Just a quick bit of info for you Z4 owners who are waiting on baited breath for your roof to stop working!! (applies to cars up to 2009) I think but I don't think you rich guys who own a modern one have to worry 
I was always concerned that my roof motor would finally give up the ghost - from the day I bought my car. Sure enough it went just in time for summer!! Luckily I'd been anticipating this and trying to figure out what I would do.
To cut a long story short I found a guy in Harrogate (Yorkshire), called Mervyn, who has a small one man operation business called Autoelectron. I called Merv, as he likes to be called, and he gave me a lot of useful information with regard to failing roof motors. The good news is its not just Z4 motors that go bang. Apparently Mercedes have a bad rep too!!
Anyway what Merv does is relocate the roof motor to the boot however he always uses a brand new motor and if I had pictures of my old one you'd see why!! As many of you will know the roof motor in a Z4 is situated in a small tray behind the passenger seat and the conventional way to replace it involves removing the roof. There are drain plugs in this tray but they are renowned for getting blocked and this causes the roof motor to become corroded with rust eventually killing it.
Merv, quite a big guy, climbs into your boot and with dexterity and some clever tools will remove the old, knackered, motor without removing the roof. There are advantages to this. Firstly the cost. It will cost well over £1000.00 to have the roof removed and get a replacement motor fitted into its original position. Secondly, as Merv explained to me, its not a good idea to remove the roof on numerous occasions. Merv used to replace motors the conventional way. However when a customer returned, with the same problem, two years after having his roof motor replaced he decided to explore different options. Removing the roof is a tricky job and doing it more than once can lead to or enhance the chance of ripping tired fabric or simply not getting it realigned properly. Merv came up with putting it in the boot in a neat little casing that doesn't take away boot space. It takes him between 4 and 6 hours to do the job and it will cost you , including the cost of a brand new motor, around £670.00. He will guarantee your new motor for two years but he assured me that it will now last the life of the vehicle as it is highly unlikely to suffer water ingress in its new position. Besides if anything does go wrong it is now easily accessible.
There are other people out there that can do the same job - well i found two others. One in Surrey and one up in Durham so Yorkshire it was for me.
Anyway Merv's a really good guy and Harrogate is a lovely place to go for a spin. Look him up.
I will be happy to take pictures if any one is interested and if you want Mervs contact details give me a shout!!
Cheers and happy motoring guys
Rob
I was always concerned that my roof motor would finally give up the ghost - from the day I bought my car. Sure enough it went just in time for summer!! Luckily I'd been anticipating this and trying to figure out what I would do.
To cut a long story short I found a guy in Harrogate (Yorkshire), called Mervyn, who has a small one man operation business called Autoelectron. I called Merv, as he likes to be called, and he gave me a lot of useful information with regard to failing roof motors. The good news is its not just Z4 motors that go bang. Apparently Mercedes have a bad rep too!!
Anyway what Merv does is relocate the roof motor to the boot however he always uses a brand new motor and if I had pictures of my old one you'd see why!! As many of you will know the roof motor in a Z4 is situated in a small tray behind the passenger seat and the conventional way to replace it involves removing the roof. There are drain plugs in this tray but they are renowned for getting blocked and this causes the roof motor to become corroded with rust eventually killing it.
Merv, quite a big guy, climbs into your boot and with dexterity and some clever tools will remove the old, knackered, motor without removing the roof. There are advantages to this. Firstly the cost. It will cost well over £1000.00 to have the roof removed and get a replacement motor fitted into its original position. Secondly, as Merv explained to me, its not a good idea to remove the roof on numerous occasions. Merv used to replace motors the conventional way. However when a customer returned, with the same problem, two years after having his roof motor replaced he decided to explore different options. Removing the roof is a tricky job and doing it more than once can lead to or enhance the chance of ripping tired fabric or simply not getting it realigned properly. Merv came up with putting it in the boot in a neat little casing that doesn't take away boot space. It takes him between 4 and 6 hours to do the job and it will cost you , including the cost of a brand new motor, around £670.00. He will guarantee your new motor for two years but he assured me that it will now last the life of the vehicle as it is highly unlikely to suffer water ingress in its new position. Besides if anything does go wrong it is now easily accessible.
There are other people out there that can do the same job - well i found two others. One in Surrey and one up in Durham so Yorkshire it was for me.
Anyway Merv's a really good guy and Harrogate is a lovely place to go for a spin. Look him up.
I will be happy to take pictures if any one is interested and if you want Mervs contact details give me a shout!!
Cheers and happy motoring guys
Rob
