FRONT SPOILER

[Southernboy]

Can anyone tell me what the OEM front spoiler on the Z3 is made from? Is it plastic or fiberglass?

[Z3cade]

Asbestos

[Southernboy]

........ So does that mean I can repair it with cement?....

[Z3cade]

........ So does that mean I can repair it with cement?....

No you can repair them with paper mâché

[Southernboy]

.......yes, I can tell this isn't going anywhere helpfull...maybe I should just fit an air temp sensor instead....

[Z3cade]

Tell you what I will swop it for your splitters

[Z3cade]

Just done a search for you and the front spoilers are actually made of cheese

[Z3cade]

Seriously front spoilers can be repaired with filler etc.. What have you done to it southern lad?

[Southernboy]

.....pavement got too close to the spoiler...But I've been told that filler isn't any good...seems the spoiler being "flexible" doesn't bond well with filler???

[Z3cade]

When you say spoiler do you mean your splitters?

[Southernboy]

The actual spoiler... dinged it in the middle between the splitters...and it appears to be cracked. So, if it's made of fiberglass, then I will need a suitable professional, however, if it's made of plastic I will need a different professional..

[Z3cade]

It will need strengthening behind the crack with fibreglass then filled and painted I would have thought

I'm sure the oem bumpers are plastic not fiberglass

[Del]

Have a look at the attached Wheeler Dealers video from 13.30 minutes onwards. He uses a special resin to conduct a good fix on a nasty crack in the plastic bumper on a BMW 840. Small dents/marks are filled with a filler suitable for plastic.

I would guess a lot of body shops wouldn't want to bother with this and would just opt for a new bumper.

http://www.streetfire.net/videos/?t=whe ... 0BMW%20840

[z3steve]

Definately plastic, and black plastic at that. Thats as far as my knowledge on plastic goes!

[Southernboy]

Thanks guys...that was a good video too...

[seasurfer]

Well mine had a slight argument with a sleeping policeman just two weeks after buying him (obviously not experienced in driving a lowered car at that point) and the bodyshop said they would get it specialist welded - now perfect

[Southernboy]

Well done...I'm now hunting the local pages for a specialist "plastics" repair man. Once I've found him, I'll remove the bumper and take it to him to do his magic. Perhaps I'll look into having an aluminium support bar made to fit under there so in future if I bump anything, it'll just be a scratch rather than a crack / break. I'll check it out when I take the bumper off. Looks pretty unsightly at the moment, and for someone as anal as I am, it's unbearable.

[seasurfer]

Mine had a 3" break in it and i was only driving at walking pace as the bumps looked wicked anyway.

[yocky z3 2.0]

Hi depending on how bad it's split you could repair it yourselve by plastic welding it ,remove the bumper get a soldering iron hot and then work it over the crack melting the plastic together from the back of the bumper.skim the front with body filler rub down and prime and paint hope this helps cheers tony.

[Southernboy]

Thanks guys...welding seems to be the way it's done. I'll have to get down and dirty with my bumper I guess.

[BladeRunner919]

Hi depending on how bad it's split you could repair it yourselve by plastic welding it ,remove the bumper get a soldering iron hot and then work it over the crack melting the plastic together from the back of the bumper.skim the front with body filler rub down and prime and paint hope this helps cheers tony.

I've done that successfully in the past. Many years ago I hit a badger in an Astra GTE (not sure why a badger was driving an Astra GTE, boom, boom!), and it broke a chunk out of the bumper. I collected all the bits and, after heating the broken chunk under the grill so I could bend it back into shape, welded it back in with a soldering iron, then filled and painted it. Came out really well, if I say so myself.

[Southernboy]

And did you release it back into the wild??