E30 Zone

Hi - a new member here, and the proud owner of a 1990 2dr 316i. Nice to meet you all (I’ve been an observer for a few months now, but this is my first post!).

I bought the car a couple of months back, and being a newbie to all this, didn’t investigate some of the areas I now know to be problematic. There are two issues in having with the sunroof:

1) Increasing bubbling on the panel itself - upon further investigation it seems that the panel is rusting from the underside (partially visible when the sunroof is open). The roof itself and surround seems fine though, although this may not be the case?

2) Heavy rusting around the entrance of one of the sunroof drains (possibly the bigger deal!). See the pics attached as a comparison of left and right.

Basically just looking for advice/pointers on the best course of action for both issues. Has anyone had similar issues?

Many thanks in advance!

Hello and welcome.
Would be nice to see some pictures of the car

Have a look at this thread, might be useful, as the repairs to the roof have been done.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=278898

Welcome to the mad-house

The sunroof panel will likely need removing, tipping upside down to deal with it properly, there is a lot of double-skin metal that rust can get between, wire brush off all the rust you can see, preferably down to good metal, treat with rust converter (Jenolite etc) then etch prime and paint. Try to get the rust converter in between the panels as best you can. Thin waxoil in the voids in the sunroof panel when it is all done and dry.

Worst case they are available new not much more than some are selling second hand

Drain doesn't look bad but hard to tell from a photo, tempted to attack it with a small wire brush in a drill or dremmel, if it hasn't gone through then treat prime and paint.

Be careful not to block the drain as that causes a lot of the problems

what he said ^^^

Thanks all - much appreciated! I'll let you know how I go, and will add some pics of the car when I get around to it as well.

Cheers

jamesdf wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:54 pm

Thanks all - much appreciated! I'll let you know how I go, and will add some pics of the car when I get around to it as well.

Cheers

Missed this

Welcome to the zone mate

Mart.