WN Spare tire well differences

[willybali]

Just received my WN spare tire well, wondering if anyone noticed the piece isn't quite remove and fit

I find the part has elevations, marked by arrows while the car is either flat or has slight depressions.

It is almost as if these are stamped incorrectly- however the part can still be used cutting around the differences

Anyone out there have comments or suggestions?

Thanks for looking.

 

[Breiti]

I figure out the same.
Dean's like there are some small changes when they went to mount the tank from underneath.

I give it a small cut on the tank side, flatten it out and weld it together.

Under the lift fix, I just flatten it.

Not a big deal at all.

Breiti

PS: just do it like Trini Lopez....
" If I had a hammer "

 

[eriknetherlands]

Indeed differences occur.

W&N are generally quite ok, even more so when comparing to patch panels from othe suppliers.
They are even quite ok when comparing to other panels for other brands.

But yes, W&N panels are not always faultless.
Also, many pressed parts from BMW underwent slight changes to pressing tools over the 10 years or so that these tools would run in production.
W&N however will make only one pressingtool, and they'll choose a shape that is most common. Your car thus may be of a different "vintage" then the design that the repro panel from W&N intended to copy.

I would modify the panel to my liking before welding it in.
Now from a functional perspective, one could just throw it in, and be done with it.
It will still drive like a nice car, even with a ridge or bump missing.

 

[Krzysztof]

It is almost impossible to produce such complicated part to fit, keeping the price still affordable for many.

As some of You probably witnessed stamping such panel on a car production is divided into several stamping stations stamping deeper and with more details.

W&N or others can't do it like that due to the volumes and market price limit (to be able to pay-back the investments in extremely expensive stamps).

Some are using cheaper hammering method on wooden or concrete+resin forms but the result is typically even worse.

It is the reason why fenders are still not available from anyone as reproductions. They would just be too expensive or too poor in detail's quality.

BMW parts are also far from being perfect (NOS) as there was no proper quality control of the body parts once the production of the cars has stopped.

It is good there is any part available (for cars with really nothing to save condition) but sometimes it is worth to repair original part by patching rather than mount complete new.

The good example are inner sills. Repros are done with much weaker steel (even if the steel's gauge is as original), so quite often E9 chassis loose door's gaps after engine being mounted. That is why some are mounting reinforcements in the sills coming from front suspension and A-pillar area.

Of course it would be possible to produce correct one, but looking on the current prices of the repros how many would buy significantly more expensive parts? How to pay back the investment in the complicated and expensive process?

I can barely see the quality (and selection) of E9 parts will improve in the future.