It's that time of year again when your highly desirable BMW Z3 is getting ready for the next 6 months of summer driving, or maybe you don't have a BMW Z3 yet and are looking to buy one.
Either way you will want a Wind Deflector to make a good car a great car. Why will I want a Wind Deflector and what does it do........well a Wind Deflector or sometimes called a Wind Brake, Rear wind screen, Wind Blox is something that helps keep the wind from blowing you around when driving your car. Basically as you drive your open top car the air rushing into the windscreen is forced over the top but unfortunately because the windscreen is like an aircraft wing the air rotates down and forward into the cabin area of the car as in the photo of a BMW Z4 below
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When this happens the drive becomes very unpleasant, limiting the speed of the car and the duration of use of the car.
So we all agree a wind deflector is a good idea but in the case of the Z3 it's not that straight forward!
BMW back in the day produced the BMW Z3 with and without roll bars, the black things that sit up behind your seat. If you have a set fitted then the job of fitting a wind deflector is a little easier.
You have a few options.
1) Stretch mesh that pulls over the roll bars. Available from BMW
2) Perspex item that is made from 5mm plastic in Clear or Tinted and is attached with Velcro, makes for a simple but effective solution. Available from Just Roadster.
3) Steel frame with mesh covering is attached with Velcro, makes for a simple but effective solution. Available from Just Roadster
If You don't have Roll Bars............Life can be more difficult
1) Some BMW Z3 cars when built had 2x holes in the rear of the car between the two seat belt turrets, this was for a metal framed wind deflector that slotted into place via the two holes, this was available from BMW but I don't think are available now. The other important point to make about the two holes is they are not all the same! BMW made the spacing different on the early to later cars so even if you get an original wind deflector it might not fit!! But we do have a solution....Just Roadster can supply a very similar product to the OEM version that have two pins that locate into the holes and are adjustable so this will fit the early and later cars.....happy days!
2) Not all Z3 cars have to two holes as mentioned in 1) If you don't then keep reading.
Another solution if a bit more radical and involves more fitting work and can involve drilling parts of the car. This wind deflector fits into the seatbelt turrets. On the early Z3 you have two inspection covers which make life easier, by removing them and some internal bodywork you can fit the wind deflector, if you don't have the inspection covers you will need to drill holes to accommodate the fittings.
This option is very popular as it's a good strong fixing and looks the part but more work required to fit in the first place. Available from Just Roadster
3) After market Dual Chrome roll bar is your next port of call.
This type of fitting serves two purposes, one you get a roll bar but only in looks (they are not designed to take any weight if the car rolls over) and two, somewhere to fix a wind deflector.
The Roll Bar fits into the same position as the wind deflector in section 2, the seat belt turrets.
Fitting can be a time consuming process and will require some skill to fit. Getting hold of the roll bar is now becoming more difficult but your Z3 might already come with it fitted. You can always tell this type of roll bar as it has a joining tube from one side to the other. Just Roadster make a special wind deflector to fit this roll bar should you require one.
4) Finally we come to Chrome Roll Bars but not Dual Chrome as in section 3.
If you have a Z3 with the standard black roll bar then your car can be changed over to the chrome look, this is quite a simple job. This type of roll bar is not designed to save your life, they just look good.
But to add a twist to the whole roll bar story a company call AC Schnitzer who build modified cars one being the BMW Z3 back in the day made a set of Stainless steel roll bars but in thick material that would withstand the car being rolled over. You can normally identify this type of roll bar by the little pad at the top of the roll bar......this is a very expensive add on and you would be very lucky to have a car with them attached.
In terms of wind deflectors on a chrome roll bar the only workable option will be the Perspex wind deflector due to the slippery nature of chrome the standard OEM mesh wind deflector from BMW won't stay in place.
I hope this has been of interest to you it may not be as straight forward as you first thought.
If you need any further help or advice feel free to get in contact with Just Roadster, we are always on hand to help.
Website www.justroadster.com
Email sales@justroadster.com
Telephone 01427 671441
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