DIY Door Panel Repair *Part Duex*

**one** · 10-01-2005, 02:33 AM

So your panels have pulled away from the door and won't stay back no matter how hard you kick them back into place........

Let's fix them! This door panel mod costs $8 from Ace Hardware using a roll of sheet metal. When you are done, not only will they be fixed, they will be metal reinforced!

First the problem...... BMW used cardboard with no plastic or metal reinforcement for the door panels, so once the cardboard get's old, it tears.

Take your sheetmetal and cut it into a small piece then fold it over.

Once you have your precut and folded piece of sheetmetal handy, slide it into place on the spot that is breached. Be sure to cut it with some overhang from the side so you have plenty of room to mount.

Now take a drill and make a hole for each side to secure the metal through.

Set your rivet into place and secure it correctly with a rivet gun.

Repeat all the way down, and when you're done you now have fully reinforced metal mounts for your door panel to adhere to. This not only fixes the old problem, but should eliminate new ones from popping up with the other holes. Secure them all! I did this metal mod in about 20 minutes and the door panel that I thought was going to have to be tossed, is now better than ever.

**EThirD** · 10-01-2005, 04:31 AM

If you just drilled through the carboard, isn't there a good chance the rivets will just pull out? I'm not really familiar with how the E36 door panel works, but it seems like a rivet through carboard could pull out pretty easily.

**scrapz** · 10-01-2005, 06:03 AM

cheap and effective mod

props

**Seeker** · 10-01-2005, 10:25 AM

Your doors don't have a window "wiper"/gasket attached at the top?

Mine do, and for the second time I have received a replacement panel that did not have one attached to it.

Last time I did a replacement, I had to drill out the rivets for the "wiper", swap it to the new panel and re-rivet it on.

Good idea BTW, the last panel I replaced was cracked across the panel horiz. about 2-3 inches below the top, looked like crap!

**one** · 10-01-2005, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by EThirD

If you just drilled through the carboard, isn't there a good chance the rivets will just pull out? I'm not really familiar with how the E36 door panel works, but it seems like a rivet through carboard could pull out pretty easily.

The rivets don't just go through the cardboard, they clamp the metal like a crab and hold it secure.