Window Regulators: Go Cheap or OEM?

[davintosh]

The driver's door window regulator is moving the window slowly, and started making crunching sounds last night; looks like it's needing a replacement. In looking at what's available on ECS Tuning, the prices vary pretty widely. Some of you have probably bought the cheapo $60 units; have they worked ok for you? I'm leaning towards the OEM units, but I've read elsewhere (about the e53 specifically) that the cheap units will hold up well if you take the time to lubricate them and the window tracks properly.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks!
--
Dave

[noturbos]

Mine has been doing the same thing for almost 2 years still works though

[3serieshorchata]

I went cheap for all four of mine that went bad. I got them from Rockauto. However, one replacement has failed so far since replacement which was about five years ago. The failure on the replacement was different then the originals. The originals had a plastic piece that broke and the replacement's wire came off of a wheel and tangled all up. The wire was the one that pulls on the window to move. All the others work fine.

[legoman67]

they are fairly easy to do on these cars, so its really up to you. Ive used aftermarket ones in the past without too many problems. im not a heavy window user though (lol).

[davintosh]

Mine has been doing the same thing for almost 2 years still works though

Interesting. The thing that made me most concerned though was that the window jumped out of its channel at the top & back of the frame last night before the noises started. I'm sure the ice & snow built up on the thing might have had something to do with it too.

This is my wife's car though; if I were the primary driver of it, I wouldn't worry too much about it because I could just deal with it if it failed suddenly. She's a bit less tolerant of of issues like that; wouldn't know what to do if the window wouldn't go up properly, other than call me to rescue her.

Are there any other parts inside the door -- clips or bushings -- that ought to be replaced along with the regulator?

[daytonatrbo]

I found a guy on ebay a while back that sells just the portion of the regulator that actually breaks. You replace the metal and plastic piece that rides the rail and holds the window with the all-plastic pieces he sells, and they seem to work. I did my driver's window about 2 years ago and its still going fine. I bought enough pieces to repair both front windows for the price of 1 cheap aftermarket regulator.

As long as your cables and pulleys are still good, its a great solution in my opinion. They weren't even difficult to install, but I did fully remove the reg from the car to do it.

[davintosh]

Interesting. I found a couple of regulator repair options on The 'Bay: I'm guessing you're talking about the second one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E46-Wind...-/261222999576



http://www.ebay.com/itm/1998-05-BMW-...-/251554635319

[daytonatrbo]

Yes, except the ones I received are all plastic like in the first pic.

[davintosh]

Hmmm... Just found this too: an "upgraded" regulator with ball bearings in the pulleys. It even costs less than the OEM.

[daytonatrbo]

Seeing as everything else URO makes is JUNK, I'm not sure I would trust it.

[Critter7r]

Whatever you decide, make sure you take your time reinstalling the vapor barrier. Peel it off slowly and get all of the butyl to come off the door. Then press it back on. Use a hair dryer to warm up the door if it's cold (like, below 50 degrees). Then, when you think you've got it all settled, use the tip of your fingers to feather the edge of the vapor barrier and see if the butyl comes off the door anywhere. Between taking it off and putting it on, you should spend not less than 20 minutes, and probably more like 30, handling the vapor barrier. Having replaced them quickly myself without double- and triple-checking it, I know that quick = leak = repeat repair.

[spoonerDee]

I bought mine from www.bmaparts.com I paid about 60-70 bucks for it and it's been working fine for about 2 years now.

[davintosh]

Whatever you decide, make sure you take your time reinstalling the vapor barrier. Peel it off slowly and get all of the butyl to come off the door. Then press it back on. Use a hair dryer to warm up the door if it's cold (like, below 50 degrees). Then, when you think you've got it all settled, use the tip of your fingers to feather the edge of the vapor barrier and see if the butyl comes off the door anywhere. Between taking it off and putting it on, you should spend not less than 20 minutes, and probably more like 30, handling the vapor barrier. Having replaced them quickly myself without double- and triple-checking it, I know that quick = leak = repeat repair.

What is the trick to dealing with that crap? Warming it up to 50 degrees isn't happening this time of the year in this neck of the woods; I'll be lucky if it's above freezing in the garage while I'm working on it. I've worked with the stuff on the e53 X5 in the past, and warm or cold didn't seem to matter much; it was nasty sticky, stuck to everything, and impossible to cut. Would love to know how to pull that vapor barrier off without tearing it or making a huge mess.

[daytonatrbo]

Warm it up to the consistency of chewing gum, then cut through it with a razor blade. Go slow and warm it up again when you re-apply.

Thats always been my method and I've never had issues

[woody328is]

We see this often in our shop. I used to go aftermarket but when they started coming back broken in a 12-18 months I decided to only use OEM BMW parts and all is well now. No more comebacks and happy customers. OE costs more but unless you're shifty and going to unload the car used car style it's not worth it.

[Critter7r]

What is the trick to dealing with that crap? Warming it up to 50 degrees isn't happening this time of the year in this neck of the woods; I'll be lucky if it's above freezing in the garage while I'm working on it. I've worked with the stuff on the e53 X5 in the past, and warm or cold didn't seem to matter much; it was nasty sticky, stuck to everything, and impossible to cut. Would love to know how to pull that vapor barrier off without tearing it or making a huge mess.

After you remove the vapor barrier, put it in the house to warm it up while you're replacing the regulator. Use a hair dryer to warm up the steel door. (Assuming you're at least in a garage and not outside).

[mriwright]

I bought mine on Ebay and it went bad in a year. I now understand that they last about a year or two so I now buy them from the local auto place and get a lifetime warranty. When my last one went bad, I took it off, walked into the store and exchanged it. No money paid, just the work to remove and replace the part. Not the best, but better than nothing.

[nathancarter]

I bought a cheapo MTC-brand one for the driver's door, it lasted maybe a year and a half. I'll need to go back and find the thread I posted when I bought it.

It never fit quite right - the holes in the door sheet metal are slightly oversized to account for manufacturing variances in the regulators, but even so I had to wedge the cheap replacement into place. I don't think that contributed to the failure, though.

[daytonatrbo]

I bought a cheapo MTC-brand one for the driver's door, it lasted maybe a year and a half. I'll need to go back and find the thread I posted when I bought it.

It never fit quite right - the holes in the door sheet metal are slightly oversized to account for manufacturing variances in the regulators, but even so I had to wedge the cheap replacement into place. I don't think that contributed to the failure, though.

I helped a buddy install a cheap aftermarket regulator in his 03 325xi (just like mine but black) and the fit was so bad that it threw the alignment off so much that the motor struggled to raise or lower the windows against the extra drag.

We loaded the slides up with silicone grease, and it improved enough that we left it that way. As far as I know he put another 50k miles on it that way without issues before selling.

[vtraudt]

I bought mine on Ebay and it went bad in a year.

I have been stocking and selling the E46 clips for a few years now (RegulatorFix.com and ebay user Regulatorfix and Amazon brand RegulatorFix). Your experience (1 year) does NOT match what I hear from customers. I don't recall having replaced a single one over the years. I certainly can't speak for the seller you refer to or the one listed in post #7.

The clips (not just E46, but almost every other BMW, Audi, VW, Jaguar, Ford, Chrysler, etc) are made from POM material, chosen for its superior coefficient of friction and high wear resistance. But the material ages and becomes brittle, and breaks. Typical failure starts after about 5-10 years statistically. I rarely sell E90 clips, but tons of E46. The same is true for Audi A4 (lots of B5 clips, some B6, no B7 (yet)), VW Golf (MK4 lots, rarely MK5, no MK6) and all other cars.

And example that demonstrates the OEM cost driven need for 'good enough' solutions:
Driven by consumer demand (simply a LOT of people want an 'upgraded' clip that never breaks), we offer a metal/plastic hybrid window regulator clip for Golf. It uses a metal structure (stiffness) and a POM insert (friction/wear). The part is rather complex, and should cost 10x more than the plastic clips (but the market does not bear the price). In my opinion: changing the clips every 10 years for $20 and an hour of work is not a bad deal. If you ever had to change the timing chain guides in the back of your 5 Series bimmer (also last about 10 years), you know what I am talking about (with respect to cost and labor).

[daytonatrbo]

If you ever had to change the timing chain guides in the back of your 5 Series bimmer (also last about 10 years), you know what I am talking about (with respect to cost and labor).

I thought only Audi put the timing chain in the back of the engine.

[cwiley]

I found a guy on ebay a while back that sells just the portion of the regulator that actually breaks. You replace the metal and plastic piece that rides the rail and holds the window with the all-plastic pieces he sells, and they seem to work. I did my driver's window about 2 years ago and its still going fine. I bought enough pieces to repair both front windows for the price of 1 cheap aftermarket regulator.

As long as your cables and pulleys are still good, its a great solution in my opinion. They weren't even difficult to install, but I did fully remove the reg from the car to do it.

I'd like to know more about this...no sense in replacing the entire regulator if you can get just the failing component. I've got the same exact problem in my car. Front passenger window squeeks and strains getting up and as soon as temps drop below freezing, I cant get it up without manually "helping" it up. Comes off track sometimes when it comes to that...

[vtraudt]

I thought only Audi put the timing chain in the back of the engine.

We yanked the engine out to get to it on 540i.
But timing belt change every 100k (10 years) is a good comparison for the plastic window regulator clips case as well.

[davintosh]

I placed an order yesterday for the URO ball bearing unit. I was tempted to open up the door and see what was broken, but I hate doing that when I don't have a part on hand in case things are worse than suspected. Last night I took the car to an automatic car wash and thought I'd lower the window to punch in my numbers, and I could only get it to go down about two inches. It took about 15 minutes to get it back up into its closed position. Pretty sure things are pretty well fubared in there.

I found some helpful links for replacing the regulator and for the zip tie fix. I think I'll put zip ties on the new one while I'm in there too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Q2tfHqcdI
http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...or-zip-tie-fix

I've read though that the plastic zip ties have a pretty short lifespan in this application, and some have used stainless steel zip ties; I wonder if some steel safety wire would do the job just as well.

[daytonatrbo]

I've read though that the plastic zip ties have a pretty short lifespan in this application, and some have used stainless steel zip ties; I wonder if some steel safety wire would do the job just as well.

Safety wire and cover it with epoxy or something like that should go a long way.