Rusted broken fuel tank straps...
 

As the title suggests, my fuel tank straps are rusted... bad.
I was driving home on a busy road and heard scraping, I ignored it at first and then I stopped to have a look because it got very loud.
My right side fuel strap had completely rusted through and broke, leaving it scraping the floor. The left one looked rusty but wasn't broken.
I got my compact home and haven't driven it.

I went on realoem and found the part no. 16141182689 for the tank straps. But everywhere sells them for 100+ which is insane.

What would be my best option?

I would appreciate any help,
Thank you for reading

I paid around £210 for a new pair + £30 for rubbers and fixings a year ago, and wish I hadn't. I've since started stripping parts back to bare metal, and then painting them.

I could have just hit the straps with a wire brushes on a drill and strip discs on an angle grinder, and I reckon I could have got them almost like new.

For bolts and fixings I'm wire brushing and then lightly spraying with Normfest Galva 97 Silver zinc and aluminium coating, so they look like cold galvanised fixings, though in this case the BMW parts are Zinc plated.

I still have my old set if you want to strip and paint a pair and need one or two to replace yours. Not sure what condition they're in or what they're worth. Let me know if you'd like to see a photo.

Wow it's crazy how it's just a 15pound part but because it's not in production anymore, its 100+ per strap ahah.

Someone near me said they were breaking a compact and said they could potentially sell me the straps on that one so i'm hopeful, that was 2 days ago though, so the hope is fading... :(

Yeah if your old set isn't falling apart it would be good to have yours as an option if the breaker near me doesn't reply soon. Would it be ok to send pictures to me on my email? 'yaumarcus2@gmail.com'. Hopefully i'm not breaking any rules by putting my email in this. More than happy to pay postage if it comes to it.

Also, I was wondering, Is there anything that goes inbetween the strap and the tank? like rubber? I see on the fuel tank diagram there are two no.17 and no.18 pieces called 'base'. one being 100mm and the other being 120mm. I can't seem to find anything to do with them.

Thank you very much for reading.

I don't think we're breaking any rules. PM sent with photos of the fuel tank straps.

The pieces called 'base' and like foam pads with double sided tape on one side, which are stuck to the fuel tank to cushion it against floor. They come in three different sizes, not just the two shown in the ETK parts diagram.

Nothing is supposed to go between the strap and the tank. I actually tried putting spare 'base' pads in between to see if it would be an improvement, but then I could not lift the strap correctly into position to fit the bolt.