CSL kickpate disassembly

[NZ_M3]

So given I had a couple of sets of these I thought I'd have a go at disassembling the aluminium from the plastic just to see how crap these are put together (and really to swap the good one to another set that weren't so good but had better plastic backing - given these are sided, sometimes you can buy two used sets and create a proper good full set by swapping the aluminium from one side to the other)

Best way to take the aluminium off without bending it - Heat gun set at 270 degrees but not hotter, thin wire to cut through the double sided 3M foam tape. Heat up the aluminium, be careful not to burn the plastic (you can mask the plastic if you want, I had quite a good heatgun so I didn't bother - use a sweeping action and do about 10cm at a time. poke the wire under the aluminium and cut through the double sided foam. Take a couple of goes, just be patient, it'll come off without any damage.



Here it s off without bending it:



Check out how thin it is .... simply a pressed aluminium.



To refurbish - simply use a good craft knife and cut the corrosion off - use a slicing action parallel to the aluminium. If the corrosion is bad enough to pit the aluminium, give it a quick but light 2000grit sand, but don't go too hard as you'll peel the coating completely off. Touch up with clear lacquer paint or polish with autosol metal polish.

It won't look like new, but it'll look a heck of a lot better.

Top refurbished ... bottom still to work on:

[JBird]

About to do this myself Tom, so you think it's not a good idea to completly remove all the original laquer on there?

[NZ_M3]

Originally Posted by JBird

About to do this myself Tom, so you think it's not a good idea to completly remove all the original laquer on there?

You won't be able to remove it all without any damage to the aluminium coating underneath in my opinion.

As far as I can see there's no way to actually refurbish these completely unless you have access to a linishing machine and proper polishing mop so you can put the correct grain and mirror finish back into the aluminium (very time consuming). You can only tidy them up to a certain extent.

I purchased quite a few used sets to test different methods of refurbishment and the conclusion I came to was the most efficient and best way was to cut out the corrosion as much as possible and hope there isn't pitting underneath - polish it as much as you can by hand (I tried a Dremel polish wheel and it just ended up taking the chrome mirror finish off) - clear over it, but don't do the whole thing.

[alexk]

Who wants a group-buy ?

[Mark CSL]

I was thinking about making them in Carbon with The CSL and the flags made from a silver sticker in the resin so it wont tarnish.


What do you think ?

[NZ_M3]

Originally Posted by Mark CSL

I was thinking about making them in Carbon with The CSL and the flags made from a silver sticker in the resin so it wont tarnish.


What do you think ?

Had similar ideas myself Mark

I think if you can grab a used set, you could simply cut out the bits you don't need or want and leave the rest and lay it on top of a 1 x 1 plain weave carbon (I am thinking the flags could be overlayed with cutouts to show the carbon) - then epoxy coat over the whole thing. Would look stunning I reckon.

[0836whimper]

I'll be up for some carbon ones, I bet quite a few owners have a spare corroded set, so no need to buy the base. These are not BMW's finest hour...along with the exhaust brackets.

I'd put the carbon ones on and only put the OEM ones on at sale time....not that that is EVER going to happen of course

[Neil M]

Originally Posted by Mark CSL

I was thinking about making them in Carbon with The CSL and the flags made from a silver sticker in the resin so it wont tarnish.


What do you think ?

Sounds like a man with a plan