Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #71
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southington, CT
    Posts
    1,376
    sorry, knew you hated your bumper, but hadn't seen that what you wanted was an MTech..... (but should have known I guess!)
    Pete


  2. #72

    The Orient Steed: Yet Another Touring Story

    MTech II or nothing...best looking bumper for non-M cars


    Sent from my iPhone 11 Pro Max using Tapatalk Pro

  3. #73
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Branford, CT
    Posts
    16,055
    Quote Originally Posted by pedro2u View Post
    sorry, knew you hated your bumper, but hadn't seen that what you wanted was an MTech..... (but should have known I guess!)
    lol
    No worries. I mentioned the front bumper earlier and figured it would be reasonable to assume a matching rear would be in order but didn't go as far as spelling it out. My bad.
    BP
    2005 330i ZHP / 6MT
    Imolarot / Naturbraun
    2003 330iT / 6MT
    Orientblau / Naturbraun




    It's not the car you drive, it's how you drive it.

  4. #74
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Branford, CT
    Posts
    16,055
    I guess I couldn't ignore it any longer. The stock steering wheel is "sufficient", but not having driven my ZHP in over 4 months, I really missed the feel of a proper steering wheel. There's something about a thicker steering wheel that greatly enhances the driving experience, not to mention that it looks significantly better.

    I've been looking on eBay for an M-Sport steering wheel with upper and lower trims that was also still in a wrappable condition, with the thinking that I will wrap it with a DIY leather kit. I already purchased a sport wheel airbag, and made sure that it was one of the new airbags that BMW has been replacing recalled bags with (checked the VIN of the car it came from). With the recent ZHP purchase by Charlie, an opportunity presented itself when he mentioned he will be replacing the steering wheel with the one from his old ZHP. That meant the steering wheel off this one would become "available". So, I now have a steering wheel courtesy of Charlie.





    This wheel appears to have a brand new alcantara wrap on it. It isn't matted down at all and feels brand new. Unfortunately the wrap was very poorly done. There are several places where the finishing is practically non-existent. Here are some examples.

    These sections weren't trimmed and stuck down properly:









    The wrap also wasn't aligned properly prior to being stitched, so the stitching toward the top of the wheel migrates toward the outside part of the wheel.





    To add to the problems, the material on the top part of the steering wheel can be moved. I can sit there and twist the material back and forth, which feels really strange and also makes a very light sound when touching the area.

    I'm guessing the lower trim is probably messed up, which would explain the wrap. I won't find out until I remove it, as it's not my bag. Honestly, neither is alcantara. I will be getting a leather wrap kit for this down the road, but for now, I'll take advantage of the brand new alcantara until I get around to replacing the material when it wears a bit. This is still better than the slimy leather on the stock wheel, and am still very happy with having this wheel! Thanks again, Charlie.

    Last edited by az3579; 04-09-2021 at 09:02 PM.
    BP
    2005 330i ZHP / 6MT
    Imolarot / Naturbraun
    2003 330iT / 6MT
    Orientblau / Naturbraun




    It's not the car you drive, it's how you drive it.

  5. #75
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Huntsville, AL
    Posts
    4,397
    Good Luck with the transformation!


    Sent from my iPhone Xs using Tapatalk

    Dinan; Hign Flow Intake System, & Strut Tower Brace
    Turner Motorsports; Underdrive Power Pulleys
    Koni Sport, Bridgestone; Potenza RE-11, Coby Wheel
    Stewart High Performance Water Pump
    Hawk High Performance Street 5.0 Brake Pads
    Brembo Rotor

    The purposeful face of a formidable athlete:

    The spine-tingling 330i Performance Package.

    Purchased CPO on 12/23/2006 with 28,090 miles

  6. #76
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Quote Originally Posted by 3ZHPGUY View Post
    Good Luck with the transformation!


    Sent from my iPhone Xs using Tapatalk
    +1

    Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  7. #77
    New pictures look good Botond! At least your side mirrors are now painted can't wait to see them in person

  8. #78
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Branford, CT
    Posts
    16,055
    I guess it's been a while since I've posted updates. A few things were done...


    Got wood? I did, and not the good kind. While the stock wood trim is "fine", and I didn't mind the look overall for this car, I still wanted to "prepare" it for what was to come. I had an opportunity to do a trade of trims, which I followed through on. The end result was a set of black cube trim that I refinished. The trim wasn't in the best of shape...





















    After the respray, it looked much better...











    Before:









    After:












    I just need to swap out the shift knob for a leather one, but I like that I can keep my hand on the wood shift knob without wearing it unnecessarily, so I might just keep this for a while longer. Maybe there'll be a 6-speed in there one day...






    I've had several Wizgear mounts over the years, and a few of them have broken. This time around, I decided to switch it up and get something that uses what seems like metal parts as well as lacks physical adjustment mechanism like the Wizgear had. For the Wizgear, it was a circular tab thingy that you had to tighten on the back to keep the magnet mount from circulating around the ball. On the new one, there is no adjustment mechanism but instead just requires some force to move. This looks a good bit more reliable, even if the magnetism isn't quite as strong. This one is made by Syncwire and is available from Amazon.












    Now, one of my favorite mods so far. The steering wheel that I was given had a fresh alcantara wrap on it. Sure, fresh alcantara is "nice" but I honestly can't stand touching alcantara on a steering wheel. I tried to like it, but my hands keep slipping on it and the constant stress of wear is not for me. I remedied this situation with a nice genuine leather kit from a company called Mewant. They appeared to have the nicest kits out there, so I ordered one up for about $60.


    The kit I ordered is a perforated/Nappa cover, with the perforated leather on the sides and the smooth Nappa on the top and bottom. The stitching wasn't available in just black (ready order) and would have had to contact them to get that custom. I didn't feel like doing that so I just went with the tri-color. I'm glad I did, because the colors just pop!


    Here's the wheel as it was before:


















    The stitching at the top of the wheel was twisted outward, which looked really awkward...









    Off with the old, showing the original alcantara underneath:





















    On with the new. Lining up the new leather to make sure it'll line up properly when sewn:












    My first sewn section. Since this is the first time I've done any sewing whatsoever in my life, I had no idea that I could pull harder on the thread to close the gap tighter. I thought I was going to break the thread, so unfortunately I didn't get the gap completely closed in this section. I eventually figured it out on another section, but by then I was almost done. I may have to re-sew this at some point...












    By the time I figured it out, it was looking mint. This was the final section that I did.









    Done!








    BP
    2005 330i ZHP / 6MT
    Imolarot / Naturbraun
    2003 330iT / 6MT
    Orientblau / Naturbraun




    It's not the car you drive, it's how you drive it.

  9. #79
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Great updates!

    Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

  10. #80
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    10,243
    That steering wheel turned out great. I've never actually driven a car with an alcantara steering wheel that is in good shape, so I've never even thought about going that route. Too much maintenance/stress.

    What did you use to respray the cube trim? It looks much better than wood, IMO.

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