well it arrived today at my dealership, its 3m film with a bmw logo thats pre-cut to the lower painted running boards and the wheel flares. it does nothing to help the lower door problem. my dealership said they will custom cover the lower doors. i couldnt get a photo but if anyone needs the part number just let me know...

so 3m the car first and be aware you will have to replace it as needed/often.

3m the flares, both lower doors, and the running boards to avoid excessive damage.

Thanks for the updates. This kind of sucks. I will let it go for now...

Very interested in this. Wish I had read about it prior to accepting delivery of our X5 M Sport. :confused:

this might help, it's a quick ps of the damaged areas. ( based on my M )

Attachment 43901

:thumbdown

:rofl:

Yup the those red areas are the worst, ugh

Subscribing in hopes that there's a laminate solution that would apply to having 315's in the front. I'm thinking that the E53's paint might not be far behind with this configuration.

Sorry to hear about this guys. :(

I'll admit that while I did not read the whole thread in it's entirety...but based on the pic above, to a degree, the rocker panels on alot of vehicles suffer similar abuse...

here are the part numbers for the bmw 3m tape they now offer to help. it doesnt cover the lower doors.

Left and Right

51912153864
51912153862

When I bought my X5M in December, I drove it right to the shop to have 3M put on the front. They covered everything from the front bumper to the windshield (bumper, fenders, entire hood and wheel arches). Yes, I made the mistake of not doing the sills or rear fenders. This custom shop has a lot of experience applying this 3M film. Because it is black and the size of the hood, they really had a lot of difficulties. We were both disappointed in the finished look. They agreed to look for something better and redo it. All I would pay for is the cost of the film. They decided to use XPel. XPel uses a gel to aid application. They stated it was a significant improvement with installing. The finished look is 100% better. They were able to wrap in under the leading edges of the hood and fenders for extra protection. They were able to use just one piece for the entire hood. Taking off the 3M was a HUGE pain for them. Half of the adhesive was left behind. See the picture.

They repainted the sills and rear wheel arches. They were able to repair most of the rear fender without repainting the entire thing. They then applied XPel on portions of the rear arches, sill and fender. It looks great. I could not be happier. This is a must.

While there I also had the factory wheels (which I use for snow tires) powder coated and a Passport 9500ci installed. Check the other thread.

M