Doors replaced, now water leaks
Discussion
Hi All,
My mom's BMW 325 (E91 series) recently had some damage down one side. We had a professional repair done (several £k) which included two used doors. All repainted and sitting flush on the car. They also replaced the door seals with genuine BMW, but not the body door frame seals, which remain factory and now 18yr old.
Water now comes in during wash (hosepipe, low pressure) through the bottom of the doors, Seems almost as if the water collects and comes up, although not sure.
The bodyshop suggested replacing the seals on the body next. Saying that old and new seals won't work well together.
Does this sound credible? Any other suggestions?
My mom's BMW 325 (E91 series) recently had some damage down one side. We had a professional repair done (several £k) which included two used doors. All repainted and sitting flush on the car. They also replaced the door seals with genuine BMW, but not the body door frame seals, which remain factory and now 18yr old.
Water now comes in during wash (hosepipe, low pressure) through the bottom of the doors, Seems almost as if the water collects and comes up, although not sure.
The bodyshop suggested replacing the seals on the body next. Saying that old and new seals won't work well together.
Does this sound credible? Any other suggestions?
RiccardoG said:
Hi All,
My mom's BMW 325 (E91 series) recently had some damage down one side. We had a professional repair done (several £k) which included two used doors. All repainted and sitting flush on the car. They also replaced the door seals with genuine BMW, but not the body door frame seals, which remain factory and now 18yr old.
Water now comes in during wash (hosepipe, low pressure) through the bottom of the doors, Seems almost as if the water collects and comes up, although not sure.
The bodyshop suggested replacing the seals on the body next. Saying that old and new seals won't work well together.
Does this sound credible? Any other suggestions?
Check the membrane behind the door cards.My mom's BMW 325 (E91 series) recently had some damage down one side. We had a professional repair done (several £k) which included two used doors. All repainted and sitting flush on the car. They also replaced the door seals with genuine BMW, but not the body door frame seals, which remain factory and now 18yr old.
Water now comes in during wash (hosepipe, low pressure) through the bottom of the doors, Seems almost as if the water collects and comes up, although not sure.
The bodyshop suggested replacing the seals on the body next. Saying that old and new seals won't work well together.
Does this sound credible? Any other suggestions?
Concur with the above. Water gets into the door, it's not designed to be watertight, the membrane behind the door is supposed to keep it getting inside the car. If these are damaged or loose the car will get wet inside.
BMW use a foam type shaped membrane masticed in place, theyre often torn or the mastic is no longer holding properly.
BMW use a foam type shaped membrane masticed in place, theyre often torn or the mastic is no longer holding properly.
Another shout out for the membrane here. BMW have a long history of leaky door membranes.
I had to re-seal the front passengers door membrane on my 2018 3 series. I've had it from new and it started to leak after about 4 years or so. It simply stopped being stuck to the door frame.
You need some butyl strip to stick it back down. Readily available from online retailers.
I had to re-seal the front passengers door membrane on my 2018 3 series. I've had it from new and it started to leak after about 4 years or so. It simply stopped being stuck to the door frame.
You need some butyl strip to stick it back down. Readily available from online retailers.
It's a very common issue across all marques.
Rain - or wash water - will run down the outside of the window, past the waist seal & into the door.
It should then run down into the bottom of the door, being kept inside the door by the membrane & out through the drain holes in the bottom of the door.
If the membrane is missing, damaged or not fully stuck down it can run down the back of the door card & into the car.
Often causes a lot of headscratching as to where it's coming from.
Butyl rubber sealant strip/tape - think very, very sticky plasticine - is the stuff you need to stick it back down or replace with plastic sheet. Available from ebay, amazon etc.
Rain - or wash water - will run down the outside of the window, past the waist seal & into the door.
It should then run down into the bottom of the door, being kept inside the door by the membrane & out through the drain holes in the bottom of the door.
If the membrane is missing, damaged or not fully stuck down it can run down the back of the door card & into the car.
Often causes a lot of headscratching as to where it's coming from.
Butyl rubber sealant strip/tape - think very, very sticky plasticine - is the stuff you need to stick it back down or replace with plastic sheet. Available from ebay, amazon etc.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I've asked and they re-used the same membrane stating that they were in good condition. Therefore sounds like it could be an issue of it not being stuck down properly.
I also noticed that there are two bungs missing from underneath the door. Maybe water is getting out of these, as opposed to the designated drain holes, but I'm not sure whether it would be the issue. On the rear door the bung is still there but water also comes in.
I'll investigate what is involved in removing the door trim to check out the membrane. Although I suspect it will be over my comfort level!
I also noticed that there are two bungs missing from underneath the door. Maybe water is getting out of these, as opposed to the designated drain holes, but I'm not sure whether it would be the issue. On the rear door the bung is still there but water also comes in.
I'll investigate what is involved in removing the door trim to check out the membrane. Although I suspect it will be over my comfort level!
Bluevanman said:
It shouldn't be up to you to fix it, it's down to the repairer
Yes, totally agree and they have indeed offered. Its just that the car is in one country and the repairer in another, 600mi away! We'll only be back there in a few months. In the meantime I wanted to try and look into it preemptively.Thankfully the car is garaged and hardly used (ageing mother) so it won't be seeing much water in the meantime.
If it comes to it, then it probably won't be too bad taking the door cards off. I did this with our old X5 which sprung a leak in the same way in a rear door.
I heated the membrane bonding with a heat gun to soften it, then squeezed the membrane on top and ensured a good water resistant seal.
Door air bags may complicate things, but as long as you follow procedures on-line then you won't have any error messages etc.
I heated the membrane bonding with a heat gun to soften it, then squeezed the membrane on top and ensured a good water resistant seal.
Door air bags may complicate things, but as long as you follow procedures on-line then you won't have any error messages etc.
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