[mikey3028]

Hi All

Has anyone had this happen?

Came back to the car during recent hot weather which the plastic didnt seem to like.

Is there a latent defect warranty issue with BMW for this.

BTW the car is now 4 years old..

Mike.

[ZuerstBMW]

damn, Ive never seen that before. Looks like it melted.

[parapaul]

Jeez! How hot was it?

[F32Fleet]

hmm..looks like some sort of solvent.

[cb1111]

That's the "soft touch" peeling. It is a known issue and is normally started by some external issue - hand cream, face cream, sunscreen, Armorall, bug repellant etc getting into a little scratch and making the soft touch paint peel.

It is often covered under warranty and BMW (and most other Euro car makers) have quit using soft touch because of these issues.

The most common places are door handles, radio knobs and other areas that you frequently touch with fingers that may have grease on them. This is more common in cars driven by women (face cream, more sunscreen etc.)

VW and Audi stopped using this stuff in 2007 - I think BMW did in either 2007 or 2008.

The purpose of the soft touch paint was to give a more luxurious feeling to hard plastics by adding a rubberized paint. The problem is that many common greases attacked any area that was slighly damaged (scratched, dinged etc) and caused the whole area to peel. You can see very clearly on the OP's picture where the damage started.

Again, like I said earlier, many of these issues are fixed under warranty.

[bimmernoob]

I bought my car CPO, and it had those problems.

Unfortunately when I took my car it to the dealership they won't fix it. They said it's a wear and tear part so it's not covered. But you can give the stearlership a try. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Good luck.

[EZ_TUR90]

My car is in the shop having all the plastic pieces replaced under warranty. bmw's trim sucks!

[2FST2C]

my car is 2 1/2 years old and pretty much every plastic piece in the car has peeled and been replaced by the dealer under warranty. its clearly a defect

[mikey3028]

Well i guess it could be sunscreen. It did happen on holiday and we do plaster the kids in it.

Its all but gone on my door handle but i suppose thats to be expected.
As is the stuff on the rear seat vent casing where the kids feet have scuffed it.

Like you say EZ Tur90 BMW trim does suck a bit.

This is clearly a design flaw and I would contest the wear and tear issue..... if i had the energy and enthusiasm. One man vs a car giant doesnt fill me with confidence.

Mike

[cb1111]

Originally Posted by mikey3028

Well i guess it could be sunscreen. It did happen on holiday and we do plaster the kids in it.

Its all but gone on my door handle but i suppose thats to be expected.
As is the stuff on the rear seat vent casing where the kids feet have scuffed it.

Like you say EZ Tur90 BMW trim does suck a bit.

This is clearly a design flaw and I would contest the wear and tear issue..... if i had the energy and enthusiasm. One man vs a car giant doesnt fill me with confidence.

Mike

Many dealers will replace the affected parts under warranty in the US. Are you still under warranty?