E85 Lower Steering Wheel Spoke Cover

[Conrod]

Hi all.

Whilst rewrapping the loom after fitting my Gaptech unit I carelessly managed to put a deep gouge in the lower steering wheel spoke cover when I got up quickly with scissors in my lap. Whilst it could have been worse for me had the scissors been pointing the other way (ouch!), the damage is very unsightly. I've temporarily covered it up with tape, but I would like to replace it.

One solution is to wrap the damaged cover and the other two with 3M vinyl wrap, but I'd much prefer to keep things original if possible.

It's a bit of a long shot, but does anyone happen to have an undamaged spoke cover like this in silver lying around?



Thanks in advance!

 

[MKZ4000]

You could always try using some filler rubbing it down and spraying it silver if its bothering you.

Nothing to lose. If you are not happy with the results I'm sure you could get another spoke.

 

[Conrod]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I suspect that it would be very difficult to make an effective repair. From what I can gather the finish is called "Perlglanz Chrom" and is electroplated rather than painted. My E85 is a bit of a one-off, as it's only covered 5000 miles, so is in showroom condition - or at least it was until the scissor incident! I could buy a new set of spoke covers, but as there's an eye-watering price tag of around £200 attached that's not going to happen!

I suspect my best bet is to look for a secondhand steering wheel, as it may be possible to find one with an unmarked lower spoke cover. I could then transfer that to the current wheel, and then maybe get the secondhand one recovered by Royal as a sports wheel, spraying the covers satin black, and putting the current one aside to enable the car to be returned to its 100% original state at a later date.

But in the mean time I live in hope!

 

[oldgitdave]

Hi Alan, I don't think you'll find a perfect secondhand spoke but good luck with your your search. An E85 with only 5000 miles, wow! That's got be a rare beast! Any pics?

Just a heads up, I swapped my standard steering wheel for a multifunction one recently (which I had recovered at Royals) & though the lower spokes are the same, the silver colour is completely different. My standard wheel looks a more towards a mirror type finish whereas my multifunction one is nearer matt silver. I had intended to swap the lower spoke as the clips are broken on the multifunction one but they are just too different in colour.

Dave

 

[Conrod]

That's very useful information Dave. Funnily enough I was thinking of getting a multifunction wheel, so the difference in colour is interesting. Looking at the scratch it looks like there's chrome plating underneath the silver colour.

I've posted a few photos in other threads, but here's one from the impromptu three day Welsh tour I've just returned from:



Fantastic roads, and equally fantastic weather!

 

[oldgitdave]

Ah yes Alan, I remember the 'For Sale' thread now. Lovely rare car & pretty much the same spec that mine was out of the factory, though mine is an auto. Mine's also had a few owners & had a few tweaks since then including a change to a red interior.
Anyhow, here are a couple of pics of the two steering wheel bottom spokes. Not sure if you can see the difference but the first one is the original. The second is the mfsw (pre Royals) & is a gloss finish, not matt as I said previously.


I still have the original wheel but the condition after 90k miles is not what you're looking for .
Dave

 

[Conrod]

Thanks again Dave. My car had completed just 4200 miles in its first 17 years, and I've now added 1000 more in the three months I've owned it - I absolutely love this car! It's very different from the Cobra replica it replaced, but I actually now prefer its precision smoothness to the sheer brute force of the Cobra. The latter would have been a real handful on some of the roads I've just driven in Wales!

Thanks for the photos, and from studying the RealOEM E85 parts database I think I've now figured out the difference. My spoke covers are like the first photo, which I believe BMW call "Perlglanz Chrom", whereas the second photo is either "Graphit" or possibly "Ruthenium". It says the former were fitted to cars with the "Chrome Line" interior - maybe these wheels were fitted just to the early 3.0i models?

Anyway, I have another idea for concealing the scratches, which is to design and 3D print a custom clip which clamps to the bottom cover. This can then be padded and covered with black leather to match the rim. I've already designed a 3D model of the Z4 logo, which could then be used as a stamp to emboss the leather with it. Something to keep me busy for a while anyway!