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11-19-2012, 11:15 PM | #1 |
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Tow Hook Cover
Someone jacked my tow hook cover last month. Im looking to buy a tow hook cover for my 2011 E90. Dealer wants about 110 with painting included. Anyone have one for sale or know where I can get it cheaper?
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11-19-2012, 11:34 PM | #4 |
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I got mine for like $25... IIRC. Well, more like I bought the cover unpainted and a pal at the dealership hooked up the painting.
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11-19-2012, 11:38 PM | #5 |
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110 doesn't sound like a lot considering they need to be prepped, painted, and cleared.
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11-20-2012, 08:28 AM | #8 |
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You can buy the piece and paint it yourself. When someone stole mine a few years back, I bought a replacement through the dealership. It came with primer on it. I bought a touch up paint kit and painted it.
The only issue with this of course are brush marks, but you can minimize them by following these steps. I heated up the cover with a heat gun (you could also use a blow dryer), get it really nice and warm. Next apply the base coat. Getting the piece warmed up will help you brush on the paint smoother. I also got a lot of paint on there - the more paint you can get on the smoother it will dry. I let it dry over night. Make sure it is covered while it dries - you don't want dust or other particles to adhere. The next day I did the same but applied the clear coat. Make sure you get the piece nice and warm again and apply. Apply a good amount of clear coat. The clear will fill in all of the brush marks you left applying the base coat. This is a cheaper way of doing it and you will also have the touch up paint kit for future use. Once it was finished, there were no brush marks that I could see. Plus the piece sits low on the car so any imperfections there you are not likley to notice. I am pretty anal about my cars but I was really happy with the results. Total, this is probably a 15-20 minute job. Hope this helps. |
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11-20-2012, 09:41 AM | #9 |
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Yeah $110 is pretty normal given the paint labor, and I think that's roughly what IND charges for painted covers. Unfortunately even though the part is so small, the paint shop still has to go through all the labor of mixing the paint, and matching it to your car if they have it available. Speaking of which, if your car is a few years old and/or it's parked in sunlight a lot, I'd actually recommend NOT going pre-painted since your car's paint might have faded a bit and thus a pre-painted cover wouldn't be an exact match, whereas if you bought it unpainted and took it to a shop with your car, they can match the CURRENT state of your paint, not its brand new state. But I suspect even pre-painted would look better than touch-up paint unless you're a ninja like M3 Esq. above apparently....
Unpainted covers are about $25. I'd actually recommend buying 2 or 3 unpainted covers and then getting them all painted somewhere; the paint labor cost difference will be minimal or non-existent to paint 3 of those things rather than 1, so your per-cover cost will be lower, and then you'll have spares if this happens again. I lost one because it just fell out on the road somewhere, and others have lost theirs at track days.
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11-20-2012, 09:56 AM | #10 |
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I have had to replace mine 3 times! IND is the place to go. I think its usually about 40 bucks painted and shipped.
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11-20-2012, 10:31 AM | #11 |
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Talk to IND I just got a tow hook cover with the slit for the tow strap painted for a good price.
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11-20-2012, 11:27 AM | #12 |
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tow hook... problem solved.
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11-20-2012, 11:46 AM | #13 |
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get it from IND.
They can get you OEM painted alot cheaper.
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11-20-2012, 07:18 PM | #15 |
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11-20-2012, 07:21 PM | #16 |
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IMO $110 is a lot of money to spend on a tiny little piece considering a full bumer cover prepped/painted is only a few hundred more; that being said though, it is a pain for the body shop to have to setup to do such a small piece. I'm very surprised a small piece like that isn't sold in body color from the factory.
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