Scratch/Scuff Resistance of the Thermoplastic Exterior

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thefuturenow

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 15, 2016
Messages
82
It is apparent just from touching the thermoplastic exterior of the i3 that it is a new beast in the industry. I did watch the video where BMW beat up a thermoplastic panel from the i3 with a hammer, and it seems that this could be a great improvement in the fragility of commonplace vehicles with a steel chassis.

During real-world usage, does the thermoplastic exterior resist scratches and scuffs? Although this was designed to make scuffing or impact at under 2.5mph practically a non-issue, I am confident that even if the vehicle were keyed it would be significantly worse than it would if any other BMW were given the same abuse.

BMW has a great opportunity here and is onto something. Scratch-proofing our vehicles is one of the steps to building a perfect vehicle, along with electric driving and autonomy.
 
We have almost 19,000km on our car now and have owned it for slightly over a year. It is our only car so it goes to all the shopping centre car parks etc etc. Washed it today and still not a single dent or scratch to be found any where on the the car. I have never experienced this before. With past cars (Subarus and Holdens), there are any number of dimples and scratches on the the metal doors. The car still looks as it did when we drove it out of the dealership.
 
Lithiumman said:
We have almost 19,000km on our car now and have owned it for slightly over a year. It is our only car so it goes to all the shopping centre car parks etc etc. Washed it today and still not a single dent or scratch to be found any where on the the car. I have never experienced this before. With past cars (Subarus and Holdens), there are any number of dimples and scratches on the the metal doors. The car still looks as it did when we drove it out of the dealership.

Really encouraging :)
 
Lithiumman said:
We have almost 19,000km on our car now and have owned it for slightly over a year. It is our only car so it goes to all the shopping centre car parks etc etc. Washed it today and still not a single dent or scratch to be found any where on the the car. I have never experienced this before. With past cars (Subarus and Holdens), there are any number of dimples and scratches on the the metal doors. The car still looks as it did when we drove it out of the dealership.
I think you must be lucky, There are a few light scratches showing on my i3 and its done less than 9000 miles.
 
The surface is still paint...so, anything that can scratch paint will on the i3. The difference is that the material behind it is more flexible, and will return to its normal shape unless it is stretched beyond the point where it can recover - IOW, door dings are less likely to occur. It's been my experience that the paint BMW uses is more flexible than that on some other vehicles I've owned, and if hit say with a rock, the paint rarely cracks on my BMWs, while it often chipped and exposed the underlying primer or metal on others. Bonus on the i3, no metal underneath to rust.
 
That makes sense Jim, thanks. I was curious as to whether the panels were painted or colour impregnated. I guess the 'orange peel' indicates the former.
 
I know this is an old post but here goes. My 2015 BMW i3 got keyed yesterday. UGH. There are 3 distinct and deep scratches, no dent but you can see the white plastic underneath. Obviously it won't be bodyfill like normal steel cars, however, I want to know how to repair these noticeable scratches. I too have surface scratches but not noticeable once nicely waxed. Any insight appreciated!
 
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