Have you seen vinyl "bubbling" on interior plastic parts? How to fix?

In two areas, I have "bubbling" vinyl...with no reasonable explanation. What is "bubbling" vinyl, you ask? Well, it appears that my tan interior vinyl, is really a fine coating of tan vinyl over the tannish plastic base. This thin covering of vinyl is now bubbling and peeling off the plastic structure that it is on. And, there appears to be no way to stop it or repair it.

My only thought as to why this is happening is that it may be related to the use of sun-screen lotion. I live in SoFL and play a lot of tennis. I also have had quite a few skin cancers, so I use a sun-screen lotion. The damn lotion does impart a yellow stain on the tan leather and I'm wondering if it it the cause of the bubbling, too. Although, the two areas where the bubbling occurs, doesn't seem to be where contact would be made with the lotion?

Straight sun damage by dissolving the glue? Not sure where this vinyl coating is you are talking about, is it on the dash where it gets the sun?

What parts are you taking about? The interior is made up of quite a few different kinds of material.

Cars that have the extended leather package have a problem with the leather around the dash binnacles coming unglued. See this thread for details

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...leather+repair

What makes this interesting is that the two places that are bubbling, are not really high wear areas. One place is the vertical door frame to the left of about where the driver's left shoulder is. It first bubbles and then a very thin layer of vinyl peels off. The other area is the plastic console just below the aluminum trim that outlines the console. It doesn't appear that the vinyl was glued on but rather "heat-shrinked" on.

Another forum replied that BMW became aware of this with the '06 330i

Went to BMW today and got lucky. On inspection, the service manager kept saying that the bubbling on the vertical panel was due to my using the seat belt. And i kept showing him how the seat belt didn't come near the defect...Yeah, I kept calling it a defect and telling him I knew BMW was aware of this. Bottom line, although the correct fix is to lift out the whole plastic shield behind the driver's seat and replace it, they will AT NO CHARGE repair the peeling areas. Their repair woman is very, very good at repairing vinyl and leather and I ahve no doubt that although I will be able to see the repair, it will nonetheless be an excellent repair.

Originally Posted by Flycaster

In two areas, I have "bubbling" vinyl...with no reasonable explanation. What is "bubbling" vinyl, you ask? Well, it appears that my tan interior vinyl, is really a fine coating of tan vinyl over the tannish plastic base. This thin covering of vinyl is now bubbling and peeling off the plastic structure that it is on. And, there appears to be no way to stop it or repair it.

My only thought as to why this is happening is that it may be related to the use of sun-screen lotion. I live in SoFL and play a lot of tennis. I also have had quite a few skin cancers, so I use a sun-screen lotion. The damn lotion does impart a yellow stain on the tan leather and I'm wondering if it it the cause of the bubbling, too. Although, the two areas where the bubbling occurs, doesn't seem to be where contact would be made with the lotion?

Sounds like the peeling black coating on my X3 plastic parts - trim by steering wheel, door switch. Had to be replaced under warranty. In my case, black coating gives the plastic a more even, matte coating.

Here are two before pics of the problem; on Tuesday I'll post the repair.

In this pic I had tried to prevent further peeling by scraping off the bubbling. But as you can see, it is starting to bubble again.


In this pic I left the bubbling as is. If you look closely, you can see how the bubbling is speading out laterally.

Originally Posted by Flycaster

Here are two before pics of the problem; on Tuesday I'll post the repair.

In this pic I had tried to prevent further peeling by scraping off the bubbling. But as you can see, it is starting to bubble again.


In this pic I left the bubbling as is. If you look closely, you can see how the bubbling is speading out laterally.

It looks the same as the issue on my black trim. BMW wanted a certain luxurious look to the trim so used a matte coating. They had issues where it peels.

Warranty item for sure. Hope the repair holds, but it might peel in other spots.

That is soft touch paint that is peeling. My old 2006 325i had the peeling problem on the interior door pull, one of the dash panels and the steering wheel trim piece. All 3 pieces were replaced by BMW under warranty, no questions asked.

Originally Posted by KevinR

That is soft touch paint that is peeling. My old 2006 325i had the peeling problem on the interior door pull, one of the dash panels and the steering wheel trim piece. All 3 pieces were replaced by BMW under warranty, no questions asked.

Since I am out of warranty, I consider myself lucky that the stealership was at least going to do a repair even thjough it won't be a replacement of the parts in question. We'll know on Tuesday just how good the repair will be.

Originally Posted by Flycaster

Since I am out of warranty, I consider myself lucky that the stealership was at least going to do a repair even thjough it won't be a replacement of the parts in question. We'll know on Tuesday just how good the repair will be.

Yeah, see how it looks and holds up. It should last a while.

Well, I've got to hand it to my stealership. They surprised me and fixed the bubbling/peeling vinyl...with no charge, although out of warranty. As you can see from the "after fix" pics below, the fix was perfect. Personally, I never thought it would come out so good. BTW, my stealership is Braman BMW (West Palm Beach), and I do very highly recommend that if you need some repair for your vinyl or leather, Joanne -their specialist, doe s a great job.

Here's the fix behind driver's left shoulder:



Here's the armrest fix:

Originally Posted by Flycaster

Well, I've got to hand it to my stealership. They surprised me and fixed the bubbling/peeling vinyl...with no charge, although out of warranty. As you can see from the "after fix" pics below, the fix was perfect. Personally, I never thought it would come out so good. BTW, my stealership is Braman BMW (West Palm Beach), and I do very highly recommend that if you need some repair for your vinyl or leather, Joanne -their specialist, doe s a great job.

Here's the fix behind driver's left shoulder:



Here's the armrest fix:

Looks great!

Originally Posted by Flycaster

Well, I've got to hand it to my stealership. They surprised me and fixed the bubbling/peeling vinyl...with no charge, although out of warranty. As you can see from the "after fix" pics below, the fix was perfect. Personally, I never thought it would come out so good. BTW, my stealership is Braman BMW (West Palm Beach), and I do very highly recommend that if you need some repair for your vinyl or leather, Joanne -their specialist, doe s a great job.

Sounds to me like you should stop referring to them as a "stealership."

Originally Posted by KevinR

Sounds to me like you should stop referring to them as a "stealership."

Yeah, really.

Originally Posted by KevinR

That is soft touch paint that is peeling. My old 2006 325i had the peeling problem on the interior door pull, one of the dash panels and the steering wheel trim piece. All 3 pieces were replaced by BMW under warranty, no questions asked.

Bubbling of door pull and steering wheel trim on 2008 328cvi Need help out of warranty by 8 months and 7 thousand miles, but bought extended bmw warranty , dealership declined to cover, and national concurred. . I am concerned what else will pop up that is glued. Feel this is defect, but i made mistake of calling this cosmetic. Any suggestions? Not excited that bmw would treat buyers like this, I had windshield bubble on my ford, and they replaced out of warranty, and crack in my mercedes subframe, that was repaired by mercedes while out of warranty on them. Now these were true defects. may venture back to mercedes if this is what i can expect from bmw................................