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First wash and pictures of my new ZHP

18K views 50 replies 41 participants last post by  thefanatic 
#1 ·
About 3 weeks ago I brought home a 2006 Alpine White ZHP coupe, after searching non-stop for about a month. It's a 6-speed and 100% stock with the exception of a tint. Interior is gray leather with silver cube trim.

I've been pretty busy since, so I haven't really had a chance to give it a nice cleaning besides a quick once over to clean it of the bug guts and road grime that had accumulated over the 1300 miles I drove home. The weather forecast showed virtually no sign of rain for the next 10 days and it was a gorgeous day outside, so conditions were perfect!

I cleaned the wheels with Sonax and various brushes/sponges, using an Ace Turbostick to get at the inside of the wheel. Exterior washed using Optimum No Rinse with a couple of microfiber towels. Wheels were dressed with Adam's VRT.

















One cool thing I discovered was that the I-PASS transponder works perfectly mounted on the plastic panel under the hood, behind the bumper. Most stealth! I verified this a couple of times by going up to toll booths and having the gate automatically open. This allowed me to keep a completely clean look (no front plate, no windshield stickers/transponder) without having the inconvenience of having to pull the transponder out from storage whenever I encounter a toll plaza (knowing me, I'd forget half the time).



Since I brought it home, I've also hardwire the Valentine:



And here it is with its garage mate, which has been increasingly jealous of how much time I've been spending with the new car!

 
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#15 ·
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. The only thing I've done is add the OE strut brace, and that was more to address the concerns about the strut towers "mushrooming" on our lovely Chicago roads than any desire to mod from a visual or performance aspect. The car is perfect, and I have no plans but to maintain it religiously and keep it unmolested. BMW really did an amazing job with this car. Stock is beautiful!

The odometer actually read 10438 when I picked up the car. :yikes: Whoever the previous owner was, he didn't drive it much at all.
 
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