New user

[RichP]

Hello.

I bought my Z3 a couple of years ago but have only just started paying it the attention it deserves. I bought it without any research when i was looking for a new car, found it on a forecourt and was surprised by how realistic the purchase was! I used it for a year then left it over winter as i also have a big comfortable car that could move on 1mm of snow if necessary.

This week I have been preparing for an MOT. Replaced the brake pads, ordered new exhaust, bought a new battery, rewired the boot. Then i moved on to cleaning the roof (not a simple job!) and today i have started an engine bay clean. So its in pretty good nick, a 1.9 1999 m44 in montreal blue 65k mi, and with a bit of TLC its getting better! As its a second car i can be pretty fussy keeping it clean and in good order!

It seems photos are important here....



I owned the little one first! my dad dug it out of my old stuff when I bought the big one.









Worse than useless in the snow!!!



Before and after - 4 hours, a £20 bottle of roof cleaner, and a nail brush on wednesday!

Theres a lot of useful and interesting stuff on this forum, I look forward to all the problems i will encounter that i can find help on!

Cheers,

Rich.

[Del]

The paintwork looks in good, shiney condition and that roof has cleaned up well

[Brian H]

Welcome Rich,

Pictures speak a thousand words great job on the roof BTW.

Brian

[Mint]

Welcome from me too Your Zed looks in fine fettle, amazing what a bit of TLC will do. I need to spruce my roof up, which cleaner did you use and have you proofed it?

[RichP]

Thanks!

I used the Auto Glym roof kit (cleaner and proofer). The instructions would lead you to believe it is a leisurely apply, wait, rinse process. it isn't. I used a nail brush to scrub it, spending about 10-15 mins intense scrubbing on each section (by section i mean from the outside to the middle and within pairs of supporting bars, so this literally did take 4 hours). rinsing and reapplying a few times for each.

When i was happy that i had it all off i used the proofer bottle to seal it.

Word of warning - once it had all dried out (the next day) a lot of the green patches became visible again, albeit much less obvious. As i've proofed it (and used most of the bottle) i'm leaving it for now, but if i were to do it again i would leave it to fully dry and re-visit the bits i had missed before using the second bottle.

The kit was £20.

[Mint]

Cheers - I'll give it a go when the weather warms up a bit

[Pierrick]

Welcome here.
This roof was horrible, obviously never been cleaned! You did a good job.
I bought the Autoglym kit as well, I'm waiting for the weather to be a better to use it.

[Southernboy]

Hi Rich...look forward to watching your progress.