Rust around sunroof

[Scott and Joyce]

Aloha Bimmer Folk,
New to this wonderful carworld.
Recently bought a 91 525I. Beautiful girl, 165,000 and still going strong. Everything works. Not a spot of rust except on front edge of sunroof.
Question is. Must the sunroof be taken off to repair. Rust is at front edges and corner and I'm worried if I take it to someone locally by the time they take it out and put it back in it will leak. Doesn't leak now but the rust is right at the seal. Anyone had this experience?
Mahalo and Aloha,
Scott and Joyce

[western99]

The rust is just starting to form on the edge of the sunroof. I have tiny little bubles about .5cm in diameter. Not a big problem to fix. Just remember that if you pull the roof, you will have to buy a new seal once you remove it. That alone will be at least $150. But if I were you, just take out the roof, get it painted and put it back in yourself and replace the seal just to be safe of leaks. It is a straight forward procedure. I plan on doing this once the warmer weather arrives here in Toronto.

Brian

[Kalevera]

It's not that hard to pull it yourself. Get a Bentley's manual or search around on the web - either place will have DIY instructions. If it were me, I'd take it out, do the prep work myself, and then take it and the car to a good paint shop so they can match the color correctly.

The sunroof seal isn't bad - list price is $64.50 from BMA. And if you do it yourself, you'll get the chance to do a whole bunch of preventative maintenance that you'll be glad you got done (ie - cleaning the drain tubes, making sure that the guides are still in good shape). At 165k, it's a good time to check these things out.

good luck!

best, whit