Elephant skin for the rear wheel well/shock towers

Bmachine

Bmachine

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I have found plenty of threads on the elephant skin for the flat panels in the trunk but none on the molded ones that go over the wheel wells.

Mine are in "not very good" shape, one of them partly torn when the PO tried to do some welding on the top cup of the shock tower. I assume there is no way to repair those as they are very thin.

Are those available anywhere? Since they are molded I assume this is not something one can "make".

Thank you

Bo
 
BMW has been selling new covers that are soft and not brittle plastic, texture is a bit different but much better than broken covers.
 
Wow. From the dealer directly? I did not even think to check there. This has got to be an extremely limited demand type of item so I thought for sure it would be long NLA.

I can't wait to be able to toss those cumbersome plastic ones away!

Thanks Chris.
 
HB Chris said:
BMW has been selling new covers that are soft and not brittle plastic, texture is a bit different but much better than broken covers.
Click to expand...

Be sure and check what you get.
I ordered some last year and left side was as Chris described it but right one was just a piece of foam. No harder surface but right shape????
Returned but dealer tried to make me eat it until I proved to the parts guy that there was obviously a mistake.
 
I sent you a PM
I have a new dealer set I might want to sell
See PM, it is true they are not like the originals
The left and right are the same Except they are not the same color!! Lame BMW
 
Thanks very much for all the good info everyone.

So is there any reason NOT to junk the old / broken ones?

@Mark. I just replied. Thank you very much.
 
I replaced my broken oriiginals with the new softer covers and sprayed them with SEM Storm Grey to match the rest of the trunk panels.
 
DWMBMW said:
I replaced my broken oriiginals with the new softer covers and sprayed them with SEM Storm Grey to match the rest of the trunk panels.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the paint reference. I was looking for that. I have a set on my CSI that I plan to sell. They have quite a bit of Polaris overspray on them. I'm going to try to soda blast them first. If that doesn't pan out I'll pain them with the SEM spray.
 
I would thing Goo Gone or the like would be gentler than blasting?

Markos said:
Thanks for the paint reference. I was looking for that. I have a set on my CSI that I plan to sell. They have quite a bit of Polaris overspray on them. I'm going to try to soda blast them first. If that doesn't pan out I'll pain them with the SEM spray.
Click to expand...
 
Stevehose said:
I would thing Goo Gone or the like would be gentler than blasting?
Click to expand...

I've been testing different plastic parts from my CSI. I still need to purchase a better blaster, but so far so good. I'm currently testing the process with a $20 gravity feed blasting gun from HF. It has been harmless to the plastic parts that I've tested. I've read that chrome requires polish afterwards, but here is what Eastwood has to say.

Soda Media

Unlike traditional abrasive media, soda is softer so there is no warping or etching. Soda media (NOT like in your kitchen pantry) is a perfect choice for steel, aluminum, plastic and fiberglass.

Soda strips off paint, leaving a smooth and texture-free finish. Soda blasting is so delicate that chrome, plastic, rubber and other components can be left on the vehicle when blasting!

http://www.eastwood.com/soda-blast-media-maintenance-m-xl-50-lb-bag.htmlAfter blasting, a thin film of soda will cover the part. This film prevents flash rust for up to several months. When you're ready to paint or coat, simply rinse the film off with water; soda is both soluble and inert. Rinsing also takes care of any stray soda that may have gotten into seams or crevices. While cleaning up soda is as simple as spraying water, proper steps should be taken to recover and properly dispose of removed paint particles.

Soda can also be used to clean and degrease parts such as transmissions or rear axles, since it will not cause any harm to internal moving parts. Soda can easily and safely clean underhood areas as well, without the need to remove components or wiring. Use it to clean almost any surface from wood to concrete to glass.

However, soda cannot remove heavy rust, corrosion or other substrates such as body filler. Soda is not strong enough to lift away these heavy materials, which must be removed by abrasive blasting using Aluminum Oxide or Glass Bead. However, soda might work if you do not wish to remove the old body filler.
Click to expand...
 
If you have to polish chrome, which is super hard, what is it doing to the plastic? It seems like it would be changing the sheen?
 
on the:
"So is there any reason NOT to junk the old / broken ones?"
I guess the only problem would be if they quit making them
 
i bought those replacements and installed them some years ago,

they were very good repros as to shape and colour, despite being a sort of foam instead of rigid plastic with texture,

but the latests news is that those parts are now coming in black colour !
 
mark99 said:
If you have to polish chrome, which is super hard, what is it doing to the plastic? It seems like it would be changing the sheen?
Click to expand...

Sorry to hijack. I know we've been going back and forth on this offline Mark. :) The soda is not damaging the plastic. Eastwood mentions that you can blast chrome, glass, etc. Here is a video example of a t-bird emblem.

Published on Jun 11, 2012
we are sodablasting a 1966 T'Bird and here is an example of blasting over chrome and not damaging it
See our website@ http://www.rtdrefurbishing.com/
Click to expand...
Video:



I pulled the reference to polishing from the thread below. The only change I would make is to use bronze wool instead of steel.
http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.php?1,469582,469963
 
deQuincey,
black, that is strange,
I bought a set, on is light grey and one is dark gray
How can they make them in 2 different colors?
I decided to work on cleaning mine, with over-spray remover I got them looking quite nice
 
The covers for a '74 are not the same as for earlier coupes ('74s have an stiffening brace between the wheel and the trunk floor.) IIRC the OEM site does NOT note the difference (i.e. they don't have covers for a '74.)
 
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