Types of BMW Hardtops?

Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:06 am

Hi all,

Could someone give me the lowdown on buying a BMW Hardtop please?

I have been thinking about getting one for the winter; some questions that came to mind include:

- What types are available? I have seen the brand wiessmann/wiseman being banded around as well as BMW original. What's the difference if any?

- I've seen a hardtop that actually appears to have been metallic painted on the outside. It looked good though. This surprised me as most of the ones for sale appear to be vinyl and matt coloured. Can the standard vinyl tops be resprayed with a metallic colour to match the paint of the car? Are there any problems doing this?

- Do you need any additional special tools to do this?

- Does it matter whether your cabrio is electric or manual hood?

- What do I need to look out for when buying a second hand hood? What are the common problems with these? And what types of problems should make me walk away from buying one?

Finally, what's the average going rate for these things... the prices quoted seem pretty steep at the mo.

Any comments would be gratefully appreciated.

Cheers

Ben

Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:29 am

Hi Mate,

The original BMW hardtop is the one to go for. The Weismann style ones are too round for the shape of the E30, and in my opinion dont look right.

They all came in vinyl from factory and can be stripped to have them colour coded.

its probably best to find one already colour coded and respray to match your colour, as its a pain to strip the vinyl and get the glue off.

Your probably looking at around 400-600 to get one colour coded on top of the price for a hardtop.

Vinyl hardtops can fetch from 500- 900 , and colour coded from around 700 -1100.

i have a colour coded one on my motorsport and it looks much better than vinyl in my opinion.

Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:09 pm

as what was said above, very hard to find one for a cheap price, i paid fair money for mine and its an original BMW one so chances of finding a bargain are rare as the hardtops themselves are! The BMW ones seem fine, just make sure the rubber seals aint perished. BMW ones usually have a cream lining on the inside. Hard top can be colour coded but is a big job strippin the vinyl down. I've kept mine standard black vinyl as it breaks the car up a bit.

Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 2:34 pm

much cheaper in germany...if you want to drive there it is only 250 miles to dortmund from dunkirk and you see them on ebay.de for 500euros

for instance this one is 221 miles from dunkerque

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-Hardtop-E30_W0QQ ... dZViewItem

Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 7:55 pm

DaveD wrote:much cheaper in germany...if you want to drive there it is only 250 miles to dortmund from dunkirk and you see them on ebay.de for 500euros

for instance this one is 221 miles from dunkerque

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-Hardtop-E30_W0QQ ... dZViewItem

Yeah Dave, I saw that one a couple of days ago. Just haven't any idea when i'd have the time to go over all that way to pick it up. There's also a guy on eBay selling a blue vinyl one for about 550 quid at the moment - but he's down the road from me in London. If I was a betting man i'd probably end up shelling out more for the closer one, even though it's not colour coded. Oh the irony.

There is a colour coded one on eBay, but he says the "BEADING TO THE OUTSIDE WINDOW IS MISSING". What does this mean and is it a problem?

Also don't know if any on ebay are original BMW or whether it's a Weismann. How do you tell the difference?

Cheers

Ben

Post Sun Jul 02, 2006 7:05 am

Check it.

http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... highlight=

Post Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:13 am

the weisman are more rounded and generaly come colour coded...never seen one tho only the pics

as to getting to germany it depends where you are...i went from sheffield to dortmund and back in 2 days but from london it should only take a day as its a doddle on the european roads..

Post Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:27 pm

Thanks for all the information everyone. From the other thread posted, the original BMW hardtops definitely look the way to go.

One final thing - if I buy an original vinyl and want to get it colour coded, does anyone know of a reputable place to get this done for a good price? Or if the original vinyl needs restoration, are there places that can do this as well?

Cheers

Ben