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Car Forum / BMW Cars / February 2005Plastic parts crack in cold weather?
Hi Gang, I have a 2000 528i. Last week I got in the car to go to work. I noticed a big crack in the plastic "woodgrain" trim that covers the cassette player. I was confused as to how this might of happened, then I had realized it may have cracked because the termperature has been too cold. Here in Pennsylvania it was 4F that morning! Has anyone else experienced this? Last year, I noticed a hairline crack in the gear shifter handle. I'm pretty sure this happened the same way. Has this happened to anyone else? Any tips to avoid this? (Besides keeping the car in a garage?) Also, does anyone know how to replace this spring-loaded door that covers the cassette player? Thanks! Jeff > Hi Gang, > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > covers > the cassette player? Jeff, It gets a lot colder than that up here in NH and my parts aren't cracking. I don't think it is the low temp unless the plastic parts are somehow defective. -Fred W > It gets a lot colder than that up here in NH and my parts aren't > cracking. I don't think it is the low temp unless the plastic parts > are somehow defective. I have seen -50F couple of times in Finland, and no plastic part has ever cracked thanks to that. Of course, in those temperatures you do not want to kiss another car with you bumber :) BR:Z > Hi Gang, > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Has anyone else experienced this? 4?F?, No. Brrrr > Hi Gang, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > because the termperature has been too cold. Here in Pennsylvania it was 4F > that morning! Not that cold.. the plastic "woodgrain" trim IS wood over plastic.. a thin veneer with a heavy coating of polyurethane. I'd guess the coating is what cracked. > Has anyone else experienced this? Last year, I noticed a hairline crack in > the gear shifter handle. I'm pretty sure this happened the same way. What way is that? Cold? I sort of doubt it. > Has this happened to anyone else? Any tips to avoid this? (Besides keeping > the car in a garage?) Nope. > Also, does anyone know how to replace this spring-loaded door that covers > the cassette player? The wood has to be matched to what you have now.. (since it isn't really plastic wood-grain).. I believe if you take the MID and the radio out (which is actually what lives behind the cassette slot) it will become rather obvious. IIRC - it just pivots on two points, and has a small cylinder to damp it closing... BTW - what most people think is the radio isn't.. the thing with the stations and all the buttons - is the Multiple Instrument Display. It is strictly a display unit for various functions in the car, such as the radio, OBC if you have one, integrated phone, etc. > Thanks! > Jeff I have driven my BMW's,no matter the weather in central BC Canada.The only crack I recall was the dash of an E28 expensive but the temperature was about -35 celsius the road was gravel under the ice and snow and the round trip was about 400 miles in one day. Usually the crack in the laminate is from heat/sun. Richard > Hi Gang, > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Thanks! > Jeff As Don has already pointed out - your plastic wood is actually real wood. You should be able to glue it back together. If you use the proper glue and technique the glued joint will be unnoticeable and actually stronger than the wood. You should use a good carpenter's glue (the yellow stuff will make a stronger joint than the white stuff). You'll need to clamp it tight for 24 hours to be on the safe side. Test the mating of the cracked joint with the clamps so you end up with a stable flush joint after you apply the glue. Only use enough to coat both sides of the joint with a very thin film. A strong joint has to have the minimum amount of glue. After drying you may need to refinish it with a fine polish. I've never heard of anyone else having your problem though. Wood usually cracks from excessive heat, not cold. Any chance someone put something hot on the panel while it was rcold? We get -13°F here for extended periods every Winter and other folks will tell you even that isn't really cold. I've never heard of anyone else having your problem though. Wood usually cracks from excessive heat, not cold. Wood cracks because of low humidity. Warm or hot air has lots of moisture and will make the wood swell, not necessarily crack (usually not). Cold, on the other hand, is very low in moisture, that's why when you live in cold climates you might need to add a humidifier to keep the relative humidity up and NOT crack wood. Heating the air is irrelevant. If there is not enough moisture in it it will not pick up any as it warms, and the house becomes very dry. The walnut and redwood burl used in the E39 are very stable and very dense woods by nature. That's partially why they are good for inlaying. They would have been thoroughly dried before even being selected for inlaying. The pieces would have been finished with a varnish to protect the surface from dirt as well as moisture. It's true you can crack wood if it is green and you dry it quickly but it's unlikely to be the case with thoroughly dried dense burl hardwood that's properly finished. What we were referring to as heat is when you subject the wood to glaring sun. This can happen in the Summer or Winter but in the Winter the temperature differential between a very hot surface and the cold backing in contact with the car may be much greater. If there is a flaw in the grain of the wood, a severe heat differential may crack it right there because the wood is not that thick. One should always use a sunshade for the windshield. Okay, now we're talking about cracking do to dissimilar expansion characteristics of 2 different materials. I this case you are correct, rapid heating OR cooling could cause cracking. But just for wood, as I stated earlier, moisture content of heat causes it to swell, while lack of moisture causes it to crack. > The walnut and redwood burl used in the E39 are very stable and very > dense woods by nature. That's partially why they are good for [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > right there because the wood is not that thick. One should always use > a sunshade for the windshield. |
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