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29K views 70 replies 47 participants last post by  Shralper 
#1 ·
How quickly do you see signs of peeling on the soft touch and other surfaces. 1 year, 2 year, never??:dunno:

I was just curious because that seems like a real turn off to have a nice $50k with a peeling interior :thumbdwn:

How many of you guys have an interior that isn't peeling at all??
 
#4 ·
that's reassuring.

I guess it seemed a lot more common than it really was because only people with the problem actually posted.

I'm looking to buy a new car, and am heavily considering the e90/e92, but the peeling worried me

Thanks for the reassurance :thumbup:
 
#5 ·
Due to environmental concerns many manufacturers have this issue. It is normally exacerbated by certain skin treatments (moisturizer, suntan lotion, etc) and so if you don't use a lot of that stuff it may never happen to you.
 
#7 ·
#42 ·
I agree with others that it's likely the heat causes it to happen quicker or more severely. Purchased a new 2006 325i titanium silver, gray leather with aluminum trim, w/sports package, winter package, premium package, navi, and after a year...a very small scratch developed into a huge section tearing off off the interior door pull. Each summer it gets worse. During the winters it slowed down. When it's very very hot....it only takes a fingernail to start a scratch....then it gets worse from there.

It was U.S. spec purchased under a military sales program overseas and I hope a dealer will fix it when I ship the car back to the US (on it's way now). I have about 33K miles and a year left on the warranty...here's to hoping it will not be a problem. :-\

The Service Information Bulletin you provided me much more confidence this will be fixed with a long term remedy provided they don't simply replace it with another "painted surface" part.

THANK YOU for that SIB post!
 
#10 ·
this was the kind of thing i was worried about:(




The soft touch paint is a nice touch but it peels or tears rather easily. It will probably happen to you sooner or later, if your car is under warranty apparently it's covered (although I've yet to bring it up at my dealership) if not there are some pretty inexpensive diys out there. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it happens to more people than it doesn't so count on yours peeling.
 
#11 ·
It will probably happen to you sooner or later, if your car is under warranty apparently it's covered (although I've yet to bring it up at my dealership) if not there are some pretty inexpensive diys out there. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it happens to more people than it doesn't so count on yours peeling.
It is the first time I hear about this problem. None of people with BMWs I know ever complained about it. :dunno:

I don't even understand how it can happen. I only touch the door handle when I close the door. How does it get scratched so bad??? In the pictures it looks like someone actually tried to scratch them :eeps:
 
#19 ·
thanks for all the replies,:thumbup:

it seems like about 50% of the cars peel and 50% don't. The majority of the peelers seem to be 06s, while the newer ones don't seem to peel as easily,

am i right??
It is my understanding that my replacement part (which was made standard in the '07 model year), the color is molded into the part where in the '06 part, the color was painted on. While I have had no problem with my replacement, I have only had it for a couple of months.
 
#23 ·
none in my E93, although the steering wheel is already starting to peel in my X5. :/
 
#29 ·
you should be shocked - these cars are expensive and are supposed to be luxury cars, they shouldn't peel within a year, thats ridiculous. :mad: This is something thats common in VWs but i thought maybe a bmw that can cost almost twice as much won't have this problem. The engineers/ designers should have tested it in a real world situation with skin products and such to see how the soft touch holds up. At least it seems to have been fixed with different parts in the newer models. :dunno:
 
#27 ·
My '06 330i (beige) had the same peeling as shown in those photos. The driver's side interior door pull would need to be replaced every six months or so. My '08 335i has black plastic interior components and (so far) hasn't had any peeling at all. Maybe the black is more durable than the beige?
 
#30 ·
its probably down to miles covered not just year. mine is April 2006, i have none of that in my car and car is more than 3 years old. But of course, doesn't mean it wont' happen - just asying 1 year or 2 years is probably too soon.

if this happens after 7-8 years I guess it's ok and wear and tear and all that..
 
#32 ·
Just had my peeling driver's door grab handle replaced under warranty yesterday. They use a solid piece of color-matched plastic instead of plastic coated in soft-touch paint. No questions asked.

Just bought my car, but it is 2 years old.
 
#33 ·
I have this same issue

I have a 2006 330i. Driver's side handle started peeling at about 2 years. Same with the plastic on the gearshift. I haven't asked to have the door handle replaced yet because the interior is black, so it's not very noticeable.

I did have them replace the gearshift because the SA said that people have gotten cuts from it.

I just thought the peeling was due to the heat. I live in Vegas, and it's murder on the interior.
 
#34 ·
3 years passed and it started to peel for me. FYI.

fackers, and I'm out of warranty. BTW, our winters are like 6months long, and summers are not hot. Myabe 2 hot weeks in a year. So it's definately NOT heat related. Just crap quality.
 
#35 ·
3 years passed and it started to peel for me. FYI.

fackers, and I'm out of warranty. BTW, our winters are like 6months long, and summers are not hot. Myabe 2 hot weeks in a year. So it's definately NOT heat related. Just crap quality.
See if your dealer will do a "goodwill" repair since it is a known issue.
 
#37 ·
Just looking over these posts, it appears that those who have the problem are located in the southern states. I'm going to hypothesize that the peeling is related to cars being parked in the hot sun on a hot day over and over again.

If I'm right, parking in the shade, using a reflective sun shade, having a garage... all of these things might help some.

Or maybe, perhaps, I'm just projecting... hoping that I won't have this problem because I live up north.
 
#38 ·
Just looking over these posts, it appears that those who have the problem are located in the southern states. I'm going to hypothesize that the peeling is related to cars being parked in the hot sun on a hot day over and over again.

If I'm right, parking in the shade, using a reflective sun shade, having a garage... all of these things might help some.

Or maybe, perhaps, I'm just projecting... hoping that I won't have this problem because I live up north.
read my post professor. I'm like south coast of alaska lattitude..... :rofl:
 
#39 ·
Well, there are always exceptions, 320.

Could be all that Estonian cigarette smoking you're doing in the car too.

(Did I get lucky guessing you smoke?)
 
#41 ·
I just took my 2006 325i in for this. Peeling door and center console. Also cracking/peeling leatherette on one seat. Not so impressed with BMW interior quality. Never had this on any other car I have owned (2 Chryslers, a VW, a Honda, an Audi...) The dealer is repairing it under warranty. Still kind of disappointing though.
 
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