Fibre Glass or PP whats the diff?

[Zaytar]

Hi Guys,

A few days ago I inadvertently mounted a kerb in a carpark and damaged my aero front lip spoiler (e92 335i). These lips attach to SE front bumpers. I originally bought the lip OEM from a dealer for circa £200.

Anyhow I now have to fit a new one, and noticed that these exact spoilers are available on Ebay for as little as £50. The spoilers are marked as having been manufactured from fibre glass. Can anyone tell me the difference between fibreglass manufactured spoilers and PP manufactured ones? I believe the OEM ones are PP plastic.

Cheers.

[scorcher]

Surprisingly a lot of major aftermarket manufacturers use fibre glass for their bodykits, AC Schnitzer, Hartge and Alpina to name but a few.

It's cheaper to manufacture, easy to paint but often cracks and shatters on impact, unlike PU which is flexible on low speed impact, but paint will still crack a little.

PU is generally better, but for the sake of a rep I'd go with whatever suits your pocket :)

[jk330ci]

Good advise^^. Try one out and see what you think, if its not up to much sell it on and only loose a little cash.

[mr sideways]

i would'nt put fibreglass on my car. I have just put a aero splitter on my e39 and looked at a fibreglass rep but it did not fit right at all but then found a oem plastic one on ebay for £50 and it fits perfect.

[whizzkid11]

+1 - avoid fibreglass, its designed for Corsa's and Saxos...

[gie0320]

Personally I would try to keep away from fibreglass if you could

[Zaytar]

Many thanks all for your replies.

[mysticm3]

as said fibre glass is much cheaper to mould and manufacturer but tend to crack easily but is also easily repairable. however even without impact they tend to have hairline cracks after some period. You also need to be aware that they have little flexibility in them therefore if the mould is bad the part will not fit well. However if used for rear parts such as boot spoiler etc I would not worry too much.

PU and PP are much more flexible and more resistant to stone chips/cracks etc. and is now more commonly used by our suppliers so most of our front spoiler/bumper etc are all made from PP material.

I have a PP material front spoiler for E92 SE bumper to clear out if you need one do drop me a line.