2006 Z4 M Roadster - feedback wanted

[SD ///M4]

I looked up the VIN in the Z4M production data spreadsheet and it shows the Interior Color as "VL WALKNAPPA/SCHWARZ (LTSW)". It appears that this means that this car has the Extended Nappa Leather interior with the Carbon Leather trim. Is this correct?

One of the German worlds for "extended" is "verlängerte", so where the standard leather is shown as "Lederaus. Walknappa/Schwarz" meaning "Leather, Nappa/Black", "VL Walknappa/Schwarz" is apparently the abbreviation for "Verlängerte Lederaus. Walknappa/Schwarz" meaning "Extended Leather, Nappa/Black".

[Finnegan]

Pics aren't the best, but yes, it looks like extended leather.

[chickdr]

Originally Posted by SD 335is

Actually, I bought a refundable round-trip ticket on SWA this afternoon. I'm flying in to Oakland tomorrow and someone from the dealer is picking me up. I have an appointment for a PPI at SAS German Auto, about 3 miles from the dealer.

My BMW mechanic friend ran the service history and there isn't much history. Potential red flags are the brakes being replaced at 1700 miles due to warped rotors (tracked?) and he said that it appeared to be a demo car initially. It's only been for service twice besides that for regular maintenance and the last maintenance was done in 2010 at 17,000 miles. CarFax shows one owner, no accidents reported, and service at 10,804 miles when the car was 1.5 years old, then at 12,096 miles two months later. CarFax doesn't show the 2010 service.

The sales guy confirmed that there is no wheel rash, no wear on the steering wheel or seats and they all looked almost like new. He said that the body is free of any dings or dents but there appears to have some curb rash on the front splitters. The M Mobility System and the tool pouch don't appear in the photo of the trunk so the sales guy is looking into that.

If the PPI looks good I'll be driving the car home tomorrow. Thinking about taking the coast highway down and stopping in Cambria for the night.

BTW, what were the OEM tires? What are people putting on for replacements? I'd like the Michelin Pilot Super Sports myself.

I sure hope this one checks out!

Sounds like a good car. The OEM tires were Conti Sport Contact(it looks like this is whats on the car) and they are universally maligned. The Super Sports are the current favorite around here but I went with Conti Extreme Contact DW's and have been happy so far. Good luck and hopefully this one works out for you.

[Ron Stygar]

Originally Posted by SD 335is

I looked up the VIN in the Z4M production data spreadsheet and it shows the Interior Color as "VL WALKNAPPA/SCHWARZ (LTSW)". It appears that this means that this car has the Extended Nappa Leather interior with the Carbon Leather trim. Is this correct?

Yes.

(LT)SW extended

(LS)SW is not

[thekurgan]

SD: It looks sweet! I would examine the interior very carefully. The photo with the "SOS" button shows the clear cover that has yellowed due to UV exposure. Otherwise, it looks to be in good condition, seats have just a bit of shine for 31k, steering wheel is still matte and door sills don't have much abuse.

[SD ///M4]

Short update:

I bought the car. Interlagos Blue with Black Nappa Leather and Carbon Leather Trim. Also with Premium Package, Extended Leather, Nav, Heated Seats, and, unexpectedly for both for me and the sales guy, a factory iPod adapter.

The interior is almost perfect. No wear on the driver's seat bolster at all. The steering wheel looks brand new with no wear at all. The stitching is even clean.

On the ground the car looks like a creampuff, a typical low mileage car with only a little over 6,000 annual miles. On the hoist, however, the car apparently had a different personality. First off, it has H&R springs all around. The left rear plastic fender liner is trashed near the fender edge, both fender wells have extensive rubbing on the inside side (towards the center), and the left fender lip has been rubbed excessively, with rubber melted onto the fender edge. The owner apparently had huge wheels and tires on the rear and the tires rubbed excessively to the point of causing damage. On the right rear corner, there is a fist-sized dent in the muffler, there's some heat-shield-covered sheet metal that is deformed, and the exhaut outlet in the right rear valence looks like maybe the exhaust tip contacted it and cracked it and it's been trimmed away. The front bumper cover has been resprayed with obvious signs of paint blending and some slightly mismatched touch-up paint and there's some broken plastic under and behind the front valence.

It's possible that it was a weekend track car.

Mechanically the car appears sound but there is a slight leak on the right side of the diff which the mechanic said is a stub axle seal. Costly to replace because of the labor but parts are inexpensive.

More tomorrow because I'm exhausted and I have to drive from San Louis Obispo, where I finally arrived at 10:00 PM tonight, and drive back to San Diego tomorrow. Lots of pictures to come in the next few days.

[chickdr]

Originally Posted by SD 335is

Short update:

I bought the car. Interlagos Blue with Black Nappa Leather and Carbon Leather Trip. Also with Premium Package, Extended Leather, Nav, Heated Seats, and, unexpectedly for both for me and the sales buy, a factory iPod adapter.

The interior is almost perfect. No wear on the driver's seat bolster at all. The steering wheel looks brand new with no wear at all. The stitching is even clean.

On the ground the car looks like a creampuff, a typical low mileage car with only a little over 6,000 annual miles. On the hoist, however, the car apparently had a different personality. First off, it has H&R springs all around. The left rear plastic fender liner is trashed near the fender edge, both fender wells have extensive rubbing on the inside side (towards the center), and the left fender lip has been rubbed excessively, with rubber melted onto the fender edge. The owner apparently had huge wheels and tires on the rear and the tires rubbed excessively to the point of causing damage. On the right rear corner, there is a fist-sized dent in the muffler, there's some heat-shield-covered sheet metal that is deformed, and the exhaut outlet in the right rear valence looks like maybe the exhaust tip contacted it and cracked it and it's been trimmed away. The front bumper cover has been resprayed with obvious signs of paint blending and some slightly mismatched touch-up paint and there's some broken plastic under and behind the front valence.

It's possible that it was a weekend track car.

Mechanically the car appears sound but there is a slight leak on the right side of the diff which the mechanic said is a stub axle seal. Costly to replace because of the labor but parts are inexpensive.

More tomorrow because I'm exhausted and I have to drive from San Louis Obispo, where I finally arrived at 10:00 PM tonight, and drive back to San Diego tomorrow. Lots of pictures to come in the next few days.

Is this the East Bay BMW car you posted about earlier? That car had 30K on the clock from what you said and this one has 6K? Good job finding a car.

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by chickdr

Is this the East Bay BMW car you posted about earlier? That car had 30K on the clock from what you said and this one has 6K? Good job finding a car.

I think he meant 6k miles anually. However, it seems like it was a very low mileage car for the first couple years then got driven more afterward.
Anyhow, Congratulation on the car. I hope it wasn't driven too hard if it was a weekend trackcar. Check the Service Record and see if Inspection 1 was performed (as it should). It would strongly recommend flushing all the fluids (again especially if it was track/driven hard). I just flushed all my 2007 MCoupe (driven gently but spiritly) and so glad that i did since the fluid look rather dark (i know dark color fluids do not mean they don't meet specs)

[Walkurie]

Originally Posted by SD 335is

Chapter II - The Z4 M Roadster Saga

I had convinced myself that I wasn't in the market, but on a lark, I did a search this morning. This is what I found:

2006 Z4 M Roadster
Interlagos Blue
Black Nappa Leather Interior
Carbon Leather Trim
Nav
Heated Seats
31,732 miles
One Owner
New Continental Sport Tires (description give by the sales guy, not sure the exact model)

http://www.eastbaybmw.com/detail-200...d-8912296.html

What do you guys think?

+1 for East Bay. Dealt with them for years on a variety of cars when I lived there. Bought my MR from them new. Solid dealership, owned by Rick Hendrick.

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by SD 335is

Short update:

The interior is almost perfect. No wear on the driver's seat bolster at all. The steering wheel looks brand new with no wear at all. The stitching is even clean.

It's possible that it was a weekend track car.

Mechanically the car appears sound but there is a slight leak on the right side of the diff which the mechanic said is a stub axle seal. Costly to replace because of the labor but parts are inexpensive.

Welcome aboard!

PM Finnegan, I believe he had a seal replaced. It does sound like a track car, and the seats and original wheel were probably not utilized much so they were popped back in for the sale. This is good, since those seats are not cheap to repair or replace, neither is the wheel. Check the service records for the recent valve adjustment, if it's a track car, I expect them to be check/adjusted yearly or at 15k.

[chickdr]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

I think he meant 6k miles anually. However, it seems like it was a very low mileage car for the first couple years then got driven more afterward.
Anyhow, Congratulation on the car. I hope it wasn't driven too hard if it was a weekend trackcar. Check the Service Record and see if Inspection 1 was performed (as it should). It would strongly recommend flushing all the fluids (again especially if it was track/driven hard). I just flushed all my 2007 MCoupe (driven gently but spiritly) and so glad that i did since the fluid look rather dark (i know dark color fluids do not mean they don't meet specs)

Poor reading comprehension on my part - 6K annually....

[bfwollen]

Too much money for 2006 with 60,O00 miles I recently purchased a loaded z4 25,000 miles one owner from BMW dealer with warranty for $21,450

[Silververtu]

Originally Posted by bfwollen

Too much money for 2006 with 60,O00 miles I recently purchased a loaded z4 25,000 miles one owner from BMW dealer with warranty for $21,450

M or non-M?

[DaleWA]

Congrats on the car. The extended leather is really nice, I have it on my '04 3.0. Seems unlikely that someone would track one loaded with nav and ex leather.

I'm looking for a M, and would like to find one spec'd like yours.They had it listed for $30K, did you get a good deal off that?

If anyone runs across a for sale late '06 or '07 MR in gray or silver, carbon leather, give me ping!

[chickdr]

Originally Posted by bfwollen

Too much money for 2006 with 60,O00 miles I recently purchased a loaded z4 25,000 miles one owner from BMW dealer with warranty for $21,450

The car actually has 31,000 miles and it is an M so its quite a bit more $$$ than your standard Z4. He didn't say what he actually paid for it either - probably under $30K, but nice Z4M's seem to have been going up in value lately.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by thekurgan

Welcome aboard!

PM Finnegan, I believe he had a seal replaced. It does sound like a track car, and the seats and original wheel were probably not utilized much so they were popped back in for the sale. This is good, since those seats are not cheap to repair or replace, neither is the wheel. Check the service records for the recent valve adjustment, if it's a track car, I expect them to be check/adjusted yearly or at 15k.

Yes, good memory Kurgan, I did have those replaced.

Here's the thread--see Ocha's caveats on the work. Mine came out okay, but if they need to break in to the diff that can be complicated. Sounds like it's just the axle though, which is a PITA but not as bad as the diff.

And Ocha wasn't kidding about these being fairly common--SeanK and I were under his car on Monday while at the track, and his axle seals look exactly the same as mine did. I've added this to my "check with oil change" routine. I'm bet mine will be fine for quite some time, but it's still something to look for from time to time.

SD 335is, congratulations on the find. PPI sounds like it was worth it, and I'm guessing you used the items noted to advantage in negotiations. Sounds like the interior is Jeyll to the exterior's Hyde. Interesting.

Bumper can off course be fixed up. Valence and exhaust issues sound like a result of the car being somewhat "slammed" and whacking the muffler backing out of a driveway or similar situation. I wonder if the exhaust hangers need to be replaced? (Pretty cheap to do, better off with the DKF version if the rearmost are damaged.)

[SD ///M4]

I'm finally back home after a grueling crawl through traffic yesterday. The trip home did not go as planned. I got home at 8:30 PM last night

I had planned to take Highway 1 (Coast Highway) from Monterey all the way down to Santa Monica, stopping in San Luis Obispo on Thursday night. I ended up not leaving East Bay BMW until after 5:00 PM, so I scrubbed the Coast Highway plan and took 101 to San Luis Obispo. I got to my hotel at 10:00 PM.

Friday morning I got on the road at 10:30 AM and tried to get on the Coast Highway at Oxnard but the road was closed so I had to get back on the 101. Bottom line, with two gas stops and a lunch stop, it took me 10 hours to drive the ~321 miles home. Google says that it should take 6:06. At least I got really good at finessing the clutch, throttle and gear shifts in stop-and-go traffic. I discovered that Sport Mode is not for stop-and-go traffic!

To answer some questions:

East Bay BMW gave me a price of $29,000 on the phone on Wednesday, the day before I left to go and see it. None of the independents were open on Saturday and the closest one was booked on Friday, so I had to go up on Thursday morning. I got picked up at the airport in the Z and got to drive it back to the dealer. I was thrilled to see the car in person and on the ground, it looked like a car in Very Good to Excellent condition.

As I mentioned, a lot was revealed when it was on the hoist during the PPI. I tried using this as a bargaining tool and offered $27,000, then $28,000 but they weren't budging, said that they didn't have any room on the price, and the most he could offer me was maybe another couple hundred dollars. I said that my flight up there was $250 and the PPI cost $150, how about paying for that? So they knocked off another $400 or a total of $28,600. The M Mobility System and tool pouch were missing so I told them I couldn't drive back without those, so they got them from Parts. Only after I packed the car again for the trip back home on Friday did I realize that all I got was a canister and they didn't give me the compressor. I'm going to contact them for that. The tool pouch only has a tow hook and a screwdriver, is there supposed to be anything else?

It appears that there something else going on in the right rear. When I stopped for on Friday morning I noticed that the right rear bumper cover was pulled away from the body. I pushed it back in place it popped out again later. I stopped in Santa Barbara and saw Jon Shafer (Bimmerfest founder) and he had some clear packing tape that I used for a quick and dirty fix. I'm putting it up on jacks this afternoon to take a closer look. I'm guessing there might be problem with the bent stuff behind the bumper to the right of the muffler and it might involve a fender bracket or brace of some sort. I'm goig to give it a good wash first and tomorrow I may hit it with the digital orbital and polish out the paint, give it a good coat of wax and put some Zaino on the leather.

The H&R springs were pretty harsh, especially on bridge joints and on the 101 which is some areas is still concrete with lots of expansion joints and tar patches. Speed bumps in parking lots need to be done at nor more than 5 MPH or it's a pretty good hit.

I think my first priority is to get the right rear bumper squared away. Next I'd like to get some stock springs and replace the rear wheel wells at the same time.

Thanks for all the feedback, you guys have been great!

[l4zy]

congrats!

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by SD 335is

It appears that there something else going on in the right rear. When I stopped for on Friday morning I noticed that the right rear bumper cover was pulled away from the body. I pushed it back in place it popped out again later. I stopped in Santa Barbara and saw Jon Shafer (Bimmerfest founder) and he had some clear packing tape that I used for a quick and dirty fix. I'm putting it up on jacks this afternoon to take a closer look. I'm guessing there might be problem with the bent stuff behind the bumper to the right of the muffler and it might involve a fender bracket or brace of some sort.

I didn't get it on the jack stands today (neighborhood party late this afternoon) but I forgot that during the PPI the mechanic noticed that there were two fasteners missing. That should be an easy fix. I'll just stop by my BMW dealer on Monday and pick up a few.

[Silververtu]

no pics?

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by Silververtu

no pics?

Sorry, only had a few hours to give it a good wash and interior cleaning on Saturday. I spent most of the day today getting it up on jack stands to get a better look at the rear fender liners, fix the left rear side marker light which had apparently come unplugged, and redistributing some of the plastic fasteners that hold the fender liner to the bumper liner since all three on the left side were missing. My wife spent a long time on the wheels yesterday and when I took off the rear wheels she decided to clean the inside of the barrels from the rear. I also attempted to bend the bent heat shield on the right side back into place which apparently happened when the car was backed into something, causing a dent in the right muffler, the bent heat shield, and the bumper cover getting melted onto the hot exhaust when the bumper cover got pushed into it.

Anyway, the first shot is from my phone shortly before I got ready to drive home. The next shots are from somewhere along Coast Highway north of Santa Barbara.






Other photos can be seen on the dealer's website (link above) which is now marked as "Sold"!

[jckent]

Lovely car. I know you'll enjoy the hell out of it.