[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by 330Stevie

Maybe, however just poor really.

Yup! BMW would probably claim their bumper plastics are made using more environmentally friendly manufacturing procceses or some BS like that.

[bmnut]

The plastics they use nowadays are as hard as soft cheese. My M440i is coming up to 12 months old now and has a couple of very small stone chips on the front bumper after just shy of 11000 miles. They seem to 'chew' the plastic up unto little mounds, there's nothing you can do about it and after a while you forget they're there (until you wash the car again and feel p*ssed off by them, especially when you discover another new one!).

I try to keep my car (and my wife's) in as near to 'showroom condition' as possible but quite frankly it's impossible in today's road environment and life's too short to not just enjoy my car for what it is has become my attitude. Hell I'm off the road at present thanks to someone passing too close to me and shattering my driver's door mirror to oblivion, that was three weeks ago and still waiting to get it into the bodyshop for the repair, but in the grand scheme of things I still love the beast and console myself into believing it's just having a holiday break....no not really I'm actually seriously p*ssed off but hey ho these things happen it could have been much worse.

I'm trying really hard nowadays to manage expectations better!

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by bmnut

The plastics they use nowadays are as hard as soft cheese. My M440i is coming up to 12 months old now and has a couple of very small stone chips on the front bumper after just shy of 11000 miles. They seem to 'chew' the plastic up unto little mounds, there's nothing you can do about it and after a while you forget they're there (until you wash the car again and feel p*ssed off by them, especially when you discover another new one!).

I try to keep my car (and my wife's) in as near to 'showroom condition' as possible but quite frankly it's impossible in today's road environment and life's too short to not just enjoy my car for what it is has become my attitude. Hell I'm off the road at present thanks to someone passing too close to me and shattering my driver's door mirror to oblivion, that was three weeks ago and still waiting to get it into the bodyshop for the repair, but in the grand scheme of things I still love the beast and console myself into believing it's just having a holiday break....no not really I'm actually seriously p*ssed off but hey ho these things happen it could have been much worse.

I'm trying really hard nowadays to manage expectations better!

You still not got it back yet!! And just a door mirror to be painted (maybe) and replaced. Your local BMW dealer must be as bad as mine!! I'm dreading taking my new (to me) car to them for servicing, they have a long standing reputation for piss poor service.

Remind me again, why did I want BMW? LOL! The Skoda garage service dept were actually pretty good, cheaper, and it's under the same dealer group "Parks of hamilton"

But yeah, the bumper plastics now are made of chocolate. I'm surprised it doesn't melt in the sun, or maybe it does, a bit.

[bmnut]

Originally Posted by The_Tok'Ra

You still not got it back yet!! And just a door mirror to be painted (maybe) and replaced. Your local BMW dealer must be as bad as mine!! I'm dreading taking my new (to me) car to them for servicing, they have a long standing reputation for piss poor service.

Remind me again, why did I want BMW? LOL! The Skoda garage service dept were actually pretty good, cheaper, and it's under the same dealer group "Parks of hamilton"

But yeah, the bumper plastics now are made of chocolate. I'm surprised it doesn't melt in the sun, or maybe it does, a bit.

Took a week to get the parts, the driver's door window glass is being replaced because of scratches due to glass fragments that shattered across it and the primed door mirror cover is in the 'paint queue' at the BMW bodyshop. The guy who's arranging the repair has been on holiday this past week due back on Monday so fingers crossed I hear some positive news on Monday.
Meanwhile my car hasn't turned a wheel for over three weeks now, good job the wife's 220i is still up and running but having the one car just hugely complicates everything despite us both being retired.

I'm becoming almost paranoid about it going in to the bodyshop since the driver's door has to be completely stripped out and it's Individual full merino trim and I don't know how much faith and trust I have in bodyshops these days!

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by bmnut

Took a week to get the parts, the driver's door window glass is being replaced because of scratches due to glass fragments that shattered across it and the primed door mirror cover is in the 'paint queue' at the BMW bodyshop. The guy who's arranging the repair has been on holiday this past week due back on Monday so fingers crossed I hear some positive news on Monday.
Meanwhile my car hasn't turned a wheel for over three weeks now, good job the wife's 220i is still up and running but having the one car just hugely complicates everything despite us both being retired.

I'm becoming almost paranoid about it going in to the bodyshop since the driver's door has to be completely stripped out and it's Individual full merino trim and I don't know how much faith and trust I have in bodyshops these days!

Yeah, I 100% understand your concerns, I took my 325ti into my local dealer (for the first time in the cars life) to have both airbags replaced as there was a recall for all E46 airbags.

I asked them NOT to wash my immaculate 2002 13K mile car but they did anyway, and I now have a scratch on the bonnet that wasn't there before they got a hold of it.

Is it any wonder the car was not ready for me to collect till 6 PM when heading into winter, (i.e. it was getting dark) so I could not see the scratch till some time later, by which point, they could deny all liability.

[The_Tok'Ra]

So.. I think I'm going to need to make do with having a detailer fix the chips on my bonnet and front bumper. If I can find one I trust that is.

Chips Away came back to me stating they woud need to do a full respray on the bonnet, and that alone would cost £300, a frighteningly LOW price.

I've also had a few car enthustasts state that they would not touch Chips Away with a barge poll, so... IDK.

The other paint shop who actually see the car quoted upwards of around £1K and the dealer sure won't pay that much either.

If possible, all I really want is for somebody to fill the chips in with BMW paint and buff it back so it's looks considerably less noticeable, and add some sealant, and then polish over the top of that etc.

I'd rather not have the full bonnet resprayed, that could easliy cause more problems if it's not done perfectly, and other than the stone chips the bonnet looks fantastic.

Should I be pushing the dealer more? Oh, the joys! What to do? What to do?....

[bmnut]

Originally Posted by The_Tok'Ra

So.. I think I'm going to need to make do with having a detailer fix the chips on my bonnet and front bumper. If I can find one I trust that is.

Chips Away came back to me stating they woud need to do a full respray on the bonnet, and that alone would cost £300, a frighteningly LOW price.

I've also had a few car enthustasts state that they would not touch Chips Away with a barge poll, so... IDK.

The other paint shop who actually see the car quoted upwards of around £1K and the dealer sure won't pay that much either.

If possible, all I really want is for somebody to fill the chips in with BMW paint and buff it back so it's looks considerably less noticeable, and add some sealant, and then polish over the top of that etc.

I'd rather not have the full bonnet resprayed, that could easliy cause more problems if it's not done perfectly, and other than the stone chips the bonnet looks fantastic.

Should I be pushing the dealer more? Oh, the joys! What to do? What to do?....

This would be the course of action I personally would consider and appears one that you are seriously considering too?

Agree with your reasoning with regard to repainting the entire bonnet with regard to cost, dealer contribution, if any at all and the potential for ending up with something a lot worse. As you say the bonnet looks great apart from the annoying stone chips. I think you will be impressed with just how good the Chipex stuff is for matching and if you look at all their marketing fluff on their website and the choreographed 'how to do it' videos the end results look amazing.

All I do, however, is to touch in with very, very tiny amounts of the paint and build up with additional coats until 'level' with the surrounding paint then got the detailer I use to carefully lightly machine polish the area to 'blend' the stone chip in. The result is unnoticeable from anything more than two feet away from the car.
OK you'll know it's there but I bet virtually nobody else would.

I can understand your disappointment, frustration and annoyance over it but relatively speaking is it worth 'binning' an otherwise superb car for?

Unfortunately you are likely to pick up the odd stone chip in the future anyway which can be touched in similarly?

[Stooo]

I’d agree, if you’re happy with everything else and it’s a good deal then keep it. You won’t notice the blemishes after a few months.
You’ll pick some up as soon as you start driving it anyway.

If you need it to be spotless then get a new one and suck up the depreciation.

[The_Tok'Ra]

I wrote to the dealer yesterday evening asking them to double check if they can actually supply a touch up pen of Oxide Grey as another member here said that he'd wanted to buy one and was told that colour way was unavailable to purchase. But that was a year ago.

Got no reply back from the dealer today, so that's handy. I will phone them tomorrow morning from work, should be relatively quiet then.

I have some experience with painting model cars with acrylics. Think I may just apply the paint myself, build it up in layers as bmnut suggested and once ready and cured I'll get a detailer to polish it back.

Wasted time after work today going through rush hour traffic only to find the detailer I was going to see had already shut up shop and buggered off for the day by 16:00. Awesome!

[sjb993]

Setting aside all the trauma caused by the paintwork issues, now that you have had chance to spend some time behind the wheel, I hope you are enjoying the car - I'm certain you will be! After 18 months, mine still puts a smile on my face.

[bmnut]

I'd like to second this! ^^^^^

Can't wait to get mine back on the road again!

[The_Tok'Ra]

The car is great! Fast, smooth, quiet, and reasonably frugal when you want it to be, BUT I do have a few fairly major niggles, like the mirror heating being very poor and this morning I noticed that frankly the windscreen and rear window heaters are also very poor compared to my old Skoda.

And that's just them just trying to remove a bit of condensation, god only knows how bad it will be when the weather turns and it actually gets cold.

This may actually be a deal breaker for me, It's not safe to drive when your windows are all steamed up or frozen over because the heaters are naff!

How can a car this expensive be so poor at basic things we need to keep the driver, passengers, and other road users safe!

Or is it just me???

[sjb993]

Sorry to hear that, especially on top of your dissatisfaction with the paintwork.

Fortunately you can still return the car and get your money back using the distant purchasing law.

[paulockenden]

Heaters plus aircon demist the interior pretty well, I find. But the wing mirror heaters are chocolate teapots! If I lived ooop North I think I’d keep one of these in the boot: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryobi-R18HG.../dp/B07NQPLV5G

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by sjb993

Sorry to hear that, especially on top of your dissatisfaction with the paintwork.

Fortunately you can still return the car and get your money back using the distant purchasing law.

This may be what I end up doing Not sure yet, I do like that car, but...

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by paulockenden

Heaters plus aircon demist the interior pretty well, I find. But the wing mirror heaters are chocolate teapots! If I lived ooop North I think I’d keep one of these in the boot: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryobi-R18HG.../dp/B07NQPLV5G

I was thinking more about getting these:- https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09M6BGM...v_ov_lig_dp_it

But in the much colder weather I'd imagine they would freeze up pretty quickly as soon as I removed the covers.

These might help with the interior humidity:- https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N7RVV...lig_dp_it&th=1

[Iancognito]

Originally Posted by The_Tok'Ra

Or is it just me???

From the numerous posts you have made, I'm not sure you'll ever be satisfied with the car or BMW. It's a used car and unlikely to ever be perfect. Maybe learn to live with the fact that every vehicle will have faults if you look hard enough. Enjoy what you have and appreciate the many positives; your mindset will be better for it.

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by Iancognito

From the numerous posts you have made, I'm not sure you'll ever be satisfied with the car or BMW. It's a used car and unlikely to ever be perfect. Maybe learn to live with the fact that every vehicle will have faults if you look hard enough. Enjoy what you have and appreciate the many positives; your mindset will be better for it.

Always been more than happy with my 2002 325Ti Had that from new, love evrything about that car. I'm not a BMW basher, but you you have a fair point, this may or may not be the car for me and my needs. sadly.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by The_Tok'Ra

The car is great! Fast, smooth, quiet, and reasonably frugal when you want it to be, BUT I do have a few fairly major niggles, like the mirror heating being very poor and this morning I noticed that frankly the windscreen and rear window heaters are also very poor compared to my old Skoda.

And that's just them just trying to remove a bit of condensation, god only knows how bad it will be when the weather turns and it actually gets cold.

This may actually be a deal breaker for me, It's not safe to drive when your windows are all steamed up or frozen over because the heaters are naff!

How can a car this expensive be so poor at basic things we need to keep the driver, passengers, and other road users safe!

Or is it just me???

Are you sure the heating elements are naff? What ambient temperatures are you having in the mornings? Could be too warm for full capacity. If low temperatures, output can be limited due to a low battery and/or high energy demand, where high consumers are clocked to share energy resources.

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Are you sure the heating elements are naff? What ambient temperatures are you having in the mornings? Could be too warm for full capacity. If low temperatures, output can be limited due to a low battery and/or high energy demand, where high consumers are clocked to share energy resources.

Hello Pete,

That's the thing, it was 13°C this morning so hardly what you would call chilly, but with with 95% humidity, and yet even with the dimisters front and rear set at max it took a good 10 - 15 minutes for the light misting on the inside of the tailgate window to go. It took a good 5 minutes before I saw any demisting happening at all.

Windscreen wasn't so bad, otherwise I would not have been able to drive, maybe 5 minutes

EDIT:- With the car having been driven 440 miles up to me only on Thursday, I would expect the battery to be in a fairly good SoC, but then I have spent a fair bit of time with the idrive getting everything "connected" so of course that will have pulled the battery down a bit. Windscreen demist on full blast made plenty of noise LOL! so the fans were sure going full beans!

I did not have the air-con on to be fair, does that help?

My old car, w/o the air-con on in the same conditions would have cleared the front and rear window in a matter of a few minutes.

I'm honestly not sure about the state of the battery, I don't know how to check TBH, without Bimmerlink anyway.

Maybe the cars sensors need the temps to be colder to "kck in" properly, I have no idea.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by The_Tok'Ra

EDIT:- With the car having been driven 440 miles up to me only on Thursday, I would expect the battery to be in a fairly good SoC, but then I have spent a fair bit of time with the idrive getting evrything "connected" so of course that will have pulled the battery down a bit. Windscreen demist of full blast made plenty onf noise LOL! so the fans were sure going full beans!

I did not have the air-con on to be fair, does that help?

Definitely use AC in those conditions. Have you been switching it on and off in the high temperatures? Switching off without a good dry out, won't help keep condensation levels down.

I would imagine with your setting things up, you have dragged the battery SoC down a bit. If so, energy management will reduce output to the rear screen.

Typically in colder temps, the mirrors are fast demisting in my experience, even with BMW's energy management systems.

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Definitely use AC in those conditions. Have you been switching it on and off in the high temperatures? Switching off without a good dry out, won't help keep condensation levels down.

I would imagine with your setting things up, you have dragged the battery SoC down a bit. If so, energy management will reduce output to the rear screen.

Typically in colder temps, the mirrors are fast demisting in my experience, even with BMW's energy management systems.

Thanks Pete, Is there any way to check? Can I find that in "Energy Flow" I assume that shows something when driving? I've not really looked at that yet. Not at all in fact!