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The bonnet badge on my recently purchased 3.0i Coupe was just an alluminium blob. All the paint was gone. It saddens me that BMW cannot provide a badge that can stand the test of time.
The dealer quoted me R899-00 for a new one.
About 2 years ago I replaced the bonnet badge on my E46 with a cheapy from E-Bay and I can report that it is still looking good.
I thus decides to source a similar cheaper bagde from one of the local spares suppliers advertising them on gumtree.
This is when the fun and games started.
Replacing the badge on a E46 and on most other BMW's is rather easy. Pry it off with a hard piece of plastic or a piece of string, fit two new grommets and push the new unit down...job done.
BUT NO .....!!
With the Z4's the badge is secured with two flimsy nuts and you need to unscrew them from behind the bumper, or you can apply extreme force to brake the badge off from the bumper... Not recommended !!
see items 9 and 16 in this drawing .
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=BT53-USA---E85-BMW-Z4+3.0i&diagId=51_4848
To make matters worse... the Z4 badge is 70mm in diameter vs the 74 mm for most other BMW's.
You cannot source them on E-Bay or anywhere else but the dealer.
By chance I walked into the China Mall shop where I know that they stock many car badges and the guy sold me this for R150-00.
It is a thin plastic badge cap with self adhesive tape at the back that fits onto the other plastic roundel that you would normally fit onto a E46 bonnet with the two rubber grommets.
The problem is that the plastic roundel is 74 mm and does not fit on a Z4. It will sit proud ..standing out from the bonnet surface.
The thin plastic badge cap (by chance) fits perfectly over the existing badge.
I cleaned the self adhesive glue from this badge cap I then roughened the back end of the badge cap and the existing badge on my car's bonnet with some 100 grit sandpaper.
I mixed some epoxy and glued the thin badge cap over my car's existing badge.
The visual result was close to perfect. I have an Independent BMW Repair Shop as a neighbour and he could not spot that it was not an original badge.
I cannot tell how long it will last , but for R150-00 rand , a blob of glue and half an hour of PT , I am willing to take the change and feel happy that I deprived the dealer of R899-00.
The dealer quoted me R899-00 for a new one.
About 2 years ago I replaced the bonnet badge on my E46 with a cheapy from E-Bay and I can report that it is still looking good.
I thus decides to source a similar cheaper bagde from one of the local spares suppliers advertising them on gumtree.
This is when the fun and games started.
Replacing the badge on a E46 and on most other BMW's is rather easy. Pry it off with a hard piece of plastic or a piece of string, fit two new grommets and push the new unit down...job done.
BUT NO .....!!
With the Z4's the badge is secured with two flimsy nuts and you need to unscrew them from behind the bumper, or you can apply extreme force to brake the badge off from the bumper... Not recommended !!
see items 9 and 16 in this drawing .
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=BT53-USA---E85-BMW-Z4+3.0i&diagId=51_4848
To make matters worse... the Z4 badge is 70mm in diameter vs the 74 mm for most other BMW's.
You cannot source them on E-Bay or anywhere else but the dealer.
By chance I walked into the China Mall shop where I know that they stock many car badges and the guy sold me this for R150-00.
It is a thin plastic badge cap with self adhesive tape at the back that fits onto the other plastic roundel that you would normally fit onto a E46 bonnet with the two rubber grommets.
The problem is that the plastic roundel is 74 mm and does not fit on a Z4. It will sit proud ..standing out from the bonnet surface.
The thin plastic badge cap (by chance) fits perfectly over the existing badge.
I cleaned the self adhesive glue from this badge cap I then roughened the back end of the badge cap and the existing badge on my car's bonnet with some 100 grit sandpaper.
I mixed some epoxy and glued the thin badge cap over my car's existing badge.
The visual result was close to perfect. I have an Independent BMW Repair Shop as a neighbour and he could not spot that it was not an original badge.
I cannot tell how long it will last , but for R150-00 rand , a blob of glue and half an hour of PT , I am willing to take the change and feel happy that I deprived the dealer of R899-00.
