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Thread: MY UGLY RUST, Advice.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Boston & Attleboro MA
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    727

    Default MY UGLY RUST, Advice.

    So how should I tackle the door rust shown? My thoughts were to remove the lower molding piece and sand and coat w/ some rust stopping paint like rust doctor. But those lower door covering pieces are shot and if I got new ones I'd have to get them painted right?

    Current
    2008 M5 6 Spd
    2000 Z3 2.8 5 Spd MSport
    2012 X5 35d Sport
    1995 540i 6 Spd
    1992 535i 5 Spd

    Former
    1995 530iA
    1986 635CSI 5 Spd
    2011 X3 2.8 MSport

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    Eastern Tennessee USi
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    Default

    you could replace them all with the black ones? that might look stupid. you definetly need to get in there and tackle that rust ASAP! If theres holes you will want to treat the inside rust too.

    McWatters is running a special on paint jobs this week.
    95 E34 530I V2.37
    ===========
    Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

    John F. Kennedy

  3. #3
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    Looks like it's time for a $50 paint job

    http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23145
    :: HIDCanada.com | Illuminating Your World


  4. #4
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    Mine's not that bad, but I can see it getting that bad in a year or two. I kind figured my only option was to shell out $$$ to a body shop, since I'm not comfortable doing that stuff myself. I'd love to know how you solve it.

    While we're on the topic, does anyone think that an anti-rust treatment (e.g. Krown or Rust Check) might slow this stuff? I know it won't reverse the damage, but will it slow it appreciably?
    .


    Jay Lebo - Toronto, Canada
    1990 BMW 535i
    5-speed conversion
    Lightened flywheel
    Sachs Suspension Kit
    E.A.T. Chip

  5. #5
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    I've had good results with Rust Check. Buys you time before you refinish. I liberally spray the seam under the doors after every wash in winter. Looks good now to say the least. If it's the wonderful bubbling rust under paint, it won't help much.
    :: HIDCanada.com | Illuminating Your World


  6. #6
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    BIG TIME!
    Quote Originally Posted by Jay 535i
    I know it won't reverse the damage, but will it slow it appreciably?
    95 E34 530I V2.37
    ===========
    Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

    John F. Kennedy

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    England (home) Germany (work)
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DaCan23
    So how should I tackle the door rust shown? My thoughts were to remove the lower molding piece and sand and coat w/ some rust stopping paint like rust doctor. But those lower door covering pieces are shot and if I got new ones I'd have to get them painted right?

    get some POR15 on it an blow in the top coat!

  8. #8
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    Dec 2003
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    Dunlap Illinois
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    It's the perpetual rust trap that all E34's are endowed with sooner or later. The natural rake of the car despite the drain holes in the bottom of the door plus the poor window sweep design that allows copious amounts of water in the door in the first place are a sure fire combination for rust.

    With the redesign of the bottom trim pieces, using plastic instead of the metal inserts that are embedded into the trim piece for rigidity, the solution may be too late for some.

    Replacement of the bottom trim is expensive on 1995 MY cars along with M5's, and to top it off, they must be painted to match. So it's better to catch it sooner than later, of course. But during the time of waffling over the decision to spend money or not, the rust is allowed to migrate up into the door panel. Moisture leaches its way up in under the paint at the bottom of the door panel and rust appears along the leading edges of the doors.

    Looking a lot like mere surface rust, it has already traveled throughout the bottom of the door skin like the cancer it is, popping open the paint to breath, and take it's course.

    The problem is the inherent design of the bottom of the door panel and the pinched door skin area there. It actually wicks up the water that's left in the door after a rain or car wash, maybe that pinched area wasn't quite sealed 100% from the factory through the electrostatic dip priming process.

    Regardless, removing the lower trim pieces for replacement will reveal the damage done by rust to the bottom of the door skin where the new trim pieces you just spent a couple hundred for will live. Treating the rust on the outside is a must for repair of course, but the real problem is the inside of the door panel where it's hard for rust inhibiting primers to find their way. More often than not, these areas are repaired only to reappear as another slight bubble a couple years down the line.

    Sorry, there's not a solution to this problem yet, maybe someone with an old door panel could cut it in a section view so you could tell if some type of sealant would work, making it higher in the center of the door to give the bottom of the inside of the door some pitch to help completely drain the inside of the door out. After every wash, I open all the doors wide to help drain the water out, but this doesn't get all of it. One day after doing this and jacking it up to change the oil, water still dribbled out of the door drain holes.

    Maybe BMW should have had a warning label about parking on a steep hill after a rain or car wash to help drain out the doors....


    In the words of Neil Young, "Rust Never Sleeps".....

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    Hockinson, Washington
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    2,499

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jr ///M5
    It's the perpetual rust trap that all E34's are endowed with sooner or later. The natural rake of the car despite the drain holes in the bottom of the door plus the poor window sweep design that allows copious amounts of water in the door in the first place are a sure fire combination for rust.

    With the redesign of the bottom trim pieces, using plastic instead of the metal inserts that are embedded into the trim piece for rigidity, the solution may be too late for some.

    Replacement of the bottom trim is expensive on 1995 MY cars along with M5's, and to top it off, they must be painted to match. So it's better to catch it sooner than later, of course. But during the time of waffling over the decision to spend money or not, the rust is allowed to migrate up into the door panel. Moisture leaches its way up in under the paint at the bottom of the door panel and rust appears along the leading edges of the doors.

    Looking a lot like mere surface rust, it has already traveled throughout the bottom of the door skin like the cancer it is, popping open the paint to breath, and take it's course.

    The problem is the inherent design of the bottom of the door panel and the pinched door skin area there. It actually wicks up the water that's left in the door after a rain or car wash, maybe that pinched area wasn't quite sealed 100% from the factory through the electrostatic dip priming process.

    Regardless, removing the lower trim pieces for replacement will reveal the damage done by rust to the bottom of the door skin where the new trim pieces you just spent a couple hundred for will live. Treating the rust on the outside is a must for repair of course, but the real problem is the inside of the door panel where it's hard for rust inhibiting primers to find their way. More often than not, these areas are repaired only to reappear as another slight bubble a couple years down the line.

    Sorry, there's not a solution to this problem yet, maybe someone with an old door panel could cut it in a section view so you could tell if some type of sealant would work, making it higher in the center of the door to give the bottom of the inside of the door some pitch to help completely drain the inside of the door out. After every wash, I open all the doors wide to help drain the water out, but this doesn't get all of it. One day after doing this and jacking it up to change the oil, water still dribbled out of the door drain holes.

    Maybe BMW should have had a warning label about parking on a steep hill after a rain or car wash to help drain out the doors....


    In the words of Neil Young, "Rust Never Sleeps".....
    That post will make me have nightmares
    Lowered with blue h&r(?) springs, Bilsteins, tint, 19# design 3 injectors, Dual Magnaflow
    southwest WA

  10. #10
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    Mar 2006
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    Ann Arbor Michigan
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    218

    Default

    What kind of bed time stories do you tell your kids?.. Seriously a great response!
    SOLD!

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