Rear Bumper Protector

[jadnashuanh]

I load and unload a folding recumbent trike in my i3 on a regular basis, and quickly found that I needed to be very careful to prevent small dings in the rear bumper edge when hefting it in (not so much in getting it out) so, I looked at the accessories BMW has. While the USA accessories do not list the bumper protector for the i3, in other world-wide markets, the same part number is shown to fit on the i3 (along with lots of other models), so I took a closer look. But, at a list in the USA of $72, it seemed fairly expensive for what it was.

I made a suitable one out of a yard of felt and about a 5/8-yard of heavy duck canvas and a small package of twill tape to tie it onto the tie-down loops. It ended up a yard wide, and about 18" long, and drapes over to cover the vast majority of the rear bumper. Cost me all of a little more than $8 in materials at the local fabric store and about 20-minutes on the sewing machine. So, it has four layers of felt that fold out onto the bumper, and one layer of canvas on the top for wear sewn together, with two tabs of twill tape to tie it in place. Seems to work well, and at about a 90% discount from the BMW one, I can live with it! WHen folded in, the edge just clears the latch for the hatch because of the location of the rear tie-downs.

 

[WoodlandHills]

This thread is useless without pics!

 

[jadnashuanh]

This thread is useless without pics!

No imagination! It appears that this site will not host an image (only a link to one), and I won't maintain a net based image collection, so unless someone can tell me how to upload an image to this board, you're left with your imagination...essentially a rectangular sandwich of felt on one side, and canvas on the other, tied to the tie-down loops in the car. The hassle with linked images is that they often go away over time, and then the image is lost to the thread...much better, in my view, to host them as part of the thread, but I don't see how.

 

[ultraturtle]

It appears that this site will not host an image (only a link to one), and I won't maintain a net based image collection, so unless someone can tell me how to upload an image to this board, you're left with your imagination...essentially a rectangular sandwich of felt on one side, and canvas on the other, tied to the tie-down loops in the car. The hassle with linked images is that they often go away over time, and then the image is lost to the thread...much better, in my view, to host them as part of the thread, but I don't see how.

See: http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=419&hilit=postimage. I don't maintain any net based image collection, and to date this sight has not lost any of the images I have posted and linked to Tom's site.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Okay, let's see if this works...

 

[FrancisJeffries]

...It works!

 

[MikeS]

Keep an eye on ALDI (UK) web site as they often sell boot protectors that do this job admirably.