My front spoiler has a death wish

[suffolkfox]

Last night - out with wife in her Wedge, me driving and headed to car after long day (first meeting of day 6.20am, evening do ended at 11pm). Must have been tired, was cold, etc, etc, lent in to car to start engine to warm up and for once didn't check that it was out of gear. Result, car starts and drives off over kerb, over grass strip and proceeds to bury itself in large thick hedge, progress halted by wall behind it . Reversed out and only damage apart from few paint scrapes (needs respray anyway) is whole of centre of lower part of spoiler is hanging off. Tear off dangley bit, throw in boot, head home.

Tonight - heading home in Wedge through same roundabout that I come through every day about half hour ago, backside kicks out (Digga - if your reading this yes me too), correct slide OK but end up heading straight over kerb, then path, then into long grass, trees, shrubs etc, etc. End up embedded in large shrub - bl**dy dejavue or what. Manage to reverse out and drive home (killing more plants), all appears OK apart from car now covered in more dead foliage and now the passenger side of the spoiler has completely gone.

So, the question is, wonder if the remaining driver side bit will survive tomorrow - odds available at high street bookies.

ps - Oh, and has anyone got a spare Series 2 spoiler looking for a home.

[digga951]

HA HA! I was indeed reading thinking it all sounds familiar... Strange really, since it wasn't long after you saw the result of me running over my spoiler that mine decided to have an argument with a roundabout that I use everyday too.

So are we placing bets on how the remaining piece of your spoiler is going to become detached? In total, I managed to snap mine in half at a railway crossing twice, broke the front edge off going into a field where a car show was being held, took the drivers half off going into the Ipswich Wilco carpark, took the passenger side off going into Snetterton carpark, cracked it down the middle on a post at a tyre centre in Bury and obviously destroyed it completely in the A12 accident (although, it only broke into 2 pieces where as the rest of the nose cone was abliterated). I reckon you're due an unexpected speedhump which you don't see until the last second...

Afraid I don't have a spare, although I do have a front bumper if you ever need one. Secondhand but 95% perfect in primer. Check ebay out as there are some Tasmin parts listed on there at the mo. May be worth an email to the sellers to see if they have any other bits. Someone on here will probably have one spare somewhere though. Failing that, take yours off and attach it to a plank of wood. Fibreglass all the broken pieces back onto it the best you can and give it a good sand and paint. In fact, you could always fibreglass into the underside some metal plates or a nice chuck of wood to make it really strong.

Dan.

[shreks friend]

hi sorry to hear this i would just cry if it where me i have bought bits from trevor @ tet mouldings before, i think the bit your looking for is £120 link - www.b-link.co.uk/tet/tet/350is2conv.htm i would proberbly wait to take the rest off as they do say bad luck comes in 3's
ps odds on in the next two weeks

Edited by shreks friend on Friday 23 February 08:08

[adam quantrill]

digga951 said:

nice chunk of wood to make it really strong.

Dan.

2x4 eh, Jim ;^)

Yeah, been there, done that, they are relatively easy to glass back together but you might need to repaint it after 6 months because usually a few more stress crachs surface.

[suffolkfox]

Can't rebuild it Dan as there is a large chunk missing (assume one of the bushes ate on the way through and missed it when picking up). As it had already been repaired and the cracks were starting to reappear had already thought a replacement might be the way so will speak to Tet if no-one has one in a garage somewhere.

Oh, and the last part didn't last till going to work time as went out to check if it was loose and it fell off in my hand! At least that saved me running over it on the way to work.

[rev-erend]

So - if i've read this correctly.

You have crashed your wifes wedge twice in one day..

I would be expecting the divorce papers any day.. mental cruelty.

Have you considered flowers... and chocolates.

[badredwedge]

Sound a bit like driving a Grief !! (I am sure that thing was trying to kill me)

Glad its not too serious and I hope the wife forgives you ........ soon

[suffolkfox]

Fortunately she's been exceeedingly laid back about it all, but it will probably cost me a frock or two when I'm reminded about it at one of those 'appropriate moments' which will appear just when I've made another c*ck-up at some future date (time and place to be selected by wife to cause maximum discomfort to me). All with partners will know what I mean :

ps, So should I replace the missing spoiler with an original series 2 spoiler or is it possible to graft an SE type later one on, or something else, seeing as I have a large hole to work with now?

[digga951]

I think I would replace it with anothert 350i S2 spoiler as all the alternatives will require some GRP modding to fit.

Personally, I think the original 390 spoilers look a little pointy and are probably even easier to break. The 400SE ones are not detachable and are part of the body mold (unless I'm proven wrong?).

So, that only leaves the Mk2 390 style which I personally think is the nicest sort. However, the wheel arch flarings are larger on this spoiler than on the 350 type, so you would need to modify the arches on your car to make it work. I borrowed the pic below from Wedgepages, and you can see what I mean by the arches.



Oh, and if the wife starts complaining about how you treat her car, just remind her of how many engines she blew up... ;-)

See you soon,

Dan.