is everyones e34 as fragile mine?

[finnishkid]

i swear it doesn't matter what part of the car i touch it freaking breaks apart. maybe its just my car because its been sitting in the sun so long. all plastic pieces are super fragile and all the leather is really hard. the PO hacked up all the wiring to pretty much all the lights and the stereo. now i am in the process of fixing all the little things PO broke or hacked up.

[ShapeShifter]

Those are the problems of long term UV exposure.

[Trevor M]

i swear it doesn't matter what part of the car i touch it freaking breaks apart. maybe its just my car because its been sitting in the sun so long. all plastic pieces are super fragile and all the leather is really hard. the PO hacked up all the wiring to pretty much all the lights and the stereo. now i am in the process of fixing all the little things PO broke or hacked up.

I've got this on my car too, under the hood especially. Evey time I grab a connector to dis-assemble something, it crumbles in my hands. Dried out from heat I guess. I haven't really noticed it in the interior yet. My E34 is a JDM and I'm not sure what kind of climate it spent the bulk of it's life in.
My 28 year old E12 spent it's entire life in Canada and it doesn't have this issue at all.

[mfritts]

Same here, at least under the hood where everything gets hot. Just looking at something plastic the wrong way and it crumbles.

On int. leather, I've had good luck with Leatherique conditioner, cleaner and even a re-dye job. My seats don't feel like 'butter', but they are holding up well.

[David325e]

I had my 10/88 525 for a little over a year after I bought it. Beat it hard, really hard. Jumping over railroad tracks, 2k miles a month and 9k mile oil changes, never garaged, going through mud ruts and so on. Once I got it and started cleaning it all deterioration halted, at least compared to the previous owner. Only brittleness related things I can think of were the seat cracked on the day I moved (sat down hard with a load of tools in my back pocket) and the T union in the fuel lines cracked and had to be replaced.

[strad]

Leatherique system will soften hard leather. I've not used it on my five yet (I will though) but I have used it on my 3 cabrio and I was happy with the results.

Plastic and sunlight/heat do not mix. It's very distressing to me to see how plastic is used everywhere on late-model cars, including places where plastic should not be used (on mission-critical components of the cooling system for example lol).

[Sam Son]

i went to put my rear seat bottom back and one of the seatbelt recepticles shattered when i touched it

[jehu]

i went to put my rear seat bottom back and one of the seatbelt recepticles shattered when i touched it


Those two plastic things along the top edge exposed to the light thru the rear window? yah mine too. They're like $30 ea i think from the dealer maybe more.

[Sherman]

My 28 year old E12 spent it's entire life in Canada and it doesn't have this issue at all.
One benefit of living here on the wet coast... very little UV exposure. Some of the plastic bits in the engine bay are getting brittle but not too bad yet. With a bit of finess most things will come apart without breaking. Mine was garge kept for most of it's life so the leather is still like buttuh.

[jhennig]

My seems fine. :)

[zubbie]

BMW plastic is the worst of any car I have ever owned. anything near heat or sun turns to dust.

Hate to say it but my 91 civic wagon has zero problems. Even the bolts are all zinc plated for corrosion resistance.

[renemesis]

I've had a few little plastic bits snap off in my hands. I'd definitely recommend Leatherique for the seats (haven't tried anything else, though). Don't expect it to drastically improve the appearance of the leather, but it does make it a lot more soft and supple.

[attack eagle]

nope, that is just a consequence of being in AZ... and not being garaged.

:)