grille slats cracking and falling off

[peteinjp]

My early style (all silver) grille slats are cracking. I noticed one hangin off today- bummed! They have been on the car for about 13,000 miles. Anyone else have this problem? I wonder if its due to the relatively stiff (300#) front springs or if it was just a poorly made part- as many of the recent parts seem to be. I'm thinking of having a rod of similar size welded in its place.

[peteinjp]

Just take off the corresponding slat on the other side. She thought that was really smart.......

[TMK-001]

Are they a NOS part from BMW? If so, maybe you should look at having a chat with your parts person.

I have stiff springs and have driven my card pretty solidly without any headache.

Todd

[gracer]

I have been driving 02's for 38 years. I have had many slats break and fall off. It seems like the early grills could take the vibration better than the later ones. Different alloy or something like that. That is why I use the plastic ones for my race car. They are more forgiving. G

[DavinSF]

...and a few people suggested a repair that is working great so far. Take a small piece of metal that's a little thinner than the slat and JB Weld it onto the back of the grille overlapping the outer frame and the broken slat. Worked like a charm (so far...) Cheers!