E30 wings: Pattern or genuine?

[matbrojoe]

As per the thread title, need some new wings on my E30 due to corrosion round the bottom of the rear bit behind the mud flap. Patten ones are cheap enough at around £50 a side but are they any good, or should i pay more and get some genuine ones, assuming they're still available?

[ChasR]

If it were me, I'd go genuine everytime, even on older stuff. The metal itself doesn't seem to be the cheapest stuff somoene can get their hands on, the fit is miles better without tweaking and they do tend to be a little thicker material wise in a number of cases.

Let's just say years ago you could spot which Pug 205s had been in a crash, as the panels went rusty . However, I reckon it will be secondhand only for you. I remember my 106 was an absolute faff to line up the front end as the pattern front panel threw off the front end. I did manage to get it straight again on the front but I did also end up filing and drilling out holes etc.

[matbrojoe]

Yes, i'm inclined towards the genuine ones myself if they aren't silly money, second hand seems not to be an option as the few i've found on ebay are worse than the ones that are on at the moment. I found a pair of genuine wings for my SD1, ans there are a good few more E30s about o you'd think there'd be some out there, i did struggle to find a fuel tank for it a few years back though, and ended up having a stainless exhaust made as i couldn't get the right one off the shelf.

[lufbramatt]

On one of TonyBMW's thread he got some sills for his E12 M5, the genuine ones were really nicely made and had all the additional brackets and reinforcements. The pattern ones had to be fettled to fit and were just the basic shape. On my 26 year old VW the only major rot is on the pattern bonnet that someone has fitted in the past...

If you can get them I'd go genuine, they might not be too much. I've recently bought a couple of genuine repair panels for my E39 and they weren't expensive at all.

[Rich]

RealOEM.com will let you see if they are still available and allow you to obtain a part number to sling at your local BMW dealer or eBay for NOS.

[ChasR]

Aug 17, 2016 8:56:20 GMT Rich said:

RealOEM.com will let you see if they are still available and allow you to obtain a part number to sling at your local BMW dealer or eBay for NOS.

That is a brilliant website. It's come in handy for me on a couple of occasions, especially when the motor factors fob you off with the 'right' part, just because it fits.

I bought my M3 with a noisy viscous fan. It turns out a known motor factor had supplied the guy with the wrong viscous coupling, one that fits E34s up to E46s with the Mxx series of engines (M50,M52,M54 etc.).

[Stu]

Genuine, definitely. They were about £200 each + vat and available to order when I last asked at BMW, last year I think.

My E30 has one pattern left front wing fitted when my mate owned it before me, around 2007, and it's nowhere near the quality of the original stuff - sounds tinny when you tap it and the paint finish isn't great now even though a good bodyshop fitted and sprayed it (and the car is dry stored). I'm looking to replace it with a genuine part when I get around to a few other niggles on the car.

Still looks good from a distance though

[sarkie83]

Aug 19, 2016 15:15:02 GMT Stu said:

Genuine, definitely. They were about £200 each + vat and available to order when I last asked at BMW, last year I think.

Wow - Rubbish pattern Capri wings are heading towards that price 😕