Couple of questions from new owner...

[paris1]

Just got home after picking up a used 2013 s35i 7 spd DCT in the Phoenix area over 800 miles away. Great drive and we averaged almost 27.5 mpg; surprised the hell outa' me!
Couple of quick questions. Since this was not a CPO car and was purchased from a Benz dealer that didn't take great pains with preparing it for resale, there a few small items I must deal with myself. One of which is minor curb rash on one rim. I've done this dozens of times on my wife's Miata, so I'm pretty confident I can make it disappear, but I need the correct touch-up paint to do it properly. Has anyone done this and, if so, what paint did you use? Does BMW sell wheel touch up paint, or is there a Duplicolor paint code that works best. These are 18" #325M star wheels.
The other thing I noticed at freeway speeds is quite a shrill wind whistle coming off the left hand rear view mirror. Anyone else noticed this and is there a cure for it?
Thanks in advance for any help.

[RobC2]

Not sure on the answer to any of your questions, but congrats! Great mileage too. Look forward to seeing some pics.

[paris1]

Originally Posted by RobC2

Not sure on the answer to any of your questions, but congrats! Great mileage too. Look forward to seeing some pics.

Thanks. It's space grey which, while not our first choice, works well with the coral red interior. Will post some pics when I get it cleaned up. Here's another question maybe you or someone can answer. What do people do to get around the pathetic excuse for an owner's manual BMW supplies with the car. For a vehicle this loaded with technology, I'm shocked at how limited the text is. Feels like there's an "addendum" missing or something. My $25k Mazda CX-5 came with a manual twice as thick and with type font half the size!

[jparnes1]

I have used the alloy wheel repair kit from Bavauto and while the paint color is not 100%, it's pretty close and you can't tell from a distance. They sell the paint and clear separately from the kit. The silver color is supposed to be a close match for BMW wheels.
I'm curious though since you have experience repairing curb rash...do you paint the entire wheel or mask out an area around the defect and just paint that? I ask because unless you get an exact matching paint, you will always see a line on close inspection.

[paris1]

Originally Posted by jparnes1

I have used the alloy wheel repair kit from Bavauto and while the paint color is not 100%, it's pretty close and you can't tell from a distance. They sell the paint and clear separately from the kit. The silver color is supposed to be a close match for BMW wheels.
I'm curious though since you have experience repairing curb rash...do you paint the entire wheel or mask out an area around the defect and just paint that? I ask because unless you get an exact matching paint, you will always see a line on close inspection.

Well first off, I'm not claiming these are expert repairs that I do. I tried to find the product you refer to on Bavauto's web site and could not find it, so I don't know what kind of a kit you're talking about. From your remarks, it sounds like a spray on product, which is not what I use. I use a traditional auto touchup tube with a brush applicator after carefully grinding/sanding the sore spot enough to get rid of the worst of the rash. Apply one or two coats of color and finish with clear coat. Yes, you can see it if you get right up on top of it, but if you get a good color match (and Duplicolor has dozens of silver variants) it's pretty hard to spot from a casual glance. If the rash is bad enough, I always have the option of a wheel repair service, but you have to understand, this will be my wife's DD and in 17 years of her driving Miatas, she's trashed way more alloys than I care to think about (despite numerous heart-to-heart discussions about this horrible habit) and I don't expect that to change with the Z4 (although, lik always, she swears she'll do better). If I ran to the wheel shop every time she bounced off a curb, I'd be in the poor house in no time!!

[Mayhem]

My local BMW actually has a detail shop onsite and they repaired all my curb rashes professionally. I can't even tell where they were.

[jparnes1]

Originally Posted by paris1

Well first off, I'm not claiming these are expert repairs that I do. I tried to find the product you refer to on Bavauto's web site and could not find it, so I don't know what kind of a kit you're talking about. From your remarks, it sounds like a spray on product, which is not what I use. I use a traditional auto touchup tube with a brush applicator after carefully grinding/sanding the sore spot enough to get rid of the worst of the rash. Apply one or two coats of color and finish with clear coat. Yes, you can see it if you get right up on top of it, but if you get a good color match (and Duplicolor has dozens of silver variants) it's pretty hard to spot from a casual glance. If the rash is bad enough, I always have the option of a wheel repair service, but you have to understand, this will be my wife's DD and in 17 years of her driving Miatas, she's trashed way more alloys than I care to think about (despite numerous heart-to-heart discussions about this horrible habit) and I don't expect that to change with the Z4 (although, lik always, she swears she'll do better). If I ran to the wheel shop every time she bounced off a curb, I'd be in the poor house in no time!!

Bavauto sells an alloy Wheel Repair kit (AW-KIT). It has metal files, sand paper, epoxy filler, silver and clear paint. It works very well. If you take your time you can end up with an almost invisible repair even with deep gouges.

[paris1]

Originally Posted by jparnes1

Bavauto sells an alloy Wheel Repair kit (AW-KIT). It has metal files, sand paper, epoxy filler, silver and clear paint. It works very well. If you take your time you can end up with an almost invisible repair even with deep gouges.

Thanks, but that's a little more involved than I want to get. These are three very small scuff marks which are not big enough to require filling. I should be able to file them down and, as I said, if I can get a good match on touch up paint, that should be sufficient. What can you tell me about body color touch up paint? Does everyone just use the overpriced factory stuff, or something like duplicolor, who I'm sure has a listing for the paint code?

[jparnes1]

Duplicolor makes a hypersilver color and a "wheel coating" paint. Are you saying bmw makes a touch up paint for wheels? I didn't know that.

[paris1]

Apparently they do. There are a couple of listings on Amazon from a BMW dealer in Boston for genuine BMW wheel paint. Comes in two shades; one lighter than the other and the pics show traditional BMW touchup paint packaging. I'm going to call them tomorrow and verify which one matches my wheels.
PS: Can you answer my question elsewhere here about the correct wiper blades for this thing? Thanks.

[Visionist]

It does strike me as odd that the E89 uses pantograph wipers when practically every modern car has moved on to those flexible rubber affairs now, which look better as well as offering a continuous point of contact on the windscreen along the blade's length, rather than the four-or-so points of a pantograph setup. The flexible ones don't need a wiper spoiler either.



I mean, the new SL has state-of-the-art heated wipers with integrated washer channels...

[paris1]

Can you say "off-topic" Visionist?

[rking117]

Hi Paris Hilton (haha), as for the wheels it wouldnt cost tht much to have them powder coated and done right. So instead of spending about $20 for the touch up paint and materials jsut spend about $65 to have it power coated and it will be more durable too.