E30 Zone

The bonnet lining has come to the end of its life, it´s brittle and crumbling away covering the engine in granules of sponge rubber, may even eventually block air filter. I plan to remove it but before doing so just like to know what I am in for and how about replacements. Anyone been down this (messy) road?

Nightmare job!

I removed as much as possible by scraping it, and applying some heat, and then stuck a new one on top, and it was fine.

I removed the lot before applying the new set. It is F***ing messy though. get rid of as much of the foam as possible and then use Meths to soften the glue and remove it. I did the whole job in an evening and it was well worth while but buy twice as much meths as you need as you'll need a drink afterwards!!

good luck

its more expensive but an m3 liner is sooo much better

got the guy in the body shop to clean mine off when my car got sprayed along with the tool tray one. he said it was a f***in nightmare. make sure when you get a new one it is genuine as copy's are supposed to be crap but i have no experience of them its juts what people say.

any pics or info on the m3 one dave?

its part 28

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=41&fg=35

sorry no pics

If you scrape it off yourself get an old bed sheet and cover the engine bay first as it will get everywhere.

im with Daved on this one
dnt waste time with the standard lining get yaself an m3 liner
think theyre only bout 60quid new when i enquired and look so much better

oh yes and if you get one dont forget the 18 clips...i did

I have this horrible job to do......while polishing the inside of the engine bay I left the T-Cut on the rad and closed the bonnet! Doe!

Whats the difference between the M3 and the normal one?

And whats the price difference?

I could do with doing this myself.

M3 part is a pre-formed panel. Much classier.

If you want to remove the old one, I removed one once a long time ago by accident with a pressure washer.....worked a treat!

Does it make a huge difference to engine noise inside the cabin or is it more of a heat protection?

Basically is it ok to take it out completely?

thedingbat wrote:Does it make a huge difference to engine noise inside the cabin or is it more of a heat protection?

Basically is it ok to take it out completely?

I removed mine completely 2 years ago and polished the inside of the bonnet. Looks much better. Can't say I've noticed any increased engine noise.


Taylor.

I didn't bother and put an m3 liner over the crappy foam ...saves a lot of work

On my older car (323i) I took the bonnet off, had the foam removed by thinners etc then repainted and new foam stuck on. I was going to put the M3 style on but BMW dealer told me they are NLA.
Manged to get one off fleabay for £20 but it was showing slight wear so stuck it over the foam with the 18 clips on my newer one (320iSE 4dr). Certainly looks classier than the foam.
Does anyone know where I can get a minter M3 bonnet trim????

BMW could have made the 3 series better as well by putting the SE boot liner on all cars instead of just some as well as using the 2nd space in the boot lid for the other boot lamp.
Looks far better with both lamps AND a boot lid trim. Fits with a standard tool kit as well.

I didn't bother and put an m3 liner over the crappy foam ...saves a lot of work

good idea, my foam has being savaged by the previous owner but it looks tacky. I have got a spare skyline one lying around might have to try and cut and paste that.

mine needs replacing. Does anyone know how much they are ,do the dealers still sell them ?

ye ask zimmerbimmer and i think they are about £60

just ordered mine from zimmerbimmer £28.89 inc vat, collecting tomorrow excellant service yet again.

I've 4 in stock cos I ordered my foam from the dealer and each one came with air holes on the surface, making it look a little cr***.
Thankfully I had one in stock from 15yrs ago and it was far better condition.

Just had a e mail from zimmerbimmer saying that the M3 bonnet trim is now NLA.

I'm after a mint one - anyone got one

y8sey wrote:just ordered mine from zimmerbimmer £28.89 inc vat, collecting tomorrow excellant service yet again.

sounds like a good price!

fitted the liner today, took a while to scrape off the glue from the old one. I used thinners to soften it then started scraping. The new one looks fine i dont know why the M3 liner is better. Thanks to paul for sorting this out.

y8sey wrote:fitted the liner today, took a while to scrape off the glue from the old one. I used thinners to soften it then started scraping. The new one looks fine i dont know why the M3 liner is better. Thanks to paul for sorting this out.

The M3 is a one piece that covers the whole of the underside of the bonnet. It even covers over where the washer pipes are at the windscreen end of the bonnet. It is held on by around 18 clips.
The dealer can no longer supply and it was about £60. The 3 pice set you bought was the standard E30 part that sticks to the bonnet. £28 seems steep - I paid £14 for mine from a dealer.

I did manage to get an M3 one off fleabay for £20 and put it on my 320. Looks soooooooo much better than ragged foam. Just put it on straight over the foam.

each to their own iwas happy with price and the end result.

hennabm,
Which dealer did you go to? My local one quoted me £40 for all three bits.....

I need to do mine asap, i noticed that there's a patch of paint work on my bonnet going slightly brown. Its the only area that has lost its sponge underneath! Happy to know that a new set is available for £30 ish - I thought i was going to have to fork out £60 odd!

Wheeler Dealers always makes me laugh when they put the new bonnet on the touring. Ed sticks some crappy aftermarket stuff on when the original genuine bits are sub 30 quid!

The other alternative to putting on the foam again was to use the liner from a 325e or 324d. Unfortunately these are NLA from Germany but do make a nicer finish. The one for the M3 is very similar but has a huge bump in it that fouls on the engine N/S.

This thread was very useful for me. I intend to replace my inner sound proofing on my 325iS MTec as the foam is showing its age and slowly turning into powder.
I called my dealer for the original foam 3 pc (Can$100) and also the M3 one piece which they have (Can$200).
I wondered if the M3 one piece would fit without any mods' and after reading here about the M3 one piece fouling and the 324d or 325e one piece fitting best I will call them Monday and check availability of this part rather.
My cars all wrapped up stored for winter in my garage and this is going to be the first job before I get it on the road again at Easter.

the m3 one works ..it does touch the inlet manifold but you wont notice when the bonnets down!

666JSB wrote:This thread was very useful for me. I intend to replace my inner sound proofing on my 325iS MTec as the foam is showing its age and slowly turning into powder.
I called my dealer for the original foam 3 pc (Can$100) and also the M3 one piece which they have (Can$200).
I wondered if the M3 one piece would fit without any mods' and after reading here about the M3 one piece fouling and the 324d or 325e one piece fitting best I will call them Monday and check availability of this part rather.
My cars all wrapped up stored for winter in my garage and this is going to be the first job before I get it on the road again at Easter.

Well unless things have changed, last year I scoured the world and found the last remaining 325e one in Canada. This was shipped to me over here by a good friend in Oakville, Ontario.
Sorry

The M3 one does look the goods. I have heard they were also used on diesel models. I have been hunting one for a few years in Aus but to no avail and far to expensive to get shipped in. I am dreading removing the foam but will bite the bullet and tackle it shortly. I planned to buy some after market adhesive backed foam and cut it to fit as the original stuff is way too pricey.

DaveD wrote:the m3 one works ..it does touch the inlet manifold but you wont notice when the bonnets down!

Love that engine bay treatment DaveD