Ok thanks ! I’ll do that. When you say epoxy, do you have any recommandation for a special type/brand ?
I do not have a recommendation, but I used a two-part epoxy that I mixed then spread it where it needed to be. I think I used one of the varieties of JB Weld....
I had the black plastic thing that holds the clips that fit onto the door come loose from the door panel. Everything was good, not broken, but the plastic came loose from the edge of the door panel so I used epoxy to glue it back on.
Ok ! Thanks a lot. And what do you think about things like Dynamat, in order to kill sounds and rattles from the door panel ? Do you think it’s worth to do it
Someone modeled the top piece and uploaded them to Thingiverse. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4147732 I've printed them and test fit them on the door, but haven't attached them to my cards yet. Will report back when that's done.
I also found these on eBay "BMW E36 COUPE and CONVERTIBLE Door Panel Repair Brackets Card M3 325is" for $75, but since I have a 3D printer, I thought I'd give that a shot first.
Oh nice for the print model. For the product on eBay, I saw a YouTube video of a guy that install pretty much the same piece and at the end, we can see it from upper view ... not the best.
Also, what material did you use for the print please ?
I printed them in PETG because that's all I had that wasn't PLA. PETG should be good to ~80C which is plenty for car interior parts. ASA or ABS would probably be better, but they're harder to work with. PLA isn't going to stand up to heat well enough to use even in the interior.
$80 for postage alone.
I've manged to find somebody who will 3D print be x4 Brackets for $30 so I'm going to see if they work.
'' The top brackets worked fine, but I had trouble getting all the clips to stay in (I think my door cards warped from being off of the doors for 4 years).''
M3Beater says they work as long as the door isnt warped so I think it's worth a try.
Last edited by Percent; 12-01-2022 at 06:57 AM.
I repaired my old ones. They had about 3-4 cracks each. I glued them together at the cracks, let that set, then grabbed a kit of fibreglass repair matt/resin and laid the dry fibre/resin on the concave surface. Strong as nails afterwards and glued to my existing door cards.
I've been succesful pulling some rails from junkyard e36 with trashed door cards. Top rails were often in good shape and could be glued back to another good door card.
So I was in this same situation when I first picked up my car. Removed the door panel to find the top plastic brackets breaking and while some were still holding on good, I decided to remove them completely! The 20+ year old plastic is only going to get worse and break more, it's only a matter of time. And if you take your panels off a couple of times a year chances are the rest will break.
I've since switched to the aluminum brackets made by turtle labs. I did not glue the bracket to the panel, but rather set it on the top of the door where it's suppose to sit, and simply slide the door panel over it. It holds the panel fine with no issues. YMMV
https://turtlelaboratories.com/colle...epair-brackets
I have not done this repair in years. That said, I have done probably 15 sets of E36 door panels using the multi piece black plastic kits. This is the first time I have seen these aluminum pieces and they are clearly a fantastic solution.
For those that want to properly reattached the other plastic parts the best adhesive I have seen/used is high quality windshield with brush on primer. It requires some creative use of wood clamps to secure the parts while the adhesive cures, but once done they will outlast the car !!! And, the doors have a more solid sound when closed .
Usually when the glued on things in the door card come off, the wooden (or whatever material the door cards are made of) layers rip apart. The glue will still hold on to the top "wood" layer of the door card. I don't think the kind of glue used is that relevant, as long as it isn't the absolute worst.
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