New Member from New Zealand

[Willy Sea]

New member from NZ with Dec 2006 build e86 3.0si coupe 6 manual transmission. Previous owner seven years and 119000 miles up. Full BMW dealer history.
Acquired last week and on the 250 mile drive home a couple of questions arose.
At high speed the steering became quite vague, tramlining and following road camber enough for the car to become a quite a handful to control.
And the squeaks and rattles are something else too, but we can gentling work on identifying these and fixing.
It has the motorsport suspension, and the seven years worth of service invoices makes absolutely no mention of any suspension work during this time, the PO clocked up 72000 miles during his ownership and went thru three sets of tyres.
Thinking a good place to start would be to check out the front end and replace the fcabs, and check thru the rear, replacing any bushings as necessary, then give the car a proper four corner wheel alignment. Possibly switch out the original shocks and replace with Koni these seem to suit our road conditions better than the bilstein equivalent.
We plan to add a set of Apex / BBS CH wheels, carbon fibre the alu paneling in the cockpit, and a spoiler to the rear, and perhaps front splitters too.
The seats need new squabs and the side bolster on the drivers seat needs a repair so we will strip both out, repair and recolour in black and refit.
The N52 engine performance more than raised my eyebrows in pleasant surprise, the car would give it's S50 and S54 engined siblings in the garage a real wake up call!.
Any comments or advice on the above gratefully received,please chip in with and thank you for reading.

[Finnegan]

Sounds like a good plan on the FCABs. I'd look at all the bushings at that mileage + years. RTABs too, even diff, trans mount, and subframe if you're so inclined. BMW shocks are known to be pretty much toast at 40k miles, good plan on the shock replacement, and associated wear items.

Congrats on the car! That's a rare find. S50 and S54? E36 and E46 M3s or is the a Z3M in the mix?

[wdb]

My 3.0si coupe with far lower mileage tramlined a lot too. Straight line steering was always something that required higher than normal attention. It was frequently mentioned in road test reviews of new cars as well. I got used to it. That said, FCabs at your mileage are an excellent idea. Shocks too if they haven't been done. Then find a reputable shop to give you a proper alignment. Then live with what's left. ;-)

Congratulations on the purchase! I agree on the N52 motor in 3.0si trim, it is a delight. 200 lbs. lighter than the S54 lump, 3-stage intake that just keeps on giving, a really nice package in the Z4. Enjoy it!

[Willy Sea]

Was astounded by the performance on the quick drive home. Such great value for money compared to the S54 engined cars. We will get it handling correctly then "hot rod" it a bit with Apex or BBS rims, Michelin PS4's a rear spoiler from Skyer (?) An AFE airbox perhaps.
Its a bit like restoring a Healey 3000 or E Type Jaguar, but at a fraction of the cost And three times the drive at the finish. Thanks for the reply.

[Willy Sea]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Sounds like a good plan on the FCABs. I'd look at all the bushings at that mileage + years. RTABs too, even diff, trans mount, and subframe if you're so inclined. BMW shocks are known to be pretty much toast at 40k miles, good plan on the shock replacement, and associated wear items.

Congrats on the car! That's a rare find. S50 and S54? E36 and E46 M3s or is the a Z3M in the mix?

M Coupe, one of the 163 in RHD, E36 S50 and E46 M3. This little coupe shames them all, albeit being a generation further on. Thanks for the reply.

[Huz-Z]

Welcome!

The tramlining thing was a very common problem on non-M Z4's owing I think to the fact that they all came factory-equipped with runflat tires and at that point, BMW hadn't figured out how to make the steering work properly or the car ride smoothly with them (have they even now?). In fact, I'd be as bold as to say that it put off some people to the point where it affected sales figures. However, it seems that most everyone who bought one of these cars, either new or used, and came to this board, very quickly found out that ditching the runflats made a massive improvement in the car's steering and ride.

I've been an enthusiastic Z4 3.0 si supporter for years and I'm glad to see that you are enjoying your car. They are definitely cool little machines - just see Post #14 at the thread in this link for proof ( ) : https://www.zpost.com/forums/showpos...4&postcount=14

[rsutoratosu]

Welcome.. by chance are you near Auckland ?

I replace my tire with non run flat and still have the tramline issue... have to drive on perfectly flat road...

[WickedNy]

It's something you learn to live with, upgrades all bushings to full poly set, whole suspension etc....still tram lines