Under Tray/Panel... Anyone run without ?

[BigZ88]

Like the title says, past few owners apparently have lost some fasteners, and the damn thing sags down horribly… anyone run without?

I rarely, if ever drove in the wet…

[K9Leader]

Originally Posted by BigZ88

Like the title says, past few owners apparently have lost some fasteners, and the damn thing sags down horribly… anyone run without?

I rarely, if ever drove in the wet…

Little Red, my 2011 128i was missing all but two of the underbody panels when I got it 2+ years ago. Of the two remaining one was ripped and parts were hanging, and the other was intact but dirty and fraying in places. I replaced all of them, and, because I've installed the Bilstein B12 kit lowering the car, I went with the Turner aluminum skid plate/belly pan.

Total replacement was expensive, but I shopped around and ordered the various pieces from wherever was cheapest - mostly from FCP and Turner/ECS. If you are just looking for a replacement belly pan, those are available on Amazon (and maybe Ebay?) for a pretty reasonable price. If it is just missing fasteners, those, too, are readily available at reasonable cost - I ordered them in bulk and have replaced all of the rusty/cruddy originals on both Little Red and the Grey Ghost (2010 E91).

Those panels protect vulnerable parts from damage from objects thrown up/bouncing up/sticking up from the road and help keep down water and dirt intrusion. On many cars they also provide an aerodynamic function.

To make sure I was getting all the right parts when I ordered I created this composite image (not my photos) with part numbers labeled. It also helped when installing the panels so I didn't have to figure out orientation through trial-and-error:

[BigZ88]

That picture is awesome! Is the hardware all the same? My belly pan almost doesn’t look like it’s the right one for the car. lol may need to just start going through it all piece by piece.

[K9Leader]

Originally Posted by BigZ88

That picture is awesome! Is the hardware all the same? My belly pan almost doesn’t look like it’s the right one for the car. lol may need to just start going through it all piece by piece.

Start with RealOEM for your specific car and then check the part number at FCP and Turner/ECS (or Pelican, BimmerWorld, or Rock Auto) to confirm. Most of the screws are the 8mm hex heads with integrated washers.

In addition to a bunch of the screws, you might want to get a set of the screws with the clips as you will probably have to replace a few clips:
https://www.amazon.com/Rexka-Engine-...zcF9hdGY&psc=1

[Almuliman]

+1 to RealOEM. K9Leader's 128i doesn't have the M Sport Package, so the belly pan is different from mine, for example.

Speaking of belly pans, now I'm shopping for an aluminum replacement <facepalm>. To be fair, mine does have a crack and is scuffed, so surely it's justifiable.

[BigZ88]

Originally Posted by Almuliman

+1 to RealOEM. K9Leader's 128i doesn't have the M Sport Package, so the belly pan is different from mine, for example.

Speaking of belly pans, now I'm shopping for an aluminum replacement <facepalm>. To be fair, mine does have a crack and is scuffed, so surely it's justifiable.

Absolutely! I bet the aluminum is $$

[JustAnotherSportsCar]

Seeing as my car has the N54, I figure the under pan is a crucial component to ensure correct airflow for cooling. The panel under the transmission also has a scoop to direct air for cooling. When I got my car, the large panel was beat up bad, and the trans pan scoop was damaged. I repaired the trans pan with JB Weld and pieces I cut from the large pan, and I ordered a new large pan from my local BMW dealer. Yes, that was the most expensive option, but after careful review of online photos, those cheap eBay and Amazon panels were not quite molded the same. I’m not saying the won’t fit, I just wanted what was right for my car.

Other discount suppliers wanted to charge freight shipping so the final cost was the same as me going to my local dealer. If you live close to a discount supplier, or dealer, you could pick up and save! I find that Braman BMW in Miami has some of the best dealer parts prices in the country. Too bad I live in Iowa…

[BigZ88]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherSportsCar

Seeing as my car has the N54, I figure the under pan is a crucial component to ensure correct airflow for cooling. The panel under the transmission also has a scoop to direct air for cooling. When I got my car, the large panel was beat up bad, and the trans pan scoop was damaged. I repaired the trans pan with JB Weld and pieces I cut from the large pan, and I ordered a new large pan from my local BMW dealer. Yes, that was the most expensive option, but after careful review of online photos, those cheap eBay and Amazon panels were not quite molded the same. I’m not saying the won’t fit, I just wanted what was right for my car.

Other discount suppliers wanted to charge freight shipping so the final cost was the same as me going to my local dealer. If you live close to a discount supplier, or dealer, you could pick up and save! I find that Braman BMW in Miami has some of the best dealer parts prices in the country. Too bad I live in Iowa…

Yea I’m in South Carolina… I see that ECS and FCP have them, would they not be decent parts?

[JustAnotherSportsCar]

Originally Posted by BigZ88

Yea I’m in South Carolina… I see that ECS and FCP have them, would they not be decent parts?

They both carry the genuine bmw panel but they wanted to charge me like $60 shipping or something like that.

[Andrewbens]

I run my 135is without any under trays as the previous owner pretty much destroyed them. I haven’t found a single issue doing this.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherSportsCar

They both carry the genuine bmw panel but they wanted to charge me like $60 shipping or something like that.

Makes sense, they are big parts.

For somethign like this it might make sense to see what the dealer charges, sometimes it's not much more than online or is the same price. Then you could pick it up if you have one nearby.

[JustAnotherSportsCar]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

Makes sense, they are big parts.

For somethign like this it might make sense to see what the dealer charges, sometimes it's not much more than online or is the same price. Then you could pick it up if you have one nearby.

I believe it was around $215.00 from my local dealer.

For $215.00, I’m not going to mess around with screwing up my underbody aero or cooling.

[K9Leader]

Originally Posted by BigZ88

Absolutely! I bet the aluminum is $$

Yep, it's not cheap - Turner's is currently at $387 (on "sale" from $554). I must have also gotten it on sale as I paid about $360 a year and a half ago. But it is doing its job. I pulled it off last week to check for a coolant leak and noticed a pretty serious looking scrape - whatever hit it (or I hit) scraped the head off one of the mounting bolts.