Body beautiful

mind Fortunately the rust wasn’t deep and hadn’t spread

2004

BMW Z4 3.0i SE

ROBERT HEFFERON

NESTLING BETWEEN the houses at the other end of my road is a small workshop While it could easily be mistaken as a resident’s garage, it’s actually the business premises of local bodywork guy Anthony (AR Knight), who has been there longer than many of the houses

As previously mentioned, I had booked the Z4 in with him to tackle the blistering that started to show around the rear ’arches, and a couple of days later he’d completely cured the problem –and taken a little weight off my

However, now that the rust had gone, the condition of the paint and some more prominent scratches really stood out Head the other way along my road for a couple of minutes and you’ll come to the home of Karl (Steers detailing) I had seen Karl’s posts on our local Facebook community page and learned that he has been around cars for quite some time, previously working alongside his father restoring and painting many classics They have recently completed a Morris Minor pick-up that Karl now works from when visiting customers; a nice touch, I thought

I spoke to Karl to find out what he thought about the condition of the paint, and whether he could help He suspected that a local cat had taken a shine to my car, as they can with soft-tops, and had left a few tell-tale claw marks on my bonnet, but it wasn’t anything that a little attention couldn’t minimise I booked the Z4 in for a clean, machine polish and a year ’ s graphene sealant, and Karl sealed the hood for me, too!

The car now looks fantastic for having 18 years of tired surface marks polished away and, even though I’m unable to garage it over the winter, I feel confident that the bodywork won’t suffer

In fact, after speaking recently with Ben Field of Vintage Tyres (vintagetyres.com), I learned that lack of use by a previous owner could well be the cause of the problem with my tyres, which tend to pull the steering wheel about at the slightest groove in the road surface. The age and low mileage of my car suggest lots of hibernation periods that cause flat spots on the rather hard run-flats. Ben sees this quite a lot and is sure it’s the problem.

He advises me to stick with the run-flats, however, as, despite what some say, they are actually very good and the car is set up for them, but they tend to be avoided because of their added cost and the extra difficulty in fitting. Further investigation shows I have a buy-as-you-need-them set of tyres that range in age from 2006 to 2016, so I’ll be visiting Ben at his headquarters in Beaulieu to update all of the old rubber soon.

‘I’m desperate to get my garage cleared of furniture so I can bring the Moretti Sportiva out of storage at DTR Sports Cars – I haven’t seen it since 2021!’

Richard Heseltine

‘Now my Integra’s bodywork is looking smart, I can’t help but notice other areas that are letting it down. Next on the job list is a wheel refurb’

Matthew Hayward

‘The recent cold snap made me panic about the antifreeze situation in my Cord, Studebaker and 1950 Ford that live outside, but I seem to have escaped disaster’

Delwyn Mallett

‘With Christmas as a cover, several large Elan-related boxes arrived unnoticed from Classic Team Lotus, including an electric headlamp lift kit’

James Elliott

+44 (0)1590 431051 vintagetyres.com

by Octane staff and contributors