Re: bmw-digest V9 #1100

["John Ward" <jtward@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I think this question has been asked before but I don't remember ever
> seeing an answer.
>
> The inner door panel is starting to bubble up (the vinyl is coming loose
> from door panel).
>
> Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Terry
> '94 325is

Terry, welcome to the club... it seems to be a VERY common problem on early
E36's. My '92 4 door (first year model has both rears and the passenger side
w/minor bubbling. Cost of new panels was $495 for the front door, $120 or so
for the middle inserts in each of the rears. Not cheap to fix. I'm lucky
enough to have a tan interior so you can barely notice the bubbles unless
you're looking for them. I'm still disappointed in the quality of BMW's
interiors. It doesn't seem that they got their act together until around '95
or '96 in the 3 series. The quality of the panels in those cars are VASTLY
superior. The strange thing is you have a 1994. I was under the impression
they were much less prone to the problem than '92-'93 models. When they
added the passenger airbag in '94 models they upgraded some of the plastics,
including the dash and door panels. Perhaps they are just now starting to
age enough to exhibit the same problems. :-( I'm not sure about your car but
mine sits outside and in the summer gets quite hot. I wonder if the panels
coming unglued has to do with the temperature change. I have 127,000 miles
on my car so it has covered some distance but other than the door panels the
interior is almost like new. I would probably just try to deal with the
bubbles rather than spend all that money replacing them but ultimately it's
up to you. This only seems to be a problem in the E36. The E23 and E32's
we've had in our family had MUCH better quality interiors. They were also a
lot more money though. Best of luck!

Regards,

John

1990 750iL
1992 325iA
BMW CCA

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