E30 Zone

Sorry in advznce for the lengh of this but please bear with me!

Ive been without out my 325i sport for about a year now, and i miss it loads and wish i'd never sold it! So, Im keeping my eyes open for another!

Ive found a nice 1, only 65,000 miles. Totaly standard. The bloke who has it now is the 2nd owner, and hes a grandad, so i dare so it hasnt been too babdly abused.

Problem is, it has some rust problems. one off the arches is quite babdly rusted *see pic* and so is the boot lid and number plate surround *see pic*

I hate rust, cant stand it, thats why I got rid of my last sport coz it started to rust (wish I just got it sorted now). So i wpould like to know the best way to sort rust, is it to get it sanded out or something or to replace the rotted pannel altogether? Where can you buy replacement arches from etc?






Cheers guys

It doesnt look too bad at all to be honest, sanding an minimal amount of filler should be all it needs.

Well, to me, it totally spoils the car so would need doing straight away, I know a lad how said he charges 50 quid an arch and 80 quid a pannel *approx* how does that sound?

I normaly wouldnt buy a rusty car, but with such low milage and few owners its hard to resist!

And its standard so whatever I do to it is my own taste (leather interior, lowered, alpinas, zorst, induction, private plate, etc) its bringing back good old memories lol

ive seen that car before - think it was on ebay or the zone!

I was going to make more enquiries about it but didnt - cant remember why - i think it might be a 320 or an auto - or both!

All im saying is if you want a sport, make sure it is one first.

Q

Quaser wrote:ive seen that car before - think it was on ebay or the zone!

I was going to make more enquiries about it but didnt - cant remember why - i think it might be a 320 or an auto - or both!

All im saying is if you want a sport, make sure it is one first.

Q

Its advertised as a genuine sport and it appears to be one.

Obviously if i go ahead I will hpi check etc and check engine numbers. Will also see the log book

mine is rustier than that at present although in the next 6 months everything should be sorted with a full respray.

that doesnt really look to bad at all to be honest.

get it sorted and looking mint again i say as majority of cars has more than that

Not so sure about sanding and filler, not the way about it if you have long term plans, OK if you want to sell it on though!

New rear arches, and you can bet inner arches will have started too. These would be the main areas, and the most labour intensive to change, not impossible by a long way. The rear panel and bootlid will be easy enough, new panels are still available from BMW, and a good second hand bootlid should be easily obtainable.

cut it out mate! cut it out! new inner+outer arches, the 320's gotta have hers done. will be worth it.

how to beat rust.... buy an iS!!

So new panels/archs etc is better than sanding and filling yeah?

If you guys are saying this sport isnt rusting bad, you shudda seen my sport, 1 or 2 tiny bubbles starting on 1 arch and that was it! wish i had got it sorted.

the guy selling this says the front 2 archs are fine, and the other rear one was replaced last year for 300 quid. So its just this 1 arch thats nasty.

ive also requested close ups of the side skirts as mine were a poor fit and water got trapped between the skirts and the car and was flaking

That car is from our neck of the woods originaly going by the number plate,no good just filling over rust it comes back a decent bodyshop can put new metal in other than a full arch if it is not too bad.

Prevention is better than cure wash the shit and mud from under your wheelarches on a regular basis as this causes a lot of the problems it stays damp.

Argos wrote:

stuartgallafant wrote:how to beat rust.... buy an iS!!

I've seen a few rotten iS's too. The guy near me who buys and sells a few had a silver one - I wouldn't give him the £150 he wanted, it was furcked.

yes...

one of the most rotten cars i owned was a 318is. on an f plate

it was fucked. outer and inner sills were mostly filler. the wells in the boot were shot away, rear arches had been "done" with p40.

worst £100 i ever spent.

shocking turd.

they never came on F plates helmet

G and H plates only Squire as Simon 13 quotes !

sorry g reg it was. si you anal twat.

rotten turd none the less.

jonb wrote: si you anal twat.

I thought he lived with his girlfriend?

It doesn't matter if they come on 1966 D plates. All E30 saloons and M3's (not Convertible) are built in the same factory so all this stuff about iS's not going rusty is bollocks. My mate's Mrs has an H plate iS - just had two front wings and a front panel due to imaginary rot.

no, the later facelift cars had a better zinc coating so they dont rust the same.

and what the hell is rust anyway, never seen it over here

mrlee

jonesy

if you're going to save this then the advice above is sound - unlike the rear of the silver car you're considering: cut it out and have new welded in and painted. it's not often adviseable to go cheap for this work - it's better to know it's been done right with regular bodyshop visits to witness progress and verify what you're being told.

then you need to follow the bodyshop round with waxoyl and a paintbrush and a flexi-hose applicator thing. really you'll need to scrub the underside clean with plenty of water and waxoyl the whole underneath of the car, then inside the sills, the battery tray, the inner arches behind the quarter panels and everywhere else that has ever rusted on any of these shells, ever. this should then be repeated every spring time after the frosts and road gritting has finished, you then stand half a chance of the shell not continuing to rot before your very eyes.

it's grim work but strangely rewarding.

paul

Check these pic's out Argos for Placey's Car

http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... highlight=

You are of course joking, right?

no i am not joking, the facelift cars had a thicker zinc coating before primer.

later cars may rot more due to their owners, the yuppie boom around the time of the facelift would mean that most were bought by London city types who probably had little time to climb under the arches with a stiff brush, hence why they suffer now.

most cars here in Bahrain are BMW Japan models and it can be said it rains a lot there, but we hardly ever see any rust on them (most were imported to here as second hand, as was mine) this i put down to them being cared for better.

mrlee

placey wrote:jonesy

if you're going to save this then the advice above is sound - unlike the rear of the silver car you're considering: cut it out and have new welded in and painted. it's not often adviseable to go cheap for this work - it's better to know it's been done right with regular bodyshop visits to witness progress and verify what you're being told.

then you need to follow the bodyshop round with waxoyl and a paintbrush and a flexi-hose applicator thing. really you'll need to scrub the underside clean with plenty of water and waxoyl the whole underneath of the car, then inside the sills, the battery tray, the inner arches behind the quarter panels and everywhere else that has ever rusted on any of these shells, ever. this should then be repeated every spring time after the frosts and road gritting has finished, you then stand half a chance of the shell not continuing to rot before your very eyes.

it's grim work but strangely rewarding.

paul

how much money we talking to get a good body shop to do all this? anyone ever had similar work done? ....just so I can budget for this when making an offer on the car.

I would probably leave the car offthe road until the start of the new year (classic insurance ((its needed with 9 points on licence )) so I might as well get it all done properly

cheers lads

I have heard about this better zinc coating on later models. However they do still seam to rust in pretty similar places.

jonesy

i wouldn't ask a bodyshop to do all i suggested - just the welding and painting. the rest you can do yourself for peanuts, just the cost of waxoyl and some old brushes....

quotes from bodyshops vary wildly, so does quality of work. (ask to see examples, plenty too!) you mentioned the guy paid 300 for the other arch to be done right? so similar for the rear i'd guess, around 600 as a guide. you can reduce this cost if you're willing to strip away all trim necessary for access before the car goes to the shop i.e. skirts, rubber side strip, rear lights, boot rubber, number plate etc etc and while the bodyshop do their thing it gives you a chance to clean all these bits before re-fitting as the bodyshop won't bother for sure.

bodyshop cost is mainly labour, so the more you do the less they do the smaller your bill and the better you get to know your car.

paul

Beat rot?

Buy an E90 or live with it!