e36 Rust Repair

[BalhamBadger]

Hi All,

My beloved e36 328 Sport is unfortunately showing some of the dreaded rust appearing around the rear arches. I've had a quote for arch replacement for £350/side (+VAT...) so not far off a grand all in. There is another cheaper option to just have the offending areas ground back, repainted and protected but I think this is a short-term fix.

Does the arch replacement of £350/side like a reasonable price or should I just run a car of this age into the ground (it's a '98), rather than throwing money at it? I've already spent a fair bit getting other issues sorted.

I guess there are a lot of variables, financial and non-financial, but I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences/opinions.

Cheers all.

[BalhamBadger]

Good point - I'm getting more quotes at present. These guys seem to come highly recommended - Autospray in Bath ( http://www.autospray-uk.com/).

The place I've got the quote from is the bodyshop recommended by Clayton BMW in Bristol so I'm guessing it's relatively competitive and they're competent. Can't hurt to look around though.

If anyone knows a good bodyshop in the Bristol/Bath area, please let me know!

[BalhamBadger]

I will definitely get back with my results, assuming I decide to bite the bullet and get it repaired that is! It's a cracking car and the repair will probably work out as long as I keep it on for a few years more.

By the way Claytons is an independent specialist garage in the Ashton area of Bristol, not far from the Tobacco Factory. I used them for some work on my brakes earlier this week and was impressed with the customer serivce, the speed of the work and the price wasn't too bad either.

[Touring442]

Is it worth spending £700 on a 13 year old BMW worth perhaps £2500? Logically, no. But on the other had you have a nice fixable old car that doesn't owe you a lot and given how grim the later 3 Series models are shaping up for reliability/durability, it's worth spending some money now to keep it nice. A 328i Coupe is a nice thing and good ones can only start to appreciate in value from here. They can't get any cheaper!

[BalhamBadger]

Touring442 said:

Is it worth spending £700 on a 13 year old BMW worth perhaps £2500? Logically, no. But on the other had you have a nice fixable old car that doesn't owe you a lot and given how grim the later 3 Series models are shaping up for reliability/durability, it's worth spending some money now to keep it nice. A 328i Coupe is a nice thing and good ones can only start to appreciate in value from here. They can't get any cheaper!

That's a good point and to some extent my way of thinking. My next car will be an e46 M3 but insurance for the time being is prohibitively high - I only got my licence a few years ago despite being in my 30s, so even an e36 with a 2.8 was pushing it.

[griffter]

youll take a hammering come resale if you let it get rusty and dont stay on top of it. Whilst youre unlikely to get your money back, e36 prices are rock bottom and e30s increase in price attention will turn to its successor. Id get it done, enjoy the car and get some value back when you upgrade to the m3. On quality, you wont know until 6-12 months after. If it were me id get behind the repair asap and cover it in paint/underseal.

[Matt_N]

JB Autos are very well regarded in Bristol, just off the A4174 ring road, so not far from Bath.

http://www.jb-autos.co.uk/

[GBB]

Touring442 said:

Is it worth spending £700 on a 13 year old BMW worth perhaps £2500? Logically, no. But on the other had you have a nice fixable old car that doesn't owe you a lot and given how grim the later 3 Series models are shaping up for reliability/durability, it's worth spending some money now to keep it nice. A 328i Coupe is a nice thing and good ones can only start to appreciate in value from here. They can't get any cheaper!

Not sure a 13yr old 328 would be worth close to £2500, I reckon mines £500-£700 despite bodywork.

I had mine done when someone scraped the rear arch in a car park, cut through the paint (and rust) but no dents fortunately. Their payment covered the one side and I paid to get the other done - cost me about £350-£400 for both sides cutting back rust, repairing, spraying and also treating inside lip of arches. Money well spent I reckon as it's a pukka job that will last a good few years and the car costs me nothing in depreciation.

I would caveat that you need to find a good body shop, I paid about £100 a few years ago for a dents away place to do it and within 6 months the paint was bubbling away, this time I've gone to a local paint specialist who doesn't cut corners.

(Now I just need to get the boot corner that's just started and bonnet corner ditto sorted as well )

[shagracer]

give WAKEFIELDS in Warminster (not to far from Bath) a ring. they worked on my xj6 (x300) and my wifes mx5
all their work is guaranteed

[Touring442]

GBB said:

Not sure a 13yr old 328 would be worth close to £2500, I reckon mines £500-£700 despite bodywork.

I've got £500 waiting for it right here. I assume yours is a Sport in nice condition? Yes, £2500 is very strong money for a 328i Sport (most are about £1300 - for a reason!) but it's not out of bounds for a car which isn't the usual hound.

[S3_Graham]

Touring442 said:

GBB said:

Not sure a 13yr old 328 would be worth close to £2500, I reckon mines £500-£700 despite bodywork.

I've got £500 waiting for it right here. I assume yours is a Sport in nice condition? Yes, £2500 is very strong money for a 328i Sport (most are about £1300 - for a reason!) but it's not out of bounds for a car which isn't the usual hound.

i'll take the £1300 car in average condition please!! Unless prices have dropped since last summer, anything less than 2000 was a car needing work.

I paid £1800 for mine (sport with No rust, LSD, practically every option and a folder full of history) and i've already spent over £2000 getting it up to scratch (its still a fair way off). The cars over £2k are over that for a reason, they are cared for, usually have low mileage and have big bucks spent on them!



ETA: dont bail on your sport. You will regret it.

I sold both my E30 325 sport's for £1000 about 3 years ago.

Saw one of them 6 months ago, the rust had been sorted and it had a full respray. Was being sold for £4995. I'm damn sure good 328 sports will slowly creep up in value as the rusty ones get killed off and thus they become rare in good nick.

Edited by S3_Graham on Saturday 2nd April 21:49

[GBB]

Mines not a Sport. Values do seem to be all over the show, much as they are on E30 325 Sports.

I guess it means paying reasonable money or looking for the bargains out there.

[BalhamBadger]

Thanks for all the replies here chaps. Still debating the ups and downs of it all. I had another quote for nigh on £2k which is too much.

Tempted to go with the £1k one but who's to say there isn't another big bill round the corner on a 13 year old car. Conversely were I to trade up to an e46 I could easily face all the same problems and expense.

I do like the car and it does go very well but I'm worried I'm letting sentimental attachment cloud what should be an objective decision.

[GBB]

BalhamBadger said:

Thanks for all the replies here chaps. Still debating the ups and downs of it all. I had another quote for nigh on £2k which is too much.

Tempted to go with the £1k one but who's to say there isn't another big bill round the corner on a 13 year old car. Conversely were I to trade up to an e46 I could easily face all the same problems and expense.

I do like the car and it does go very well but I'm worried I'm letting sentimental attachment cloud what should be an objective decision.

What history does it have, has it had the right stuff done to it.

Mine was cheap albeit not a Sport (paid £2,000 4 yrs ago) but it's been fairly faultless in 4 yrs and 60K miles so far, clock now reading 190K. Did have the arches done though.

[BalhamBadger]

GBB said:

What history does it have, has it had the right stuff done to it.

Mine was cheap albeit not a Sport (paid £2,000 4 yrs ago) but it's been fairly faultless in 4 yrs and 60K miles so far, clock now reading 190K. Did have the arches done though.

Well the history was good when I bought it, full BMWSH until fairly recently then a local specialist. What stuff do you think it should have had done? It's on 150k miles so presumably a lot of common failures would have occurred by now (and hopefully rectified).

So far I've had a new aircon compressor, a new radiator, various problems with the cooling system leaking and have had the front brakes overhauled. I suppose the suspension is probably next, or the head gasket, or the clutch, or the gearbox etc etc.

BTW Some pics of the rust I took for the quotes:

Passenger side:


Door (5p size)


Inner driver side (done before):

[GBB]

My rust was worse than that I'd say and I paid £350-£400 ish to get both arches sorted and sprayed in - very pukka job by local classics specialist (who normally does Astons, Porsches, top end stuff not cheap blow overs). It was a cheapish price for me and he fitted it in amongst the day work but £2K is at least 2x too much.

In terms of what you've had done then I see your point, it's at the mileage where something big might go. I only paid half of my cost as someone had scraped the one side so they paid for that side and it was a no brainer to cough up for the other half to be done at the same time, I'd be thinking carefully on anything over £500.

On the other side of the coin, if you like the car then any bills are likely to be less than the depreciation on a new car so paying let's say £500 p.a. averaged out to keep it in top fettle is actually not a bad investment.

[billzeebub]

after reading this I remembered that I hadn't cleaned out the rear arches on my current E36 Vert, couldn't believe the amount of crud in there..one of the few design weak points on the car. Though it must be said both arches are in perfect nick on my late 99 car. I may well still get some remedial/waxoyle though after reading these £00s horror stories!