[pprahlad]

I've had my E90 for 2 months now now. The body of my car is still 'perfect' (knock on wood), but I couldn't help getting LOTS of scratches under the front bumper.

I'm curious to know if anyone here has maintained this portion of the bumper scractch free. If so how did you do it? Were you just that careful or did you sand out the scratches and use touch up paint.

[Bimmerista]

I absolutely do not come too close to parking curb bariers.

[bpbenda]

I scratched the crap out of my front passenger bumper apron about two weeks ago backing out of my driveway. There is a lip on the edge of the driveway where it comes up to meet the curb and the front did not clear. I have attached two pictures. I don't know if you are talking about scratches from rocks and road debris or just pulling too close to curbs and into parking spaces. Me, I had the front apron repaired. They took off the bumper, repaired and repainted. Total cost from BMW dealer's body shop was $499.60. Insurance agent appraised cost at $536. Car looks brand new, as if it never happened.

Hope this helps.

[Bimmerista]

Nasty, Amazing it only happened once ? How do you deal with the fall-off now, do you reverse into your driveway and that solved the problem ?

[bpbenda]

Originally Posted by Bimmerista

I absolutely do not come too close to parking curb barriers.

With the height of the front bumper, you are absolutely spot on. You cannot pull close to curbs or too far into parking spaces that have the concrete barriers. The front bumper will not clear. Of course, I learned this the hard way, but I am super careful about it now.

[bpbenda]

Originally Posted by Bimmerista

Nasty, Amazing it only happened once ? How do you deal with the fall-off now, do you reverse into your driveway and that solved the problem?

The lip is only on the edge of the driveway where it meets the curb. The rest of the driveway is level with the road, no dip. The problem is that we have a tight two-car garage. In order to get my car in there and be able to open my door, I have to pull very close to the garage wall. Well, with a short driveway, I used to just run my truck over the lip and drive straight in. I did not even think about the front bumper being so low on the e90 as to catch the lip, didn't even cross my mind. So, now, when I enter the driveway I have to cut it hard to get it right without backing up. Took a little practice, but you get used to it and can get it on first try now. No problem. But when we build our next house, we know one thing it is going to have, an oversized garage.

[pprahlad]

Originally Posted by bpbenda

I don't know if you are talking about scratches from rocks and road debris or just pulling too close to curbs and into parking spaces.

I'm primarily concerned about pulling up too close to the parking barriers. I thought I take amazing care of my car, but I was shocked to see lots of scratches under the bumper. Its kinda like yours, but much smaller and numerous.

Thanks for the pics..made things clearer

[Gitta]

I just bottomed out my front end this weekend. I cut through an alley and there was a horrible dip in the road. I went as slow as I could and still put two scratches on my front splitters. Since the CF has a heavy poly layer I'm hoping I can just wet-sand the scratches out. I felt like I had to barf after I heard it scrape.

[e90rocks]

I also am cautious about distance to curb. Fortunately my last car had a longer hoodlength and so I overestimate my proximity. A woman pulled up next to me in a parking lot and made this gawd-aweful sound as she totally scraped her front. She got out and laughed and said "Don't worry, I'm leasing it." I did not comment. I don't remember what she was driving, but it wasn't a BMW.

[bpbenda]

Originally Posted by pprahlad

I'm primarily concerned about pulling up too close to the parking barriers. I thought I take amazing care of my car, but I was shocked to see lots of scratches under the bumper. Its kinda like yours, but much smaller and numerous.

Yea, you just have to pull into a parking space but not all the way. The way most parking spaces are in this country, the back of your vehicle should not stick out into the drive. Having always driven a truck or an SUV, it is unusual for me not to want to pull in all the way until my tires almost rock against the barrier. But with the BMW you cannot do that because it is going to catch your front apron before your tires touch.

But if your scratches are visible and you want them fixed, at least you know what I paid for the repair, repaint, and clear coat for the whole front apron. Again, BMW dealer's body shop quoted me $499.60 and insurance agent appraised job for $536.

[bpbenda]

Also, for what it is worth, you can try the BMW touch-up paint sticks. If the scratches are mostly under the front apron and not visible, this would be a good inexpensive fix. But if you have many rather visible scratches like I had on mine, you might want to consider taking it to the body shop and having it repainted. Especially with the metallic paints, I believe you would need to purchase two sticks, the base and the metallic over-paint. Having done this on my Lexus with a metallic pearl (white) color, spending the money to take it to the dealer and do it right is well worth the headache and a much cleaner finish. But again, if they are largely not visible, who cares, do it cheap.

[brian32e]

the scratches are avoidable, you just have to drive slowly on surface streets (too many dips that can scratch). Save your high speed for the freeway

also, be very careful with driveways (enter at an angle) and parking lot curbs/barriers. If you're careful and patient, you will have a scratch free bumper.

[pprahlad]

I'm planning to sand out the uneven-ness and use 'paint'. Since its under the front bumper, I don't wanna spend 500$ getting it replaced.

Now the question is what are these paint sticks you were talking about and where can I get em?

Thanks

[Chesmu]

i've got a few scratches. I've just learned tp pull into and out of my driveway at an angle.

[tonee8519]

yep, at the bottom of the front bumper its all scratched!

[bpbenda]

Originally Posted by pprahlad

Now the question is what are these paint sticks you were talking about and where can I get em?

Call your BMW dealer's parts or service department. I have called them a paint stick, but it is actually a small bottle of paint with a fingernail polish like applicator. The two bottles I bought from Lexus for my RX were like $15-18 each. So, I would imagine they will be the same or similar from BMW. The paint you get from them will be an exact match to your car, as opposed to buying some third-party mix that might look similar but will not be identical.

If you can, take some before and after pictures. I would be interested in seeing the results. Thanks and good luck!

[DLJJ3399]

Originally Posted by bpbenda

Call your BMW dealer's parts or service department. I have called them a paint stick, but it is actually a small bottle of paint with a fingernail polish like applicator. The two bottles I bought from Lexus for my RX were like $15-18 each. So, I would imagine they will be the same or similar from BMW. The paint you get from them will be an exact match to your car, as opposed to buying some third-party mix that might look similar but will not be identical.

If you can, take some before and after pictures. I would be interested in seeing the results. Thanks and good luck!

I've done this with my 1990 325is. I replaced 3 spoiler lips at a cost of $375 painted and installed. I figure if I some how do this with my E90, I'll just upgrade to the graphite lip. Good luck and watch those parking curbs. I sometimes feel the cars butt is then exposed when I park to far away. Good luck...

[poldim]

I have scratches on the very bottom, but you cant see them until you put your head at about hood level from 5 or 10 feet away. But I say they are deffinetly avoidable, just back in all the time....

[Nikki]

I don't have any scratches. I clear the parking block at my apartment complex.

[bpbenda]

Nikki, you have some excellent pictures of your e90 uploaded to your forum garage! I love the color in the one on top of the parking garage at night in front of the office building. Have you ever considered a job in photography? Very nice, congrats!

Edit ... Well, now I see you are a photographer! Sorry! You do quality work!

[paullo]

I posted about this last summer,... it was only a matter of time before everyone scraped up their bumpers

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3112

[Nikki]

Originally Posted by bpbenda

Nikki, you have some excellent pictures of your e90 uploaded to your forum garage! I love the color in the one on top of the parking garage at night in front of the office building. Have you ever considered a job in photography? Very nice, congrats!

Edit ... Well, now I see you are a photographer! Sorry! You do quality work!

Thanks, I'd like to call myself a photographer, but I've never gotten a job. So it's just a hobby, and I like it. Thank you.