E30 Zone

Right, my e30 is going up for sale in the next few days, i am leaving the country and i would rather have the money to buy another when i am settled in.

Ive been given my mums 1999 Bmw compact which she has had from new as she is getting a new car next week.

Problem is the windows both passenger and drivers door keep popping out of the runners and regs.

its been into the garage twice both times lasting a week or two ive fixed them 3 times and they have broke again, they have had new clips new regs, new rubbers everything.

Any suggestions before i buy two complete doors

The compact has plastic sliders in the window regulators change these and re-align and grease the sliders as once they pop out plastic clips are broken and dont retain the window all will be good after replacing the plastic sliders they are £1.69 each
also run some silicone spray down the runners

Got some ordered.

Be sure to check that the door rubbers INCLUDING the one in the rear lower guide are in good condition and lubed up. There is an adjustment that angles the glass in the door, be sure that it is adjusted so that the glass is firmly seated in the rear rubber and guide.

EVERY compact I have ever owned or worked on has had window dramas, they are rather crap

One window had a new reg and the garage charged my mum a hell of alot for all new window seals and rubbers. does anyone know of a guide on the net how to get them spot on ?

Thanks

To adjust the way the glass sits , you move the small aluminium guide that bolts to the door frame and is secured by 10 mm nuts IIRC. The holes the studs fit into are slotted which allows you to move the guide. It is quite obvious by moving it which way it angles the glass.

Be warned ! some of the aftermarket mechanisms are pure sh1te , even worse than the OE ones !

why are compacts in particular so bad?

the regs are the same as the saloon / touring which don't seem to have anywhere near as many dramas, maybe because the compacts use the same regs but on a larger piece of glass and larger door skin which can flex more?

my compact has suffered too, just seems to be plastic clips, but the arm which goes to the rear slider on the glass looked twisted too. there's a handy slot cut in them which i tweeked with a large flat blade screwdriver to straighten the arm which seemed to help as it's not popped off since despite a piece of the plastic slider being broken where the R-clip slides through.

I know Pete. The passenger side had bent and buckled badly so put new mechanism/arm in was a twenty quid job. judders going up and down. the arms on the drivers side bent a little but managed to straighten them.

I've had 4 doors and Compacts with reg dramas. Make sure the reg scissors aren't bent, make sure the glass is inside the vertical felt runners and when adjusting, make sure the rear arm (with the 10mm bolt) is adjusted firmly downwards. That ensures the rear top corner of the glass is firmly pressed against the runner. Lube thr felt runners with WD40 so the glass moves easily.

The arms were bent hut i bent them back will it ever be right again ?

I've lubed the felt runners up. will check position of the bolt and see where its at

how much for the car when you feck off ?