My OEM radiator support is cracked. OEM support is 400-500 bucks. Aftermarket radiator supports are about 100 bucks. Is the quality of aftermarket radiator supports acceptable ?

 

Will be interested to hear opinions on this. I did some research back in December and while the repops aren't quite the quality of oem, the oem piece cracks too. At several times the price it deserves investigation, some guys were ok with the cheap repops but were saying to use extra care when installing. I never did buy as I see more running around that are cracked anyway and I'm not ready to dig that deep into my rescue mini yet, prob later in the fall. Hope this thread has some good feedback. BTW... the S model is different and about 50 bucks more.

 

It’s going to be a mixed bag. Mine ( 05 r53 ) is a bit of a mess. Cracked, and I put it back together. If I had more time, I would do some Fiberglas resin. It is holding, so I’m leaving it alone. Until the next time I have to go in…..

 

I've had really bad luck with aftermarket body panels not fitting properly. That's why I opted for OEM when I had to replace my rad support.
I called the nearest Mini dealers for prices and got one for ~$360 after taxes (no shipping obviously). Seemed like a good deal at the time; that was 3 years ago so inflation may have taken its toll.
It's worth noting this dealer is in a very high cost of living area, so I was surprised it was so reasonably priced.

 

500 now everywhere

 

Not everywhere. https://www.minipartsdirect.com/sear...diator+support $400 but "local pickup only" though. There are still dealers who will "deal".

 

True.
I was looking for an OEM roof mounted bike rack for my BMW and the local dealer was having a sale. But, having been screwed over by them on more than one occasion I swore I'd never go back. So, I went to the next closest dealer 15 min away and showed them the advertised sale price on my phone and asked if they could match it. Without hesitation they gave it to me at that price.

 

Can't help with replacement part quality, but I can give some insight on repair.

While a fibreglass repair seems to have potential, I can tell you from experience, even with good surface prep, it will not last long. The adhesion necessary to the OEM panel, just isn't there. I even attempted to drill small holes in the panel to allow the fibreglass & resin to bond to itself from both sides of the panel.
(Which are the only places the attempted repair was even close to successful)

I have however recently made a repair by plastic welding the panel. My GF's car was damaged and poorly repaired prior to us purchasing the car (an early attempt I made, on a better repair is how I found out about the negatives of the fibreglass repair) I recently had to pull the support and one of the headlight bucket completely broke off.
I was able to fuse it back together with the plastic welding kit from Harbor Freight (The iron kit, not hot air) .
The iron creates sufficient heat to melt the factory composite allowing the metal mesh in the kit to melt into it, then adding and melting some of the additional flat plastic filler over the mesh gives it a really good bond, and offers what so far has been a very solid repair.
And while it's a slow process, it is actually easier than any attempt at a fibreglass repair, esp since the welds set up quickly so there's no issues with having to keep the part perfectly aligned and still while resin sets up.
While time will tell for sure, I've had the support off twice since the repair, which included not only removal, but leaving to sit unsupported for a period of time, with no sign of damage to the repaired area.

Hope this helps, since yes, not only are the OEM pieces expensive, they will soon probably not be available at all, because of the age of our cars and demand.

Sorry, but I only took one pic of the repair (I always forget until a job is completely done) you can see some of the old fiberglass repair near the fan in the pic.

 

Replace® - Radiator Support brand from Carid is what I used with no problems …

 

+1 for @BlwnAway
I've plastic "soldered / welded" a lot of broken parts. They never break again.
Although Epoxies and off the shelf plastic glues like JB Weld are just fine for some applications/plastics - Nothing beats fusing plastic to plastic breaks by melting them back together.
A simple soldering iron works just fine.
BTW: it also helps to look for initials embossed somewhere on the item - eg: PP, PE, PBT, ABS, PVC etc... identifying the type of plastic it is formed/manufactured with and see if you can scrounge up a scrap piece of same to use as filler or additional support/re-enforcement...
When finished with the fused/mechanical bond, just go back over the weld with some sandpaper of your choice to make it pretty.

Edit/Addendum: Disregard the aforementioned if you should find the initials PUR on any plastic part. That kind of 2wo part component plastic is not solder/weld friendly. Grind and use JB Weld for that type of situation..

 

The plastic welding makes sense. I’ll have to learn it a bit. I have other stuff to practice on. It is broken, but complete.

 

Just to weigh in -- PDR hot glue does not work. It held fine (I was so happy) until I reinstalled it and the tension separated the broken seams again.

 

When my stock core support was broken (and my cooling fan), I bought a cheapish radiator support from Rock Auto and a OEM cooling fan. My logic was the core support is much less important than the cooling fan, so that's where I saved some money. That was almost 10 years ago and I have had my car in service mode well over a dozen times in that time. Only recently I have been thinking it's time for a replacement, as the metal rivnut things have begun falling out of the plastic. I haven't priced the supports lately, but I would be OK with another cheaper one.

 

Any idea what material the factory support is made from?

 

Although I've never had to go into frontend service for any repairs, I would almost wager that the radiator support is polypropylene.
Given it's properties of being stronger and more heat resistant than (say?) polyethylene....(?)
Just my guess FWIW....but would love to know.

 

I wasn't about to spend upwards of $500 for an OEM plastic support, partially because the cracked one I just replaced wasn't even the original. Clearly BMW cheaping out and using plastic for something like this wasn't the best design idea. So...I bought one off of Summit for $140 with taxes and shipped!

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/BDY-MC1225101

What I DIDN't realize was this is a support for an R50 only - and there's no R53 available for anywhere near that cheap. So I invented the Frankenshroud! The only real difference between an r50 and r53 support is the location of the air intake mount - it's centered on the R50 and to the right on the r53. So I removed the inlet off my old broken shroud. (I used a dremel with a drillbit to cut). Then I cut the same shape in the new shroud, using the one I just removed for a template. Following this I used a plastic welder and staples as shown below, with black RTV to fill the gaps. I'm not going for a show car look under the hood - functionality alone is fine. And the support lines up perfect!

 

As I have some experience with aftermarket radiator supports I'll share my experience as well.

I've bought 3 new over the years, one from the dealer and two aftermarket ones. The aftermarket ones were from a brand called Van Wezel.
To behonest, the dealer one is a tad better. As a couple of the washers/nuts from the Van Wezel fell out during installation. Plastic wise there was no difference, both hard and thus a bit brittle.

I was lucky enough to find the dealer one for only €240. I certainly would not have paid 500 for it. Its not that much better and once it on, its on.