MZ4: Few little cosmetic mods, Painted Reflectors + New Wheel Caps

[Starscream88]

Just a few little cosmetic mods done over the weekend,

as per this thread
http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5388
This introduced me to the new style center caps for BMW's so I put an order in and changed them over this weekend,

Here is a few pics of that,

Mostly comparison pictures of how the new style is compared to the old,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW1-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW11-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW12-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW13-1.jpg


Alright thats enough of that for now, We can see finished results on the car shots further down,

Next was something thats been bothering me for a while, Those horrid orange reflectors,
On my previous Z4 I bought the euro clear half moon shaped ones but the M bumper uses the older Z4's "orb" style <shudder>
So I got myself a can of Imola red, can of primer and a can of clear coat and got to work,

Now I'm not the worlds best painter, I'm sure people can and have done little cosmetic paint mods much better than me but those people wasn't here with me this weekend to do it for me so I guess I'd have to do ;)

Firstly I removed the reflectors which was easy, I already had the wheels off to do the center caps and give the inside of the rims "another" coat of wax, The way I took them out was to remove the headlight access panel in the wheel well and gently push the reflectors back into the bumper and catch them as they popped off,
Sounds easy right, Well not if you DROP ONE! Took me longer to fish the one I dropped out that it did to paint them both lol,
anyway after removal I sanded them to remove all casting marks and part numbers or whatever was on the front of them, after the first stroke with the sandpaper you suddenly realize this is it, no turning back now.
So first was to prime them, (NOT the best pics or walkthrough I know)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW14-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW15-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW16-1.jpg

I did 2 or 3 coats, Can't remember now as I left them a long time to dry between coats,

Then on to the Imola (which doesn't look to good in these photo's but is a very nice color)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW17-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW18-1.jpg
3 or 4 coats of red seemed to do the trick,

I left that overnight to harden before I came in the next morning with the clear, Not much point in showing pictures with clear coat because thats an oxymoron ;)
I used 3 or 4 coats of clear too as I wanted a nice shell of clear as I plan to polish these in a week or so with the porter cable so I want to be sure Im only smoothing the clear,

Next Post, finished pictures!

[Starscream88]

Here are the fitted finished pictures,

I think they came out great and should look even better when polished (I know I have the option of wet sanding but Im dubious on my own ability to perform that)

I chose an "Industrial" background for these set of pics, hope you like it

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW19-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW110.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW111.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW112.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW113.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW114.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW115.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW116.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW117.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW118.jpg

now I'm debating to do the rear red reflectors, On the Imola they don't stand out so much and don't bother me too much,
Opinions? Should I do the rears too?

I'm wondering If I paint the rears the light wont shine through or it might only "just" shine through and look (for want of a better word) crap.

Well thats it for these two small mods,
I have a few others planned again very small cosmetic ones and I'll post them when done :)

[Bmwcat]

Very cool. Nice work and great pics. :thumbup:

[03BeastCharmer]

Very nice. I did my reflectors this weekend, but yours look much better since I just used the touch up brush to paint them. They are not smooth. I may just take them out and really do them properly at a later point, but even what I did do was a Massive improvement, especially on a blue or black car.

[Starscream88]

Very nice. I did my reflectors this weekend, but yours look much better since I just used the touch up brush to paint them. They are not smooth. I may just take them out and really do them properly at a later point, but even what I did do was a Massive improvement, especially on a blue or black car.

Yes they do stick out like a sore thumb on pretty much every color other than red,
Even the front orange ones wasn't "too" bad,

But doing what I did was very simple, The hardest part was finding the paint,
You could even sand what you already did and depending on thickness use it as a primer,
I'm sure paint would stick to it? :dunno: (anyone else who knows paint welcome to chime in)

[Ron Stygar]

Just a few little cosmetic mods done over the weekend,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/Starscream88/BMW12-1.jpg
[

Are the wheel caps tight enough so the index stays.

[cmsnow@pacbell.]

Your painted reflectors look great!

The hardest part was finding the paint

Where did you find the paint?

[Rick Hunter]

SWEET! You finally did your reflectors! They look awesome! I totally forgot about this simple mod. How did you get the Imola Red paint in a can?

I was thinking about doing the reflectors as well as using the paint for my R/C Z4MC :D

BTW, I think you should leave the back reflectors alone. It's fine with our exterior color IMHO.

[Andrewinla]

I agree very nice small touches!
Don't do the rears, but get a red 3rd brake light...or wishI could swap my red for your clear...

Did you buy the paint from paintscratch.com?

I wonder if any brand white would match Alpine white?? I may test.

[Starscream88]

I think you can order a spray can from the dealer,
I actually got my can from Halfords in the UK when I was just home recently,

I know in the UK you can buy the spray cans and touch up sticks from the dealer pretty much off the shelf,
and for those who are not aware Halfords is like a UK Autozone or Pepboys, One thing I knew they always did was paint and if they didn't have it they would mix it for you on the spot,

and yup I'm leaving the rears alone, and I'm not sure about the red 3rd light, I kinda like the clear but I have access to a red one so Ill try that this weekend,

Ron,

These seem to have a lot more grip than the previous ones, and a lot more plastic clips at the back so I'm hoping they don't spin as I indexed them all and I guess time will tell :)

I only drove the car a few miles after this shoot and its been in the garage since,

[JonM]

Thanks for taking the time to make this post. Well done.

Your car and these mods look great.

[NJREDZ06]

Looks great!

Love the car!

[Starscream88]

For those interested in doing this themselves I found a vendor on ebay who is selling Imola Red spray cans and most other BMW colors,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999-2008-BMW-405-IMOLA-RED-TOUCH-UP-SPRAY-CAN_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247 QQcategoryZ50450QQihZ016QQitemZ260159665064QQrdZ1Q QsspagenameZWD1V

$17.95 isn't bad, Thats around what I paid with UK money converted,

[Ron Stygar]

Ron,

These seem to have a lot more grip than the previous ones, and a lot more plastic clips at the back so I'm hoping they don't spin as I indexed them all and I guess time will tell :)

I only drove the car a few miles after this shoot and its been in the garage since,

Yes they are tighter. I used silicone dabs with the stock ones to keep them from rotating.
Nice to see that they went back to the old style 361's,

[Ron Stygar]

<img src="http://bimmerfest.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=154250&stc=1">

[cmsnow@pacbell.]

For those interested in doing this themselves I found a vendor on ebay who is selling Imola Red spray cans and most other BMW colors

Thanks for passing this along - Cheers

[Palantirion@BMS]

Good work, car looks much cleaner now :thumbup:

[Starscream88]

<img src="http://bimmerfest.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=154250&stc=1">

V nice!

And where Ron might one find such lovely lug bolts? :thumbup:

[Ron Stygar]

V nice!

And where Ron might one find such lovely lug bolts? :thumbup:

They are from the Z8. 36 11 8 022 581.
LeatherZ sells them.

[Ron Stygar]

These seem to have a lot more grip than the previous ones, and a lot more plastic clips at the back so I'm hoping they don't spin as I indexed them all and I guess time will tell :)


So far the index holds. Couple of hundred miles or so.

[Starscream88]

So far the index holds. Couple of hundred miles or so.

:thumbup: +1

Mine still are all indexed (but less than 100 miles)
Ron do you know if these are now standard fit on 08/09 BMW's?

[VoidXero]

Great job on the reflectors! This is the very next mod I'm going to do on my IR MC. I agree with leaving the back ones alone. With IR they barely stand out - in fact, I think I actually like them. Yes, that makes me weird...

[Black///Mamba]

starscream, is one can enough to do both reflectors well?

[Starscream88]

starscream, is one can enough to do both reflectors well?

Yes one can could do 2 sets of reflectors

[caseysc1]

They are from the Z8. 36 11 8 022 581.
LeatherZ sells them.

Bought a set from LeatherZ and installed them yesterday. They look VERY nice. Big improvement over the OEM wheel caps on my '05 2.5. Thanks for the info on these, Ron and Starscream88!

[Ron Stygar]

:thumbup: +1


Ron do you know if these are now standard fit on 08/09 BMW's?

According to my sales guy the cars in the showroom had them.