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DIY: Convertible Top Interior Trim Flap Repair

215K views 38 replies 41 participants last post by  cs33988 
#1 · (Edited)
Purpose
The purpose of this Do It Yourself (DIY) thread is simple: save other E46 BMW Convertible owners money by repairing a fairly common (and fairly easy to repair) issue personally. More generally, it is my intent that other E46 BMW owners may benefit from my experience with this issue.

Background
My wife and I purchased our 2001 BMW 330ci Convertible (sport/premium/HID) in July 2007. At some point approximately 3 months after owning the vehicle, we noticed that the rear passenger's side flap of interior trim had freed itself from the plastic trim piece that holds it flush to the top when it's up. This area of the vehicle, in a coupe/sedan, could be described as the vehicle's passenger's side C pillar. Unfortunately, we have no idea what caused it to break free.

Issue
You will notice the top of the plastic piece is broken. This plastic piece normally extends approximately another 2-3" upwards (see picture of new piece in following section) and has on it another attachment string. Somehow, this string was pulled off of the plastic piece forcefully.

Please note that the holes in the fabric were caused by this sharp-edged plastic piece poking through when the top was put up and down a few times before repair. If you experience this issue, do not put your top up or down until you repair it or your interior will likely suffer the same fate.

Before I embarked on my repair, I made sure to get a quote from a local trim shop that the local BMW dealer recommends. The quoted cost of repair was $367.00, not including the BMW parts! I was shocked. Although I have never owned a convertible before this vehicle, I saw the damage as minor and nowhere near $374.00 worth of labor. Boy was I right! That quote is nothing short of highway robbery. With that, on to the repair.

Materials Needed
The materials for this repair are impressively low. Here is everything you will need for the ENTIRE repair:
  • BMW Part No. 54-31-7-135-351 - $128.40 (www.getbmwparts.com)
  • VERY SHORT Torx T20 screwdriver - $3.99 (Sears)
  • Short Phillip's Head screwdriver - $3.99 (Sears)
  • Multipurpose/Multisurface Fabric Adhesive - $3.99 (Michael's)
That's it. That's a total of $140.37, if you have to buy each of these things.

Now, take into account that the trim shop's quote did not include parts. This means that they would have charged me approximately $495.40 to repair this issue. So, by doing this yourself, you can save in the neighborhood of $355.03! I call that worth it, especially considering the relatively small degree of skill required!

Steps
The most difficult part of this entire repair process was jockeying the top around to allow access to the innards of the passenger's side convertible top. I was in the back seat for some of the repair, on the outside of the car for some of the repair and in the passenger's seat for some of the repair. As long as you can accept this upfront, you will have no problems with the repair. For most of the repair, the top was about half-way up/down. One other note: do not attempt this repair without adequate light.

I estimate most people will be able to complete this in about the same time it took me: ~2 hours. Having done it once already, I am positive that I could now do it in less than 1 hour. Part of the reason it took me so long was because I hooked the assembly up backwards on the first try. On the second try, I did not thread the strings appropriately. Third time was a charm! Plus, I was taking pictures and mental notes through the process so I would be able to write this DIY article.

Now, let's get our hands dirty.
  1. Open the BMW parts box you received from www.getbmwparts.com:
  2. Inside, you will find two triangular-shaped plastic pieces with strings attached to the rear. There will also be a covered strip of adhesive on the inner side of each plastic piece. One of these is for the passenger's side and one is for the driver's side.
  3. Take the pieces out of the box and determine which piece is for which side. The strings will point towards the rear of the vehicle and the adhesive strip will always be closest to the center of the vehicle. Grab whichever piece is needed and place the other one back in the box.
  4. Put the top in a half-open, half-closed position.
  5. For reference, examine the non-damaged side of the convertible top with it half-way down (this allows the flap to hang loose from the convertible top frame). This was extremely helpful for me. Please remember that you will be reversing the way it is hooked up on the non-damaged side. Note the 3 string attachment points on the plastic flap.
  6. The single top string goes through 1 hoop, then is screwed into the convertible top; the connected string piece with the spring goes through 2 hoops, is screwed into the rear plate of the top with the spring retainer, then goes through 1 additional hoop before reattaching to the plastic flap.
  7. For me, the first thing was to remove the broken top-most string connection point. This is done with the Torx T20 screw driver.
  8. Remove the various connection points for the bottom string loop. In the following picture you can see the 3 connection points for the loop. Now you understand why I said you need a VERY SHORT Torx T20 screwdriver. I have decently large hands and this was some tight maneuvering.
  9. Remove the nylon loop that supports the bottom string loop. For me, this took QUITE a lot of torque to do.
  10. After removing the 3 connection points on the metal frame and the nylon loop, you will only have that plastic piece connected by the rear spring retainer on the top's passenger's side rear plate. Once you have removed the rear spring retainer, you can remove the plastic piece from the vehicle entirely.
  11. Place the new plastic flap's spring retainer over the hole in the rear top plate and screw it in.
  12. Place the top part of the plastic piece in the pocket in the fabric and pull the top string through the hole.
  13. Place the top part of the string loop inside the detached nylon loop and reconnect it to the metal frame.
  14. Reconnect each of the hoops to the metal top frame (NOTE: This should cause the spring retainer to be put under slight tension).
  15. Thread the top string through the connection point on the metal top frame and reconnect it at its original location. After this step, you should be looking at a fully connected plastic flap. I closed the top slowly to ensure I had it hooked up correctly and that it sat flush against the frame when the top closed.
  16. Remove the adhesive strip on the plastic flap. Place the fabric on the adhesive strip to hold it in place temporarily while you glue. Make sure to line up the edges of the fabric with the ridge on the rear of the flap as shown in this picture:
  17. Use the fabric adhesive sparingly to attach the fabric to the plastic along the ridge on the rear of the plastic flap. The corner of the fabric is cut so that it will fit the round corner of the plastic flap perfectly. Take your time with this step as this will determine how perfect the fabric will look when the top is up. After the adhesive is applied and the fabric is aligned with the plastic ridge on the plastic flap, let it sit without completely closing the top for 30 minutes.
  18. Close the top completely. Crack the windows and let the vehicle sit open for approximately 6 hours, making sure that it is well-ventilated. The fabric adhesive is very smelly and we don't want that smell in our interior. Do not open the top for at least 24 hours. It should look like this now!
  19. After 24 hours dry time, put the top up and down at least once. Verify that the piece sits flush against the metal frame and the fabric looks perfect. That's it! You're done. You just did about $500 worth of work for $140!! Take the wife to dinner to celebrate.
Annoyances During Repair
Here's a brief listing of the annoyances I encountered during this repair.
  1. Jockeying the top position numerous times.
  2. Moving to different positions in/out of the vehicle to gain access to various parts of the metal top frame.
  3. Convertible top hydraulics sank at one point and got top stuck on two plastic pieces jutting out from top compartment cover; fixed by gently pulling back on the convertible top compartment and pulling up on the bottom part of the top, while wife pushed top-down button.
  4. Hooking up connection points for string loop incorrectly.
  5. Not threading string loop piece through nylon loop.
Conclusion
All in all, this repair was rather uneventful. If this repair is approached with patience, it can be done by just about anyone. I sincerely hope that this article helps others out in the future. Best regards!
 
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#4 ·
just ordered this kit lets see how this goes! oh and yes i do have some tears in my headliner due to the fact those plastic pieces kept poking through since they were out of position.... going to have to use black needle and thread to make it look okay...wtf bmw designing these pieces...
 
#5 · (Edited)
This just happened to me, and also on the passenger side. Do you have any idea why it broke the tab off in the first place? Does the string just get caught on something and snap? I want to fix the cause so I don't break the replacement.

Does the plastic part in the kit replace the existing piece, or is it just glued underneath? The existing piece was damaged, so I wanted to check. There is a photo in my post here...

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=763904
 
#8 ·
The string broke on one of my batwings tonight. Looks like this isn't the first time either as the string was tied on the batwing instead of having the metal stoppers attached. It looks like the break occurred at the spring. I bet the plastic spring cover rubbed and wore through the string.

Off to a marine store to find "whipping twine" tomorrow as there's no way I'm paying some stupid BMW price for a string repair kit.
 
#10 ·
If your lines (strings) are good shape, you can make your own plastic bat wing. I couldn't justify the price at the time, so I used my broken one as a template, and purchased some flat pvc around the same thickness. Then just traced the shape of the old one, and used my dremmel to cut it out. Drilled the holes, and made a few line clips that hold the strings into the plastic out of finishing nails (from nail gun). All done. Then its just a matter of glueing it back into the flap with contact cement.
If your flap material is swiss cheese, like mine, nows the time to get some matching material, and cut to fit so that it wraps the flap, and agian glue using contact cement.
Clost me $20 plus time.
Just another option. Sorry, no pics, and I have since sold the car. Went back to my coupe.
 
#11 ·
Great Thread

I noticed the driver's side flap was displaced on my 2003 330Ci. I had it in for regular service and asked the dealer if they could repair it. They told me that the inside liner had to be replaced - over $3,000. That seemed so far fetched that I did a little searching and found this great thread. I ordered the repair kit, per the original poster's recommendation. And, hope to have it fixed this weekend to take advantage of the good weather. Thanks for being so thoughtful for posting your findings.
 
#12 ·
I did mine today, taking me about 1.5 hours to do one side. While fixing the passenger side, I noticed the driver's side was also broken so I'll tackle that tomorrow. It was pretty simple with the hardest part being just fitting my hands where the needed to go. My only real mistake was leaving the car aux on with the top open and radio on. I have a power top so my battery eventually went kaput and the top started to collapse into the boot while my right hand was inside it. Fortunately I was able to grab the top with my left hand to prevent it from crushing my other hand. After that, I decided to manually lift up the back window portion of the top, lower the boot cover and then lower the rear window portion back to the closed position, leaving the front portion of the top half open. It stayed open without collapsing for the remainder of the repair so this is how I'll do it when I fix the other side.
 
#14 ·
Very nice write up! I didn't need the plastic, only the string, and wasn't going to pay $100+ for a short piece of string. So I found 100ft of 550lb tensile strength nylon parachute cord on amazon for $5. It ain't gonna break any time soon :D, and I had plenty left over for other projects. This cord is amazing.
 
#15 ·
An easier way of removing the nylon loop is with the top all the way up. You can install the flap without going through the loop (don't glue it to the headliner yet) and carefully put the top up completely making sure nothing catches. Pull back the headliner and you have pretty good access to the screw. I used a short torx bit (T-20) with a ratcheting wrench. Unhook loop, pull around the inside string and attach loop. While doing this I noticed I had the upper string on the wrong side of that metal piece. Both sides of mine have been broken and re-strung with only one string so figuring out the correct pattern took a little more effort. This write up was a great help. To answer one other question I saw on here, to get the old glued in flap pieces out, I just took it slow, peeling and helping the fabric loose. It seems like its gonna tear but it came out pretty good.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I want to add my thanks to Meansartin14 for posting the details on this repair, as well as a couple of hints for others. First, it is certainly true that there is limited room to work with a screwdriver for removing the hooks. I found that this little tool from Eastwood made the job very easy (http://www.eastwood.com/bit-ratchet-set-29-piece-eastwood.html?reltype=3), It even has the correct torx bit.

Second, in my case, the plastic piece was fine, it was only the string that had broken. I bought 10' of 1/8" black paracord for a couple of bucks on Amazon (this should be it according my Amazon purchase history, but I don't see Black there anymore: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KXELZPC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and a couple of 1/8" aluminum crimp-on stops for wire cable. (I had to drill the holes in the stops to 3/16" to get the rope to thread through them.)

So, after removing all of the hooks I reinstalled them and simply ran the new cord around and thru, following the path of the cord from the other side. (In all honesty, I probably couldn't have done it if my wife hadn't been the one 'reading' the path for me.) I crimped the stop on one end (with a knot in the cord for safety) and pulled the other end until it felt as taught as the good side. I crimped and knotted that end and was done. That was about a month ago and so far, everything is working perfectly and holding up just fine. All for about $5! My thanks to Meansartin14 and E46 Fanatics!

Jim
 
#22 ·
Hi All,
So I recognize this is an old thread but I had to comment on how helpful it was. I've recently purchased my first BMW - an '04 325Ci and when I got it there were a few cosmetic things that needed to be repaired and the driver's side rear headliner was one of them. But for $9,000 and with only 70k miles, I figured how could I go wrong. So I started to research the headliner and first stopped at my local convertible top repair shop who said, "oh we don't work on them German cars, you probably have to replace that whole headliner". UGH! I live in rural Florida - you get that. More research. Quickly, I determined this was a common fault and ordered the parts. More research on how to make the repair and found this string. While I did not follow it precisely, it gave me the confidence to do the repair, so for that I thank you all!

I completed the repair today and it took some patience, but really only took about an hour and a half. I used Locktite Superglue, and per one suggestion picked up a cheap small ratchet set. Worked great. Best of all - really feel I accomplished something! Thanks.
 
#23 ·
Good morning,
I was able to put my top down before fixing the wing so as long as everything else is working with the top mechanisms it should be fine. You may just want to make sure the sides of the headliner don't bind up as the top folds while closing the first time. Close it with the key fob the first time so you can watch how the headliner folds up to prevent tearing the headliner.

I'm a few months into my first BMW as well - also a 325Ci. LOVE...IT. But, there is a learning curve. Read up and find yourself a good shop that specialized in European cars. With care your car will bring joy a long, long time. Good luck.
 
#24 ·

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#30 ·
I just did this project tonight. I did the first side using this DIY and it was great. For the other side, I tried a different process that actually saved me quite a bit of time. On the lower string that connects to the batwing twice, I used a screwdriver to open and remove the metal crimp on the lower end of the string. I then removed the loops and spring from the new kit, and just threaded the string through the loops and spring that are currently in the car. I then fed the string through the batwing and crimped the metal end. This went very quickly and saved a lot of time. Thanks to everyone on this thread who took the time to post their guidance, it saved my a ton of time! Both my batwings had broken so I couldn't use either side as a model for the routing :)
 
#31 ·
This was a great post by meansartin14. I have replaced both bat wings now and both took me around 2 hours each, the hardest part was moving the top to different positions to gain access to the screws as mentioned by meansartin14. it was very helpful to have another person moving the top to get the best position to fit the screws back into place. I also used a piece of wood to hold the lid up as a safety measure.

I did not need a Phillips screwdriver as all the screws removed were torx T20.
 
#34 ·
I just finished this repair today. All went well and everything looks and works the way it should. I will note one thing though. When removing and installing the spring retainer. Position your top so that it's sitting down flat on the tonneau cover. This way gives alot easier access to the Phillips screw on the retainer. Also this gives easy access to a screw that is low on the outer frame.
 
#35 · (Edited)
I hope to God someone reads my post before you start this job. The DIY is way, way, way too involved. And totally unnecessary. It is an extremely difficult job to do unless you do it my way. Under no circumstances do you want to start unscrewing these fittings. It is a nightmare. Simply get a pair of vice grips and squeeze the lead slugs on one end of each string to set free the string.

Use hemostats if necessary and thread the string through the original existing fittings. You may have to use a lighter to take the strings to a point. Thread string back through the open lead Slug and squeeze it shut. Job done.

It will take you literally one-tenth of the time to do it my way. The rest of the directions in the DIY are fine. I did not use any ordinary fabric glue. I used high strength Loctite brand flexible glue. I bought some ordinary fabric glue and did a test area and thought it was extremely weak and would fail over time. Loctite brand glue seems to be a much more permanent solution. Very strong!
Amazon.com
 
#38 ·
Great thread...one comment...if just fixing one side, look at the other side.

I had the little cable/rope/thread break and decided to replace it myself. Unfortunately all I could find in the right/near size nylon rope was a florescent lime green chalking twine. It was very nice and worked well, I just followed the same routing as the one on the other side of the top.
The bright lime green is only visible during top operation; invisible with the top up.
I also know which side I repaired when/if I have to do the other OEM side...
 
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