Minor upgrade to side grill attachment points

[sidcc]

As many of you have experienced, the stems on the side grills typically break off during removal if used with the BMW fasteners.

I tried a couple different things to fix this -
- tiny grommets
- vinyl vacuum tubes
- threaded rods

What I eventually went with was 1/4” socket set screws. Simply drilled out the opening a little bit more so they would slide over what was left of the ABS stems. Then bonded them on with JB weld and attached to the car with flange nuts.

I did have to widen the holes on the car by just a smidge. But overall an easy upgrade and a much more robust long term solution IMO.

 

[02coastie]

I'll be interested to see how this turns out. I attempted something similar, but with nylon screws. I used a plastic-rated epoxy to set them. They lasted about 3 weeks on the car before falling off (luckily it happened in the garage). Maybe JB weld is the answer!

 

[deQuincey]

As many of you have experienced, the stems on the side grills typically break off during removal if used with the BMW fasteners.

I tried a couple different things to fix this -
- tiny grommets
- vinyl vacuum tubes
- threaded rods

What I eventually went with was 1/4” socket set screws. Simply drilled out the opening a little bit more so they would slide over what was left of the ABS stems. Then bonded them on with JB weld and attached to the car with flange nuts.

I did have to widen the holes on the car by just a smidge. But overall an easy upgrade and a much more robust long term solution IMO.

it looks very nice

 

[eriknetherlands]

Nice idea, especially when the tabs have snapped off.

I had an idea for when they are still on there:
Anyone has an old broken one to play with?

How about heating a thread cutting tool in an oven, and then gently running a thread on the stem?
Starting at 100 Celsius, probably nothing happens, stepping it up by 10 degrees each time will get you a sweet spot around 150 I think. I think the stem might be solid enough to just melt the outside skin to form a thread, keeping the internal core of the stem cold and strong enough to resist the torque of the cutting tool.
To hot, and it will melt as if going through butter. To cold and you'll snap the stem i think.