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From cordrayfamily_at_home.com Sun Nov 11 19:56:39 2001
From: "Dan Cordray" <cordrayfamily_at_home.com>
To: <dale_at_unofficialbmw.com>
Subject: E39 (528i) Door Seal Replacement
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 22:05:45 -0600
I recently purchased a 1997 528i. I guess no matter how diligently you
inspect a used car, deficiencies always exist.
In my case it was both
body-mounted seals for the front doors. The tubular rubber portion of
the seals on both front doors was worn through in two separate places on
the vertical portion of the seal at the rear edge of the door. I could
not understand how this wear occurred until I noticed that if the seat
belt were draped as if it were closed in the door, the webbing would
contact exactly in these two areas of the seal. I have carefully
examined the seat belt webbing and I can find absolutely no damage to
the webbing itself. The belts appear to be original (1997 date on the
tags).
I ordered two new door seals (P/N 51-72-8-259-913) from my local
dealer (surprised to find these at only $44 each).
I had been stymied to
install these because of the difficulty to remove the plastic sill
covers at the bottom of the opening. I tried all nature of tools to
raise this cover without breaking it, to no avail. Finally I found a
brick chisel with a wide cutting edge and approx 8" length. I was able
to place the wide end of the chisel under the sill cover, directly
adjacent to the front or middle retaining clip (three clips are used). I
used an adjustable wrench on the hex of the chisel to apply torque to
the chisel to pry upward on the sill cover while using the other hand to
hold the chisel in position. Using this tool and procedure, I could
release the front and middle clip from the sill. Either the clip
released (or broke) from the plastic sill cover, or the clip released
from the hole in the body. The plastic sill covers remained undamaged
(in my case). With the front and middle clips released, the sill cover
can be slid forward to disengage the rear clip without actually removing
the clip from the body. Of the six retaining clips for two sill covers,
I broke one of them such that it could not be reused. I would recommend
purchase of a few of these clips before attempting this job. One or more
are likely to be broken in the process. The sill cover clips are P/N
51-47-1-928-808 7-CLIP, and the current price is $.39 each.
Actual
installation of the rubber seals was a bit anticlimactic after my
struggle with the sill covers. I used a bar of motel soap to apply a
small amount of soap to the channel of the seal that engages the lip on
the body. This lubricant helped a lot to facilitate pressing the seal
into location. The seal itself incorporates a rubber "release string"
that releases the rubber inner flange of the seal to cover the edges of
the adjacent interior parts. I installed the seals by starting at one
end and progressing around the circumference of the opening, and then
trimming the seal to fit at the joint between ends (trimmed approx 1"
from each seal). As I think about this, next time I might try to install
the seal without trimming it, by installing the "joined" ends first and
then working the seal into the circumference of the opening by working
in both directions. I am not sure how BMW recommends making this
installation.
I am thankful for your web site. I hope this experience will help
someone in the future.
Thanks and regards,
Dan Cordray
Peoria, Illinois
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