Aluminum trim gets dinged so easily

[King]

Originally Posted by chrisutley

I hate to sound like a whiner, but I'm bummed about how easy it is to put scratches and dents in the aluminum trim. This is my first BMW, and I have been treating with great care.

Today I got two scratches within 20-minutes. First I gouge the driver trim with my iPhone (no idea how). Then my better half manages to scratch the other side with who knows what. I baby this vehicle, I'm not a careless boob. I gave a friend a ride home from work last week, and he goes for the passenger door with his house keys in hand - scrrrrrrratch! If feel like a turd instructing everybody that gets in my car to "be careful" around my trim. Ugh.

So my questions are:

1) Is there any type of repair I can do?

2) Does anybody know what the cost of these trim pieces are? I feel like I should just go ahead and order a few now, and keep them on hand.

3) I wonder what the cost/feasibility of replacing it all with wood trim would be.

To prevent it from getting scratched so easily, you can take the trim pieces off and get them clear coated. Maybe even a couple of coats. I read somewhere that the bamboo wood trim actually has 10-12 coats of clear to give it that glossy finish! To replace all the trim with wood is not difficult to do but the parts alone will cost you around $800-$1K. Maybe you can sell your aluminium trim on ebay to recover some of that cost!