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| 08-30-2009, 06:51 PM | #1 |
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Aluminium Door Trim Pieces
Does anyone happen to know whether the aluminuim door trims (on the grab handles) are metal or finished plastic?
I'm so PO'd with myself. Getting out of the car this morning, I scratched it with a cuff link. It now has a 1 inch scratch right in the middle. A replacement is rediculously priced. So I'm wondering whether it's possible to get it refinished. Alternatively, If anyone's changed over their interior trim, and has spares of the "aliminium with accent", I'd be happy to discuss it. Also happy to consider any other suggestions. |
| 08-30-2009, 07:11 PM | #2 | |
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| 08-30-2009, 07:18 PM | #3 | |
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| 08-30-2009, 08:04 PM | #4 |
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i heard james bond also has this problem.
mine are plastic but i got the checkered aluminium looking ones. i'd put a magnet on them to find out for sure. i doubt there is anything other then plastic in a 1er cabin. to fix a scratch in plastic is very difficult, there are companies that do chrome and silver finishes on plastic that may do one part for you but that could cost the earth. i did some work for these guys at one point http://www.astorbasemetals.com.au/010/home.html |
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| 08-30-2009, 08:38 PM | #5 |
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I hear you man!
I am so a cufflink person I would be careful too. Did you get the BMW grill cufflinks? I have all sort of cuff links like the M style, BMW logo, BMW grille, rotary and of course some RX-8s and cycling ... oh and of course some from Man Utd!
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| 08-30-2009, 08:49 PM | #6 |
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Hay Taka,
Not the grills, but I do have the roundel and ///M ones. But in this instance, it wasn't any of those. If it had been, I might have been able to blame BMW for a design flaw, because they didn't make their two products compatible. Either the cuff links should have been designed so they didn't scratch a 1er door trim, or the door trim should be scratch resitant. I can't see that "getting up". I've asked my friendly service guy to keep an eye open for someone doing a trim upgrade. Ironically, he has a spare set of the Glacier trim "sitting under his desk now" about to go into parts - pity mine is the other aluminium trim design. |
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| 08-30-2009, 09:37 PM | #7 |
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I'm pretty sure the aluminum trim (Glacial) is real metal. The trim is usually cool to the touch on colder days (and vice versa on hot days, unlike the rest of the surrounding plastic). Aluminum will not be attracted to a magnet, btw.
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| 08-30-2009, 10:50 PM | #8 |
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The Brushed Aluminium with Accent finish is real aluminium.
I'm 99% sure the "Glacier" finish (the snakeskin like silver pattern) is plastic. |
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| 08-30-2009, 10:54 PM | #9 |
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| 08-31-2009, 06:29 PM | #11 |
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if you do a bit of a search on here (even in the 3 series section) the universal opinion is that Glacier is plastic, and Brushed is real aluminium.
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| 08-31-2009, 06:50 PM | #12 |
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I can confirm that the "brushed aluminium with accent" piece you see is metal, not plastic.
I took it to my friendly panel shop this morning. We took the trim piece off so he can try to fix it (or at least make it less obvious) -- no charge, fantastic guys, who have always helped where possible. Only work on BMW's and Porsche's. The underlying trim piece (the actual grab handle) is molded plastic, but it has a metal "facia" on it. I can't comment as to whether it's actually aluminium, it may be some other metal. But it's definately a metal covering on a plastic piece. |
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| 08-31-2009, 07:31 PM | #14 | |
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In case your interested, assuming we have the same trim, to replace the drivers door grab handle trim is $A170 and a 10 day wait because it's ex Germany. I figure it's worth giving the "fix" option a go. If it doesn't work, nothing lost. I doubt they'll make it any worse - they're not that kind of place. If they can't make it better, they'll just give it back and say "sorry, nothing we can do". |
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| 09-01-2009, 07:59 PM | #15 |
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FAIL!!!!
Panel shop couldn't fix it. They worked on the bottom where it can't be seen to test the finish, and decided that the brushed finish is so thin that they were concerned that they'd make it worse. They went completely through the finish with the slightest effort. Worth a try! So I'm back to replacing it. Email already sent to Dan@United to see if it's worth sourcing from the USA. |
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| 09-01-2009, 08:08 PM | #16 | |
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| 09-02-2009, 12:04 AM | #21 | |
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Just because we're talking about BMW...Not Holden. Sure, i'd assume holden would put in a fake Aluminium trim, but not BMW. Order anything called "Brushed Aluminium" from BMW, and you can expect to be actually aluminium. |
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