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| The Days Events
|
May 23, 1999
By: Robert Leidy
| 1st design: | thinner leather was more flexible and easier to install |
| 2nd design: | thicker and stiffer material than the 1st design possibly more durable but a pain to install |
| 3rd design: | same thicker and stiffer material with redesigned tenax snaps |
Installing the boot cover on a 1996 or early model 1997 Z3 was a relatively easy job. However something happened during 1997 and BMW redesigned the boot cover with thicker and stiffer material. The new stiffer material makes it much harder to install. We confirmed this by swapping Eileen's 1996 boot cover with my 1998 boot cover. I was able to install her boot cover in less than half the time it usually takes.
We then started comparing the boot covers from the different Z3s that attended the event and noticed three different designs. Besides the flexible and stiff versions, we found a variation on the stiff version that had improved the tenax fastners. The front ones slide to make it slightly easier to install when compared to the other stiff material boot cover, but still harder than the original flexible material boot cover. If you have a Z3 with the stiffer boot cover, you may be interested in reading this article.
