If you decide to DIY, take plenty of pics and do a write up for the Knowledge Base Section
Gazza
"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"
I have an element of 'M-styling' on my car, If that's a good enough reason for the manufacturers to adorn a 320 with the M badge, then its certainly a good enough reason for me..
Even taking the whole roof off with folding bows and all, it is a really difficult task. Re-fitting the new one as a complete roof is very difficult. Getting the fixings in with the Butol strip - after cleaning the old butol off - and working in the confined space behind the seats - even with the rear storage box and seats removed, whilst aligning the two frames, that form the mounting to the rear of the car, as well as ensuring the frame doesn't stick to the butol when and where you don't want it to atc etc...definitely not for the feint hearted... The scrappers remove them, fitting them is not as quick and easy. A pro may take 4 - 5 hours...for the rest of us...try 3 - 4 days. Cleaning is a day job if you don't have another 3 pairs of hands to help. Fitting requires at least one pair of hands for help, if you can have 2 pairs so much the better. The roof isn't a light and esily handled thing...it will fold when you would rather it didn't etc etc...you need hands!!
I did the replacement of the fabric only, and that was difficult...at least I had the benefit of the fabric being more controllable than bows with roof attached.
If you dont get it right, it can be heartbreaking having to undo and re-do...The pro's have done it all before, and know exactly what to look for, do how, when and get the desired result...and for £250 - 300...it's worth it. Nothing worse than getting it all together then finding the rear window isn't taught enough....and undoing all the way back to the checkstraps, pulling tightening etc and then re-doing it again...It's the sort of task you can't rush as a novice...and if you have any mechanically minded assistants it will help enormously.
I have an element of 'M-styling' on my car, If that's a good enough reason for the manufacturers to adorn a 320 with the M badge, then its certainly a good enough reason for me..
I have an element of 'M-styling' on my car, If that's a good enough reason for the manufacturers to adorn a 320 with the M badge, then its certainly a good enough reason for me..
As someone once said..."if you want a good job done, get someone else to do it" And if it's only a couple of hundred, it definitely needs a pro to do it.
That's great service and a great price.The previous owner of our zed paid £750 for a local guy to replace the top a few years ago.£425 I can find,£750 is too rich for me.
Hi all i read with interest all the comments about swapping out the whole roof and not just swapping the fabric.
I did this before xmas, took about three hours on my own, and my new one doesnt leak except where the previous owner has had a new rear window zipped in, strangley it is running off zip i need to reseal the zip with some form of water sealer maybe silicon sealer.
If you are thinking of doing it here is a basic guide.
Remove rear carpet, unscrew rear luggage holder to free carpet and pull out push in plugs and pull carpet out.
This will expose the bolts that hold the roof around the rear of the car, undo all the bolts and keep them in a safe place.
Undo bolts on actual mechanism which are covered with rubber covers, these are down behind each side near to back of doors. There are three bolts one which is hidden and if you miss it the mechanism will not move.
Once all bolts are removed, get a hair dryer and use it to his the bitumen strip up that runs around the rear of the roof, this enables it to come away quite readily.
Remove roof be careful not to damage surround, this is really only time you need two people.
Removal can be a bit awkward and fiddly but a basic socket set with torx screws will do it.
Once new roof is ready to go remove all the old bitumen from it, this is time consuming but doable, there is also a foam strip that needs to be fitted, i used foam draft strip from B and Q for a fiver which i stuck on then i used bitumen flashing from b and q rather than use the BMW oem stuff.
Refitting is the reverse of removal, offer roof up to holes, put the bolts in place to make sure roof is in correct position, likewise with mechanism bolts. Once roof and bolts are in place you can then try locking roof into position, mine closed perfectly first time and seemed nice and tight.
I then proceeded to tighten all the bolts up
The acid test was during all the rain we have had, as previously mentioned the zip is the only area which is leaking, the actual frame and new roof is dry, you can tell this as the carpet is waterproof and the the floor underneath dusty and is still dusty and completely dry.
I also reproofed the roof with Renovo roof reproofer and what a difference that also makes.
Cheers guys did it today and took about 5 hours. Bit of a tip for you, I am a scuba instructor and we use "zip lube" on our dry suit zips to both waterproof, seal and lube them up. Costs about £5 and works great!!
I have an element of 'M-styling' on my car, If that's a good enough reason for the manufacturers to adorn a 320 with the M badge, then its certainly a good enough reason for me..
I would agree with Mark looking at what I can see in them pictures .....................
It would however appear that I have found where I am leaking water into the boot looking at the way
the Sealing Frame fits ........................... Hmmmmm ..................... Bugger, big job ahead.
----------------- BMW Z3 Das Beste Auto -----------------
Mein altes Auto riecht nach Nudeln, hat dieses Auto eine Wurst Geruch.
vic thanks for that zip lube may be exactly what i need
If your roof is leaking, an easy fix may be to remove round rubber seal that sits between car and hood, slacken off bolts, get some bitumen based sealer in a tube from your local roofing suppliers, squirt a bead along inner edges of framework, heat with a hairdryer to allow it to flow a bit then retighten bolts up this should then form a better seal. reattach rubber seal and that should do it, water will find a way though.
I think the link Vic-z3 provided is worth saving in the Z3 Knowledge Base for those willing to do it themselves.
Gazza
"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"
This YouTube guide (parts 1 & 2) will be instructive for the bold. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyxy50jfkhY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGiDhxNkOKc
I just had my roof replaced (due to vandalism) with a roof sourced in Germany. Unfortunately my guy used a defective tube of silicone sealant (perhaps not his fault...unless he did not clean the old stuff and the acetic acid dissolved the old remnants). Anyway, I'm resealing on both sides of the rear bracket to stop the leaking. I'm using Hybrifix Super7 which is my favorite sealant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARH3klO9E (FYI the only problem with this material is that the clear product discolors with time. Otherwise it is a superb product)
, BMW Z1, BMW M3 CSL, Z4M Coupe
