imagine the concave part of the door handle. The vinyl needs to be stretched to fit this hole. Apply some heat to that area, and the vinyl becomes soft. You can then squegee the vinyl into the hole.
The same applies to corners, bends and wrapping around edges of panels.
This viny requires heat to activate the glue. So when you have finished a panel all of the vinyl should be heated up to 80oc. This will stick it to the surface.
To get a perfect cut, ie when your cutting the excess from the back of a body panel you can use this
Its called wrap cut, its a tiny wire wrapped in vinyl that you peel onto the body panel.
You then put your vinyl over it.
You can then pull the wire from under the vinyl and it leaves a perfect cut straight line.
You will need a squegee
You will need gloves as you dont want to be touching the back of the vinyl as it will take the glue off.
All i can say is you need to have a practice, as to be honest my attempt is far from perfect, and i am sure the pros would laugh at it. Sure there are a few mistakes, with some greases here, and little lumps there, but im getting better at it, and I've saved myself a fortune doing it myself
