[emr0591]

I think its ridiculous to replace the whole unit just for this. Is there any type of compound I can apply to remedy this? Wherever the finish has come off, there are shiny patches.

[emr0591]

44 views and not one opinion?

[Kylekuu]

pics? cuz i've never seen matte as trim. IDK if it was a option or not, if it was self-painted then maybe it has to do with lack of adhesive when painting?

[GregoryM]

I'm gonna offer a refurbishment service soon that will make the panels look brand new and save you guys quite a bit of money on replacement parts. This will be especially nice for people out of warranty. This will also apply to the other BMW models as well.

[jopa489]

Aside from refurbishing the piece, there's no product you can apply to magically make the peeling stop or go away. It's very common on many German cars, BMW and Porsche especially.

[cstavaru]

Originally Posted by emr0591

44 views and not one opinion?

Such a thread without a picture ? And you wonder why no replies ?

[emr0591]

I found out the answer from another BMW forum, and I didn't even have to show any pictures.

[5erman]

Hey-if you are talking about the piece surrounding the gear lever-that black matte plastic then I had the same issue. I removed the wood panel undernearth (i have an e60 but pretty much same deal) and refinished the panels in my car but ended up scratching the crap out of the black surrounding piece.

I have found a couple cool projects out of it-if you want it to look IDENTICAL to stock i stumbled upon this but a matte black/flat black car paint or plastic primer after 2 coats gives the identical matte black finish. You can than coat that with a flat/satin/matte clear coat for protection-looks better than new.

I went a step further as I like to mess around and painted my brushed metallic aluminum-it matched my gear lever insert and idrive knobs almost identically-so I have just painted it and will try it in my car-I think it will look great and can post pics. If I dont like it I will just spray it over with the matte black/clear coat.

You likely could use any flat black auto/plastic spray paint-but use a primer first and in my case that is all i used.

By the way you have to sand the shit out of it before you can paint it-down to the bare plastic with NO shiny spots on it-took me about an hour with 1500 grit so you could go more aggressive but thats all i had-make sure you sand it down evenly until its all matte-looks really like a piece of cheap plastic at this point

[bimmernoob]

Originally Posted by emr0591

I found out the answer from another BMW forum, and I didn't even have to show any pictures.

so what's the answer? sharing would be nice.

[sg335vert]

I have the same issue in 2 locations on my interior and need to refinish as well. I wonder why they coated the plastic with this stuff instead of just finishing the surface of the plastic itself to the desired look. Then there would be nothing to peel off.