How to Buy a Z3 or M Roadster

It’s important to have a strategy when buying a car. There are lots of good strategies, here is a simple one.

Look the car over carefully in the day light and decide if you want it or not.

If you don’t want it walk away.

If you do want it make a list of the things you don’t like as a discussion point for negotiating price.

Z3 and M Roadster things to look for:

• Sagging glove box – with the glove box closed push up on it from the bottom, it should be firm and not saggy. The glove boxes on these cars are heavy and tend to sag.
• Seat play – the back and forth mechanism on the power seat develops about a quarter inch of back and forth play. Put the seat about in the middle of it’s back and forth adjustment making sure that the seat back is not resting on the inside of the car. With your legs push back and forth and see if the seat will slide back and forth. My car has this problem and it’s very common with Z3s. I’ve had mechanics estimate about two hours work per seat to fix it ($200 per seat)
• Broken seat belt guide – there is a seatbelt guide on both seats, frequently one or both of them are broken. They are very hard to fix so most people just live with it.
• Convertible top wear – a cloth convertible top is a wear item, like tires or brakes. You should expect to have to replace it eventually. A new top will run $3000 to $5000 ( I know that’s a wide range, I’ve never actually replaced the top so I gave a safe range).
• M Roadsters do not have a spare tire. They did come with a can of fix a flat and a 12 volt compressor in the trunk on the right hand side. Frequently the repair kit is missing.
• Z3 check the spare tire, make sure all the tools are there.
• Dash lights – the light bulbs on the three climate control dials are frequently burned out. Check the lights in the other buttons – AC etc. These lights are not too horrible to replace – I’d guess and hour or so for a mechanic. I have replaced some of the ones on my car that are burned out but not others.
• Make sure all the speakers work and sound good – sometimes people play the system too loud and damage speakers.
• The usual car stuff stuff – tire wear, oil puddle on the ground, strange noises, driving straight etc.

If, after making the list you still want the car assign a dollar amount to each item and subtract it from the asking price, then make an offer. When the negotiation starts you can say “Well, the seats slide like a roller coaster and the top is worn so I can’t give you the asking price...”

After you have made your deal and brought your vehicle home here is a link to a site that has links for fixing all of these issues if you feel so inclined.

There's a Hole in My Stereo

Not an actual hole but it sounded like there was a hole.
The two speakers in the driver's side door were dead when I bought the car. It's a nine speaker system so there was lots of sound in the car but with the door speakers out it sounded like there was a hole.

The car came with an after market head unit and an amp in the trunk. Stock wiring was used. The stock amp was removed.

I did a lot of research and read about the pains others have had with stereo installation in a Z3. I'm up for removing door panels, replacing head units and the like, but tearing into a system with the stock amp cut out and wiring hooked up to an aftermarket amp worried me. Were the door speakers not working because they were broken or because the wiring was messed up? I decided I'd talk to some experts. After asking around a place was recommended. I made an appointment for 10 AM.

The shop had several BMWs, a variety of M3s from a 98 to a 2004 so it was clear they had experience with BMW sound systems. John believed that the door speakers were broken. He recommended replacing all six of the speakers in the front of the car with four speakers - parts were $250. He also recommended running RCA connectors from the head unit to the amp. The whole job was $410 and he would get it done that day in two to three hours. I opted to wait at the shop since I had not arrainged for transportation - I'm pretty good at killing time.

By 6 PM that night John was still not finished. My wife swung by after work and took me home. They promised it would be ready for pickup at 8 AM the next day. It was done in the morning and sounds great.

John did some nice work adjusting the amp and balancing out the sound.

Lessons Learned

• Don't wait inthe shop on spur of the moment repairs unless you know for sure how long they will take. Schedule a date, arrange for transportation and leave the car.
• Experience with your specific model of car is important. Even though John had worked on many BMWs he had never tackled a Z3. Getting Monster cables to the trunk turned out to be the barrier to a three hour install.

98 Ford Ranger 3L V-6 Idler Pulley and Tension Pulley Replacement

No, it's not Roadster related.
I've been poking around the wiring for the stereo. Three or four speakers in the car don't work.
Found four wires that have been cut and are just hanging around which may or may not be part of the problem.
I'm just not looking forward to fixing the things that remain on my list.
I'm having a great time driving the car!

Anyway, here's the post.

Strut Compressor

Last Saturday (the 17th) I used the strut compressor (previous post) for the first time.
It took a little messing with to get it set correctly but it was fantastic.

Working on a Nissan Maxima rear struts the compressor made the job easier, faster, and safer.

They say that a poor workman blames his tools. Maybe that's true but it's much easier to be a good workman with good tools.

Yes, I should have done a video.

Does Color Really Matter?

The short answer is yes.
My M Roadster came with an after market head unit that is a brushed aluminum color. It sort of matched the chrome rings on the gauges (not really).

Here's the one that came with the car.

Here is the one I swapped into the car.

Originally BMW equipped this car with a black head unit, pretty sure it was AM / FM / Cassette. I've always thought it was very plain and did nothing to help the center console look good. After living with the brushed aluminum look for a few months I like black.
Maybe BMW got it right after all.

A little about the swapped in unit. It came from my '97 328 convertible. I replaced the original BMW unit with this one a few years ago. It took a lot of searching to find one like this, I don't know if there are any made like it anymore. What makes this unit so special to me is that it has a USB port and a 1/8 inch AUX input on the front.

I wanted the ability to plug anything into the head unit and have it play out of the car speakers without having wires run into the rear of the unit.

The USB port will take any USB hard drive (external hard drive, thumb drive, memory card adapter etc) and it will also take an iPod connection. I have a memory card adapter that is very small - it sticks out less than 1/4 inch - and it holds 8 gig of music. I leave it in all the time. I never need a CD player, but if I do there is one behind the face.

Car Show

Spent the morning at a local car show.
Almost 300 cars showed up. The Roadster was in the Foreign category along with about 15 other cars. I thought the coolest car in my category was the Honda NSX but I didn't vote for it, I almost voted for it.

Here's my car at the show.

Awards were by popular vote. Lots of my friends were at the car show and I asked them to vote for me. I thought I had a chance at least at third place. I should have seen it coming but Herbie beat me for first, second, and third. One of the Volkswagen Beetles was even done up with a "53" and painted like Herbie.
The only thing I got out of that car show was a really clean car.
I guess it's impossible to beat a car with that much publicity, he made 6 movies!

On another topic, I realized something at this show.
Look at these pictures of early 60s Corvette dashboards:

 '64 hardtop

'64 convertible

Now look at the M Roadster dashboard

There are strong similarities.
As I wandered around the show looking for other cars that bore some resemblance to this dashboard layout there were lots of cars with a "dual cockpit" type layout but nothing as clearly similar as the early 60s Corvettes.

I'm not saying the BMW designers had these Corvettes in mind when designing the Z3 interior (maybe they did, I don't know). At the end of the day there are only so many ways to lay out a dashboard. It's inevitable that some cars will look like others even if the designers were all kept in isolation.

Pressing In A Control Arm Bushing

Pressing in a new bushing for the control arm is part of a previous post - replacing control arms.
This is not something you can do with normal home tools, but the tool that does it can be found for around $100.

Hydraulic Strut Compressor

A great shop needs great tools.
After replacing the struts on my 328 and helping others with their struts I've been on the prowl for a shop style strut compressor. Yesterday a friend of mine spotted this one on craigslist for $75

It's a grimy Omega 9000 4 ton hydraulic strut compressor. It looked like all the parts were there so we drug it out of the junk filled shed and hauled all 105 pounds of it home.

The previous owner bolted the pump part of the compressor to a bar wielded on the base. It's held on by the one bolt you see here. Attaching the pump seems like a good mod, not sure the bolt is enough.

I cleaned it up and lubricated the bolts and hinges and wheels. Here's how it looks now.

Close up

At least I don't have to worry about getting greasy just by bumping into it.

Looking forward to using it.

98 Ford Ranger Alternator and Belt Replacement

It's off topic but at least it's car related.

Floor Jack Review

I wanted a floor jack I could slide under the front of my car, reach the front frame cross member, and lift both wheels off the ground in one lift.
Once both wheels are off the ground I'll insert jack stands and let the car rest on the stands.

After measuring and researching I landed on the Harbor Freight Rapid Pump 2.5 ton floor jack, Item # 68049. Here's the review - about 1 min:

DIY Seatbelt Guide Brace

Like many Z3s the driver side seatbelt guide was broken on my car.

After finding inspiration on the Internet I made a brace from a short length of 2" wide Velcro

No Regret Toolbox Labels

Labels on toolbox drawers make it easy to find what I am looking for but what if I move the tools around? Will the labels be as easy to move?

I found a roll of dry erase sticky back plastic sheet, cut it up and made easy to change labels.
Here's how in 40 seconds.

M Roadster Impressions - After One Month

I have about 1,000 miles on the Roadster and about five hundred miles on the new tires.
Here are my thoughts so far:

The Engine
It's amazing. I have never found myself lacking for power. I have become very aware that I have to be very careful to use the power wisely or very bad things could happen.

The Handling
If I were the kind of person who made a habit of driving hard in the corners I would need a four point harness to hold me into the seat so that I could focus on driving the car rather than hanging on to the steering wheel. It's not that the seats are in inadequate, it's just that the car pulls that hard in the corners.

The Ride
This is a daily driver so I do mixed city/highway driving during rush hour 50 miles a day round trip. The car rides rough but I don't feel beat up when I arrive. I'll have to take some longer trips to see how I feel after driving several hours.

It's always a trade off between handling and ride. This car makes fewer compromises on handling than most cars and sacrifices some ride smoothness to do it.

Fit and Finish
My impression is that the car is put together better than a Honda but not as well put together as a German built BMW.

Looks
Every day when I walk out to the car to drive to work or come home I am amazed that I get to drive something that looks this cool.

Conclusion
The car is everything I had hoped for and more.

Toolbox Organization

It's hard to work on cars without tools.
My three drawer tool box was over flowing. I found a sale on a ten drawer box and started loading the tools.
I found three ways to neaten things up:

1. Make the box tools came in fit the tool box drawer
2. Purchase storage accessories that match the way you work
3. Make a storage accessory to multiply storage space.

Here is what I have so far.

Replacing the Shift Knob

The M Roadster came with an illuminated shift knob.
Mine was broken. As a gift my wife purchased a replacement knob.
Many BMWs with a manual transmission follow the same proceedure to replace the shift knob.

This is also an easy way to get to the group of buttons just above the shifter.
6:25 minutes

Removing Front Control Arm Bushings

My 97 328 convertible needed new front control arm bushings.

BMW uses these bushings on the front of all Z3 and M Roadsters as well as all of the E30 and E36 3 Series.

I found videos on the web that use a special tool to remove the bushing and another that uses a torch to heat the control arm. I don't have the tool and I don't feel comfortable heating the control arm because it has other parts that might be damaged by heat.

This is a video of the removal process using a conventional pulley puller. Here is another version of what I did involving large amounts of duct tape and an air wrench.

Pressing in the new bushing and installing the new parts on the car will be a future topic.

Where is the volume control on these seats?

I am more into understated cars. You'd never know it by these pictures. This interior was a barrier to my purchasing the car. Over the last few weeks I've learned to like it.

In the interest of full disclosure this interior is not really as red as it looks in this picture.
The top picture has a more realistic shade of red.

I've seen the Estoril Blue version of the interior and this is the Imola Red version.

Here is a site that has all of the Z3 interior colors.
This link has many of the M Roadster interiors.

Why Buy A 13 Year Old Car?

The Short Answer
I'm asked this question frequently. My newest vehicle is a 2002 BMW 530. It was purchased two years ago. My oldest vehicle is a 1997 BMW 328 convertible purchased about six years ago.

The short answer is that there are two reasons:

1. It gives me an opportunity to buy a car I could never have purchased new - a dream car.
2. It's much cheaper to own an older car.

Chart is from "Automotive Life Cycle Economics and Replacement Intervals"

Notice that if you trade in your car every three years you pay $.36 per mile(in 1985 dollars, $.72 in 2010 dollars). If you average 10,000 miles per year that's $7200 per year.
If I buy your 9 year old car and drive it only three more years I will pay $.21 ($.42 in 2010 dollars) per mile or $4200 per year.

The Longer Answer
What matters is not how old it is but how many miles it has and how well it has been cared for. I have been able to buy a car, particularly a BMW, that has about 90,000 miles on it and drive it for another 90,000 miles with low maintenance cost.

I've discovered that most people will sell a car approaching 100,000 miles at a very reasonable price. There is a psychological barrier to owning "high milage" cars.

I believe that this mentality comes from history. Not too long ago cars that had 100,000 miles on them were about to need a major engine overhaul. 150,000 miles on a car was considered amazing even into the 1980s.

At some point car makers started making cars that easily lasted longer than 150,000 miles. Today, even the cheapest cars available will run for 150,000 miles.

The disconnect between the psychological barrier to owning "high milage" cars and the fact that a well cared for car will last a very long time provides an opportunity for me to purchase a car I could never afford new and drive it for half of it's life.

Tire Upgrade - Check!

Getting all the parts where they need to be.
The new wheels were delivered to my home. I wanted to see them and be able to ship them back if there was a problem. The wheels are a slightly different color than stock. I specifically asked originalwheels.com if they matched the stock color, they said yes, they were wrong. It is very close. There might be a future wheel painting project to get these wheels all the same color.

The tires were shipped directly to the shop so I had to get the wheels to the shop. With the wheels carefully packed into the passenger seat off I went.

I had four new tires installed on two new (to me) wheels and an alignment.
The new tires look like this.

The grooves in the middle of the tire are huge.
I left the shop during a strong rain. The tires are new and won't reach maximum traction for many miles but I had no trouble in the rain.

I shouldn't have been surprised at how much quieter these tires are than the snow tires - but I was. My high expectations have been met - so far.

A note about noise in an M Roadster.
These are not quiet cars. The dual exhaust is made to be heard. In 98 the top did not have a head liner so there is nothing but a layer of cloth between your head and rushing wind. Even smooth running tires won't make this car what most people would call quiet.

The Right Tires

The Challenge:
The car came from the previous owner with:

• Front
• 225/45 ZR 17 Kumho Ecsta
• Cracked sidewalls indicating dry-rot. It does not look severe but I've had bad experience with dry-rot and I'd rather not risk a tire flying apart on a car that carries no spare.
• Rear
• 235/45 R 17 Mastercraft Glacier-Grip II
• The tires are not the right size- they are suppose to be 245/40
• There were holes in the tire for studs

It rides terrible (compared to another M Roadster I test drove and compared to my expectations) with this tire combination.

The local independant BMW repair shop I purchased the car from offered to swap out the tires with some Michelin Pilots they had in stock but I wanted the front and rear tires to match and I like to do research on tires so I took a discount on the car rather than take the tires.

I'm all about balancing performance, ride, and bad weather traction. I was looking forward to finding the right tires to meet my needs.

We do have snow so my plan is to:

• Keep the snow tires for winter driving
• Purchase two rear wheels and put something street oriented on them
• Get rid of the front tires with something that matches the new back tires.

Imagine that, a world class sports car with a matching set of tires.

The Tires:

After spending some quality time at http://www.tirerack.com/ I decided on a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW. This car is my daily driver to and from work so I need a good blend of ride and handling. All the reviews looked good to me.

The Wheels:

I purchased two rear wheels from http://www.originalwheels.com/. The are no repaired or imitation BMW wheels. They are BMW original equipment in excellent condition - I suppose from a crashed MZ3 somewhere.

9 inch wide

They will spin them when they put the tires on and we'll see how straight they are...

My experience has been that tires make a huge difference in how a car drives. I have high expectations.

About the Car

General

• Exterior Color: 309 - Arctic Silver Metallic
• Interior Color: Q6IM - Imola Red
• Transmission: 5 Speed Manual
• Curb weight 3086 lbs
• Weight distribution with driver, f/r % 51/49
• One of 3296 M Roadsters made in 1998
• One of 8536 M Roadsters made from the first one in 1998 to the last one in 2002

Engine  

• Engine type 3.2 liter DOHC 24-valve inline-6 (S52)
• Bore x stroke 3.40 in. x 3.53 in.
• Compression ratio 10.5:1
• Horsepower (SAE) 240 bhp @ 6000 rpm
• Torque 236 lb-ft @ 3800 rpm
• Fuel Premium unleaded
• Fuel economy 19 mpg city, 26 mpg highway
• Acceleration, 0-60 mph 5.2 seconds

Wheels  

• Wheels, front 7.5 J x 17 cast alloy
• Wheels, rear 9 J x 17 cast alloy

 

Beginning the Journey

The Car

With 90,000 miles and 13 years it has a few issues:

• Snow tires were installed on the back by a previous owner.
• Tires on the front are showing signs of dry rot.
• The Z3 sagging glovebox problem
• Driver side door speakers don't work. All the other speakers function.
• Trunk shocks have broken connectors
• HVAC illumination for night driving is not functioning
• Passenger seat is stuck in the fully raised or up position
• Both seats have the Z3 sliding seat problem
• Illuminated stick shift knob does not illuminate when the lights are on.
• Air conditioner / air recirculation buttons do not illuminate when turned on.

In spite of all this it's a great ride.
I'm looking forward to fixing these problems and reporting on what was done as a way of giving back to the Z3 online community.

Background

For as long as I can remember I've been interested in cool cars. The thing about cool cars is that they can be a challenge to work into real life. Suppose I had a mint 67 Camero, it would not make sense to me to drive it back and forth to work every day. Something like that should be preserved and kept low milage. Driving it every day would wear it out.

My first BMW was purchased because I wanted a convertible. At the time I wanted a Miata but my wife added the requirement to my automobile purchase that the car must have four seats eliminating a Miata from the list. While scouring used car lots in the area for a four seat convertible I ran across a 1988 BMW 325 converible in cinnabar red. It had 80,000 miles on it. After much research I found that parts weren't as expensive as I had thought and the cars were known to go 200,000 miles. They were only asking $6,000 for the car so if it ran for a few years without reliability issues it would be cheap transportation.

The test drive sold me on the car and it became the first of five BMWs I've owned over the last 10 years. All of them have had at least 80,000 miles when I purchased them. All of them, so far, have been driven at least another 100,000 miles before selling it.

• 1988 325 convertible, 5 speed manual, sold with 180,000 miles
• 1997 328 convertible, 5 speed manual, still running with 196,000 miles
• 1997 540 automatic, sold with 180,000 miles
• 2002 530 automatic, still running with 120,000 miles
• 1998 M Roadster, 5 speed manual

My experience over the last 10 years has been that BMWs are cool cars that are built to be driven every day.