Time for an overhaul of my 1.9 '98 BMW Z3 Individual

[Kenhayes247]

ok, so it's Saturday, and another day on the car....firstly.... "new" shocks turned up on Tuesday courtesy of eBay. well.... better than the ones I took off !.... they'll get rubbed down and sprayed gloss black....

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Then I attacked that lower control arm with the pickle fork and OH MY GAAAAAAAAAD.... both came off in about 10 minutes !! ..used it as well to separate the lower ball joint from the knuckle... so as @Althulas suggested, these are DEFINITELY the way to go if you're not planning on putting those ball joints back on.

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so for posterity when I look back, this is the state of the hubs...

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and i had a little chuckle to myself when I saw the brake pad wear sensor was tucked into the clip

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"While I'm here" I thought.. I'll get the bearings out.....

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knocked the tabs back ......... DUG OUT THE NUGGAAA !!!!....

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The nut didn't round off on me like it did with the driveshaft nut a couple of years ago, so I think I've finally overcome my fear of Impact Wrenches.

used the old trick of dropping an extension bar down the hole...

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Then failed to take a photo of my hub puller setup.....

hang on let me recreate for educational purposes..........................................................right... I'm back....

there you go....

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both Hubs came off really easily and did I get away with it ??

...... no

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Tried getting the hub puller on the bearing shell that was left over and... no dice chicago....

So I tried the angle grinder approach, but getting in there with the back plate on was tricky, so thought I'd cut it off as I have new shiny ones !!

what is this race doing ?... marked with the yellow arrow... it's not part of the bearing and I don't want to destroy it, but it's stopping me getting the backplate off and hence the bearing shell

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so that should be the last of the big parts off..... definitely onto the front end rebuild !!!

Hi Matt - I believe the part indicated by the yellow arrow is a dust cover for the wheel bearing.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Hi Matt - I believe the part indicated by the yellow arrow is a dust cover for the wheel bearing.

thanks Ken...yeah I ended up googling it, as I knew it wasn't part of the bearing but you have to get it off to get the dust shield off. saw a video of one guy heating it up and prying it off. Shockingly they're about £20 each!..one of them is rusted so I'll have to get at least one new one...

 

[Matt Barnes]

so... day two on the front hub........decided as I need to buy a new rear dust seal anyway i might as well sacrifice it to make way for an attempt at getting my hub puller onto the back of the race..did the same the other side but my pulller just won't fit

I tried grinding down the "hook" but to no avail... I did try the cutting slots method but bottled it as I don't want to damage the shaft.

What I did learn is that apparently, SKF bearings have a groove round the top of that shell, onto which you could clamp a puller whereas "aftermarket" shells are smooth...... who knew !

anyway... I'll park that for now, and I've ordered one of these.... from Tesco online of all places !!

so with that on it's way I decided to make a pig's ear out of a silk purse ... and tidy up the front discs

then moved on to the carbide wheel as I felt it was friendlier to the metal

Then I took a chunk out of my finger which meant I retired hurt and resorted to whiskey

 

[Mazza]

You’ll be amazed how many times on my rebuilds I’ve retired hurt and needed alcohol ……….and sometimes I wasn’t even hurt ….

 

[Matt Barnes]

You’ll be amazed how many times on my rebuilds I’ve retired hurt and needed alcohol ……….and sometimes I wasn’t even hurt ….

indeed mate.... I've been attacked several times now by my angle grinder. Sod's law I'd just taken my glove off to search for something on my phone, carried on grinding and "ouch" got nicked on the knuckle by the carbide wheel which took a chunk out...

 

[Althulas]

Surprised you’re having to use a puller to get the hubs off. Mine just looked as crusty but came off easily or maybe angry with a lump hammer

 

[Mint]

Those discs have come up a treat Matt, hope you checked they were 'true' before you spent time on them

I've also retired hurt on more than one occassion over the years

 

[Matt Barnes]

Surprised you’re having to use a puller to get the hubs off. Mine just looked as crusty but came off easily or maybe angry with a lump hammer

they're still not off mate...parked it for now...whiskey won in the end

 

[Kenhayes247]

Matt - if you cut a vertical line down the entire length of the bearing shell as opposed to across. Use your dremel and a suitable cutting disc to do this. Cut as deep as you can without going through. Then using a cold chisel and hammer knock down through the channel you have cut and it should separate.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Matt - if you cut a vertical line down the entire length of the bearing shell as opposed to across. Use your dremel and a suitable cutting disc to do this. Cut as deep as you can without going through. Then using a cold chisel and hammer knock down through the channel you have cut and it should separate.

thanks Ken....I did think of something like that and will probably take your advice when I get back to it next weekend. I just got a bit paranoid as if I nick the shaft it'll knacker it. But yes if I tread carefully it'll probably do it. .

 

[Matt Barnes]

Morning all ..... I just hope I haven't been scammed, but I've been in touch with the seller and they confirmed it's the right sill for the car... as you know these are like rocking horse doo doo.......

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/257050344867.. i'll let you know what happens !

 

[Matt Barnes]

Surprised you’re having to use a puller to get the hubs off. Mine just looked as crusty but came off easily or maybe angry with a lump hammer

the actual hubs came off really easily and on the offside I pulled it off with my hands... it's the inner race that's separated and jammed on, which is being "uncooperative"

 

[Matt Barnes]

well my Tesco tool arrived and took the bearing off in seconds, well worth16 quid!

downside...all my cutting at the weekend has knackered the shaft....so I need another knuckle...or do I?.. as this damage is the inside and not where the ball bearings are

 

[Matt Barnes]

managed to bag a brand new BMW OEM offside outer sill off Ebay...should I get a lottery ticket now?

 

[Matt Barnes]

ok not much happening this weekend, my Wife's Birthday weekend and she's banned me from spending all weekend in the garage...

however, after doing the gardening I bagged a sneaky hour in there.

set to on the hubs again. This time NO CUTTING. As I'm replacing the backplates, I had to sacrifice the dust seal anyway, so hammered out enough that I could get my new favourite toy onto the bearing race.

just a couple of turns and it went loose enough for me to unscrew by hand. In literally 5 minutes it was off

so here's the tool again... got it from Tesco's Online at £16.99, absolutely perfect for the job.

Next I DID get the Dremel out to cut the dust shield. On the nearside hub, there was clearly water ingress as the whole thing had rusted. So gentle cuts and then prized it off with a flat blade screwdriver

but for the other side which was still shiny, I dug out my set of small chisels, and gently tapped down enough to break the seal

… and... off she popped !

and there we are ... took literally 20 minutes

next steps are to try and salvage the ABS sensors, but they look almost welded in there...

then, get back to bright metal, primer and Black Hammerite, and then start rebuilding them back up...

 

[Matt Barnes]

Definitely no garage time today...... but..... researching at replacing the wheel hub dust seals. Got the part number from RealOEM and went to my "usual" places. Now I 'm not sure what's so special about these that warrant they be £25 EACH !

Searching the same part number on LLL parts and they offer the same seal for £9 each.. so buying 2 plus packaging was the same as buying from all other places...

 

[Althulas]

Sometimes you need to check your dealer, paid less than that

 

[Matt Barnes]

Sometimes you need to check your dealer, paid less than that

everywhere I looked for my usual sources they were 25 quid each, wasn't until I dug deeper I found these...maybe I need a longer shovel !

 

[Matt Barnes]

well I do believe it's the weekend again...sooooooo

what were the odds of me managing to get the ABS sensors out in one ?

ZERO.....I tried various ways of wiggling with mole grips while spraying with WD40. Cleaning all the rust off around the sensor and respraying and wiggling..

In the end.. I had to resort to violence... I didn't want to ... all they had to do was comply..... "come out with your magnets raised, or I will be forced to cut and drill you out ! it doesn't need to be this way"....but.....nothing....

so that's it.... chopped the top off then got a wide wood drill bit and drilled then out..

So then I cleaned up the hubs as good as I could to take some black Hammerite smooth...nothing too crazy but enough to give the Hammerite a helping hand...

Then I decided to clean up the shocks I got off Ebay, and I must say I really lucked in !.... one of the left is before cleaning.... one on the right is after white spirit to get rid of the writing and a liberal spray of WD40.... there are a few areas I need to rub down and touch up with gloss spray, but very happy with those

Compared against the ones I took off the car

so that's it for today.... might have another dabble tomorrow...... but until then !....

 

[Matt Barnes]

other things occupying my time today, but I did need to do a big tidy up in the garage so sneaked in a little front caliper breakdown....

I found photos of when I fitted a new nearside caliper body, pipe and hose which was January 2021

so this is from Jan 2021

and this is what it's like on the left in September 2025

so it's held up pretty well I'd say.. the piston still looks really good...

whereas the offside one looks very weathered !!

Pad wear is very even across both of them though. They'll both get the same treatment as the rears, and the zinc plating kit will be seeing daylight again definitely !!

so not much action really today other than a little look at what 4 years of weather does to a new caliper, and to add I live near the sea.