Need some advice, take a look... 318ti-96'

[cday318TI]

Hi,

I finally took some pictures this weekend to post here.
As the exterior goes I need to fix a few things, front spoiler (fix crack and paint), but I need to start with the interior. Mainly the door panels, previous owner messed them up pretty bad. They tried to remove and snapped all the pins from the panel, I have to glue back, plus I'm having troulble with the locking of the driver side door, won't go down (pushing or through center console button), and the window doesn't go down, I was told by previous owner it was the window regulator, gotta check it.

If anyone has any advice on any of things mentioned above, I would greatly appreciate it.

What glue should I use for the door panel pins?

How to fix crack on front spoiler and where can I get black molding?

Any suggestions on how to fix window regulator?

[cooljess76]

Congrats on the new car and welcome to the forum. All of the parts that you mentioned are available at the dealer. They might be priced slightly higher, but not that much. I'd definitely buy new door panel clips instead of glueing the old ones. Glueing the old ones will just give you problems later. The window regulator might be a little pricey and a pain in the ass to fix. I'd check the junkyards for the moldings. The 318ti shares the same parts with any e36 sedan from the "A" pillars forward. I'd look at getting a new passenger front fender while you're at it. The color doesn't match and It looks like it's aftermarket or perhaps it's off of a '97 or newer.

[cday318TI]

hey, thanks for the reply. I will check out the pricing at the dealer for the door panel clips, but the current ones are not broken, they are just detached from the panel, I'm not sure if they tried to glue them before, I got to check, but wouldn't I need to glue any new replacements anyways?

The passenger front fender you're reffering to is the side one with the wheel section, or the front spoiler? I was told they tried to paint it when it was replaced but they did a really bad job, that's why the color of the passenger side and front spoiler don't match.

What doesn't match about the fender? Is it the size, shape?

[cooljess76]

Oh I see, the clips came off of the door panel itself. Well in that case yeah, you'll have to glue them. I'd use epoxy or even JBweld, but make sure that they are positioned perfectly and not upside down or anything. As for the fender, it looks like it's too high or something. The lines dont match up with the lines on the door. Follow the top line and look where it meets the line on the door and then look at the lower line(where the molding is missing) and look where it meets the molding on the door. Anyway, it's a nice looking car otherwise. As for the crack on the bumper, if you can, try to get some epoxy on each edge and see if you could snap it into place where the two broken edges mate up flush. Then sand it with a really coarse sand paper. AutozZone, Carquest and Napa sell fiberglass repair kits. Basically the fiberglass comes in small sheets of fabric. lay down a sheet of fiberglass over the crack and brush on the resin and hardener. Do a few layers, let it dry for a few minutes and sand it smooth. Then spray some flexible primer over it and have it painted. I know your bumper isnt fiberglass, but the fiberglass will make a nice repair. Otherwise, you might be able to use a plastic welder, but thats a little more tricky.

[cday318TI]

Good eye, I had not noticed about the passenger fender, I will take a closer look, see what I can do. Thanks for the tips for fixing the front spoiler crack, do I get the primer to spray at the autoshop also? What about the plastic welding, is that some kind of fix kit they sell I can probably do myself?

[cooljess76]

Plastic welders are kinda hard to find. Here in California, we have a cheap Chinese tool store called Harbor Freight. They have a plastic welding set for pretty cheap, but I'm not sure how good of a job it will do. Search the forum for a thread by "clex" titled "The power of plastic welding", he widened his rear diffuser to accomodate a dual tip muffler. As for the primer, I only use rattle can primer as a bonding agent for the actual paint. It lacks the filling properties that you'll get from using an actual spray gun, but it'll do the job if the area being repaired isn't too deep ie; scratches/cracks and low spots. I usually fill those areas with body filler(bondo) and sand it smooth with 400 grit before primering and painting. When you use bondo, it's not a good idea to use more than 1/16th of an inch. I try to keep it around the thickness of a dollar bill at the thickest point and then feather the edges to where they are almost transparent. This will achieve a smooth and unnoticeable transition which will be invisible after you paint over it. Since you're probably going to have your fender profesionally painted anyway, just do the repair/bodywork yourself to save some money. If you take your car to the shop pre-prepped(moldings/lights removed and bodywork/repairs done) all they'll have to do is color match and respray the area(passenger fender and corner of front bumper). As long as they match the color perfectly, use the same size metal flake in the paint and do a good job blending, it should be fine. Unmatched colors tend to stand out more when they paint just the individual body panel instead of blending it onto the adjacent areas. If you decide to use fiberglass, you could get that as well as the flexible primer at your local autoparts store. I'm about to start a fiberglass sub enclosure project and I'm thinking about going to a boat yard to buy some fiberglass in bulk.

[cooljess76]

clex's writeup

A few ebay listings:

plastic welder

plastic welder

plastic welder

[cooljess76]

here's the one I seen at Harbor Freight

[96cali]

As for the fender color mismatch I bet they sprayed Arctic silver but your car is titanium silver, OR the found an Arctic fender from a junker.

[cday318TI]

I'm almost sure they got it from a junker. Gotta make it work though, unless I come across another 96' front passenger fender to replace it.

Cooljess76, thanks for all the links and info, I'll be looking in to it tomorrow Wednesday, my day off, hopefully I can get some stuff done to it.

I have to begin tomorrow fixing the driver side lock and window, that's my first mission.

[React]

I use a strong 5min epoxy for the trim clips, holds just fine. I have to replace my window regulator/bushings. Today it went berserk while I was trying to get my windows un-fogged, I had to drive 10miles in cold weather with my window down.

[cday318TI]

Man that had to suck. I took apart the door panel, was able to straighten one of the arms that was kinda bent and the window now goes up and down fine, but on the way up it comes out of alignment, tilting forward. The clips and pins need to be replaced, everything else is looking fine. The one thing I'm still having trouble with is fixing the drivers door lock. It only locks with the key. Any experience fixing the door lock mechanism?

[cooljess76]

I only lock mine with the key, I don't think you're supposed to be able to lock it by hand. I also have a switch by the cigarette lighter that locks it. That's why it's almost impossible to lock our keys in the car.

[cday318TI]

I can lock my driver door with the key, but sometimes it locks the passenger and sometimes not. Also, the button in the center console inside locks passenger and rear, but not driver. I just installed a pretty good digital alarm with keyless entry, but only the driver side won't respond.