Discussion
Hainey said:
It'll be a horror show underneath but its worth 400 quid. I've sorted a few out that were as bad/worse than that so it is saveable if thats what your wondering.
Would it fail it's mot in dec due to the wheel arch or the rust by the drivers door?If so what ball park figure would it cost to fix ?
I wasn't even looking for a bmw but it was parked up where i was delivering the post , so had a quick test drive .
Last mot advisories we're windscreen and perished brake hoses , drives fine , changes gear fine, brakes straight , idles fine from cold.
I guess i want somebody to say buy it and use it until it fails it's mot on the rust
zedx19 said:
It won't fail it's MOT on cosmetic rust, it will fail it on structural rust. You need to be looking underneath the cars at sills, subframes, mounting points etc for major rust, not wings and doors.
Hmm maybe even at £400 it's not worth it for potentially 5 months use ?When you opened the drivers door there was rust around the bottom curve which i guess is getting close to the seatbelt mounting especially if they rust from the inside out .
You aren't going to know until you get dug in but I will take a chance and say I'd get that through a ticket just now. Where I see the corrosion isnt near the seatbelt mounting areas and your not allowed to take off a side skirt on an mot to check.
FWIW the guy i use for paint and body is old school Polish. Unlike most Brit guys he isnt phased by rust as he's seen it all before. Might be worth asking around for similar.
FWIW the guy i use for paint and body is old school Polish. Unlike most Brit guys he isnt phased by rust as he's seen it all before. Might be worth asking around for similar.
Hainey said:
You aren't going to know until you get dug in but I will take a chance and say I'd get that through a ticket just now. Where I see the corrosion isnt near the seatbelt mounting areas and your not allowed to take off a side skirt on an mot to check.
FWIW the guy i use for paint and body is old school Polish. Unlike most Brit guys he isnt phased by rust as he's seen it all before. Might be worth asking around for similar.
Hmm . it was up for 500 but she said £400 would do it , wonder if i could get it for nearer £350 ?FWIW the guy i use for paint and body is old school Polish. Unlike most Brit guys he isnt phased by rust as he's seen it all before. Might be worth asking around for similar.
Yeah we've got a polish pete here , really good at the electronics on the german cars.
Front wings are bolt on and cheap to buy, you can even get them pre-painted for £100ish. As mentioned check underneath for rust. The wings being rusty doesn't mean the rest of the car will be, they are just a water trap.
Guy in work has a 325ci the same colour and the wings are shot on it, but gone through two MOT tests by covering the rust with blue tape!
Guy in work has a 325ci the same colour and the wings are shot on it, but gone through two MOT tests by covering the rust with blue tape!
One of the wings on my 328ci is much worse, needed tape to get it through the MOT. However, the underside is still okay. MOT'ed with an advisory for floorpans corroded and front wings corroded. The Wings can be bought cheap if you need it, and it looks like near the door shouldn't be too terrible. One thing to check is the jacking points. Mine are rock solid, but there's been some with horrendously rotten seats. I say buy it, drive it until it can drive no more and break it. Most likely worth more than £400 in bits.
t cheap it is .Rsdop said:
Thanks.That bright metallic blue in my pics , is that topaz blue ?
Right.
£330 lighter and it's home .
Offside rear arch is well rusty , the compartment in the boot where the battery lives was quarter full of water so found/cleared the drain hole and that's all sorted.
Had a quick look underneath and think the sills are ok , wheel arches aren't though .
It stops starts and goes though although suspension is a bit clunky but then it cost £330 and if it lasts until mot in dec i can't really ask for much more.
Plan for next week is get up onto a ramp and service it and then ;look into new tyres because it's got 4 rubbish band tyres at present.
£330 lighter and it's home .
Offside rear arch is well rusty , the compartment in the boot where the battery lives was quarter full of water so found/cleared the drain hole and that's all sorted.
Had a quick look underneath and think the sills are ok , wheel arches aren't though .
It stops starts and goes though although suspension is a bit clunky but then it cost £330 and if it lasts until mot in dec i can't really ask for much more.
Plan for next week is get up onto a ramp and service it and then ;look into new tyres because it's got 4 rubbish band tyres at present.
I would get it MOT'd and mechanically okay for as little as possible, and sod the rust. Half a litre of paint mixed up at a factors and brush it onto the rusty bits if you're that bothered. It won't drive any better with new wings and it's surprising how quickly a cheap old BMW becomes an expensive one. Chances are, you'd replace the wings and the week after the head gasket leaves the building with a shagged E46 owing you £600 you won't see again.
Cheap BMW's - keep them cheap, enjoy, throw them away when they're finished.
Cheap BMW's - keep them cheap, enjoy, throw them away when they're finished.
iSore said:
I would get it MOT'd and mechanically okay for as little as possible, and sod the rust. Half a litre of paint mixed up at a factors and brush it onto the rusty bits if you're that bothered. It won't drive any better with new wings and it's surprising how quickly a cheap old BMW becomes an expensive one. Chances are, you'd replace the wings and the week after the head gasket leaves the building with a shagged E46 owing you £600 you won't see again.
Cheap BMW's - keep them cheap, enjoy, throw them away when they're finished.
Well that seems pretty positive OP! Cheap BMW's - keep them cheap, enjoy, throw them away when they're finished.
I hope "Mr Happy" may be wrong - I've got a 2002 325ti Sport Compact, and it costs less to run than my Z4 Coupe!
But then I like N/A straight 6 petrol engines with a manual gearbox and RWD, so no other options really!
Mr Tidy said:
iSore said:
I would get it MOT'd and mechanically okay for as little as possible, and sod the rust. Half a litre of paint mixed up at a factors and brush it onto the rusty bits if you're that bothered. It won't drive any better with new wings and it's surprising how quickly a cheap old BMW becomes an expensive one. Chances are, you'd replace the wings and the week after the head gasket leaves the building with a shagged E46 owing you £600 you won't see again.
Cheap BMW's - keep them cheap, enjoy, throw them away when they're finished.
Well that seems pretty positive OP! Cheap BMW's - keep them cheap, enjoy, throw them away when they're finished.
I hope "Mr Happy" may be wrong - I've got a 2002 325ti Sport Compact, and it costs less to run than my Z4 Coupe!
But then I like N/A straight 6 petrol engines with a manual gearbox and RWD, so no other options really!
It's a £300 car just use it until mot time because once i start just fixing different things the cost will add up.
Took it for a good hours thrash over Exmoor yesterday and there's a squeal when rolling at low speed , knocking from the back although i'm not convinced it's not the boot floor over the spare tyre and the gearsstick feel is sloppy , but it pulls really strong and generally works.
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