Straight six, rear wheel drive, take two - 2001 BMW 320i touring

So, the passenger's side window winding mechanism broke this week, today is good weather so I tackled the job of changing the part since I ordered it when I ordered the part for the driver's side mechanism.

That's how it was when it was broken, you can hear the crack at half height when it's going down:



Doorpanel removed, I didn't remove the insulation completely but just taped it to the top of the door


The broken part how it should look like and what is broken off


The replacement how it is screwed to the mechanism


how it looks when it's assembled - the small black plastic part you see in the previous picture slides on the top rail so it must not be removed, otherwise metal would scrape on metal.


And that's how it looks now (it struggles a bit going up ever since I bought it, but as I don't open the passenger's side window that often it's no big problem):

 
Hah! My passenger side window regulator has also started making awful sounds and I swear I can hear bits of that awful nylon wheel rattling about in the door panel. I need to get around to that...
 
...aaaand another typical E46-fault struck today: the switch for the driver's side window is broken - who thought a flimsy piece of plastic stands up to the force you have to put up to push the button? Well, it's just 25 Euros, I hope one of the three BMW-dealers in town has them in stock so I can pick it up tomorrow. At the moment I pulled the innards of the switch out so I can open and close the window, but having a cable dangling next to the shifter is inconvenient.
 
A whopping 25,13 Euros and two loosened and tightened again screws later the switch is changed...
 
That was cheaper than expected.
 
It's not that simple since there are two contacts per direction which are shorted accordingly to what I want (open/close the window until I release the button or comfort-opening/closing which goes all the way up or down, even if I release the button).

I can make a short film later to show the principle. Since I pulled the innards it should be pretty easy to see what's going on.
 
The bmw badge is 25 euros, and that's just a piece of plastic with some paint on it.
 
Once again I changed wheels for the winter wheels I had lying warm and dry in the basement, now it looks like that again (archive footage since it looks exactly the same as last year :p ):



Fortunately the screws weren't as tight as last year so I had a go at it myself.
Additionally, I think that'll be the last season of the winter tires since they are 8 years old now. They still have enough tread on them, but since they are the only components which keep the contact to the road surface I rather change them before the rubber get hard.

T?V is due in December, it certainly won't pass with flying colors since last week it began knocking when I stopped from normal driving, put it in reverse and started moving. I guess it's a joint on the upper left suspension arm since that was moveable pretty easily when I jiggled it compared to the suspension arm on the right side.
 
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Eye-Q said:
Additionally, I think that'll be the last season of the winter tires since they are 8 years old now.
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Wow, 8 years?

The winter tires on the 535 were far younger than that and one pair was overdue for replacement at 5 and a bit years old.

I guess German winters aren't that bad though :p
 
The 535i E34 does have 95 Nm of torque more than the 320i E46 (305 compared to 210) and I'm a "sedate" driver so I don't rub the tread down that much. ;)
 
8 year old euro winters in Finland. What could possibly go wrong.. :p

That said, I was thinking of sourcing some proper winter tyres for the trip, for travelers from the south. We'll see how that goes..
 
Yeah, I was kinda hoping I could borrow some proper winter wheels for the weekend next year...
 
Eye-Q said:
The 535i E34 does have 95 Nm of torque more than the 320i E46 (305 compared to 210) and I'm a "sedate" driver so I don't rub the tread down that much. ;)
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Its nothing to do with the tread, mine were okay - the rubber gets hard over time giving them a useful life of 5 years. Although with German winters you can get away with it :p
 
Storing them properly when not in use helps as well.
 
F***! My car failed T?V on major issues...

  • Rear brakelines corroded, may be salvagable
  • Rear shock absorbers corroded, aren't salvagable
  • US-DRLs verboten :mad:
  • The rims of my winter wheels aren't registered on my vehicle, only on the previous one which was identical. I have a certificate that the rims are tested, but for whatever reaon in Germany you additionally have to register it on your vehicle... :roll:
  • Since the winter tires have a lower speed index than the top speed of the car I have to have a sticker in the instrument cluster to remind me of the max speed I am allowed to drive with those tires :roll:
  • The front flexible disc of the prop shaft is damaged

Since I already repaired the suspension of the rear differential for 400 Euros (100 Euros for the suspension bushing itself, shaft seals which were leaking as well and oil plus 300 Euros labor :roll: ) I will repair those issues so I can continue using the car for two years, but I will receive an offer from the garage which did the suspension of the rear differential. Maybe I'll fix some of the issues myself, but let's see what they want for that.
 
Eye-Q said:
F***! My car failed T?V on major issues...

  • The rims of my winter wheels aren't registered on my vehicle, only on the previous one which was identical. I have a certificate that the rims are tested, but for whatever reaon in Germany you additionally have to register it on your vehicle... :roll:
  • Since the winter tires have a lower speed index than the top speed of the car I have to have a sticker in the instrument cluster to remind me of the max speed I am allowed to drive with those tires :roll:
Click to expand...


WTF? You can't change your wheels? Germany really needs a SEMA because that's absolutely ridiculous. I thought the states were bad but no way I'd put up with that. I'd defect in a heartbeat.
 
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