E46 URO brand window regulators: THUMBS UP.

Great success today installing new front window regulators on my E46 Sedan. My front-driver window regulator popped the rear clip (closest to the B-pillar) and the window was cocked and basically inoperable. The passenger side clip was also busted but the window had not popped off the track.

All went VERY smooth and each side took about an hour taking my time and greasing the motor and tracks with lithium grease. Both front windows operate extremely quietly and smoothly--and quickly.

If you've got side windows that ROLL UP SLOWLY, here's why:

The clip that fails IS the rear clip closest to the B-pillar. Both front clips were perfectly fine. Since this rear clip breaks, your MOTOR (which is separate from the regulator) is lifting the window on ONE side so the OTHER side of the window is binding in the track. With a properly functioning regulator, the motor lifts BOTH sides of the window equally. Maybe some of you know this, maybe not. But I just wanted to put it out there.

A broken regulator will allow the window to roll down quickly but roll up slowly. The reason is because the piece of the plastic clip that holds the wire and carries the window upward breaks off.


The first photo is the OE (original) UNBROKEN driver's side clip closest to the front of the car--the clip that DOES NOT fail. Thats how it looks when its holding that little barrel. the second photo is a shot of the rear clip, or where it should be--the one closest to the B-pillar. This is the one that fails on BOTH driver and passenger side regulators.

The last two photos are the new URO regulator. I bought them from bmaparts.com. As you can see, I installed zipties to reinforce the clips. Hopefully they do more good than harm. They didn't seem to misalign anything so I think it'll help. The regulators were $65 each. I'd recommend calling them and ordering it because for some reason they took them off of their website.


If anyone is interested in the OE regulators, PM me. They're in great shape and can be fixed for $10 a side with new clips from ebay. The wires arent frayed or anything.

Good writeup! I have this problem on the passenger window of my E36 M3. So you're basically saying that if I replace the broken clip (its obvious this is the problem) then the window should work fine again?

How is the experience so far with these regulators? I ordered one for each front door.

Still great! They still operate very smoothly and silently.

Originally Posted by AfghanScarface

Good writeup! I have this problem on the passenger window of my E36 M3. So you're basically saying that if I replace the broken clip (its obvious this is the problem) then the window should work fine again?

I'm not sure how the E36 regulators work, but if they're anything like the E46, yes the clips are what help the window move.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

I'm not sure how the E36 regulators work, but if they're anything like the E46, yes the clips are what help the window move.

E46 regulators are garbage. A cheaper alternative to replacing the regulator is to take the broken clip and use a soldering iron to melt the plastic back. Then take some solder and fuse the sh!t out of the ball so you have a mix of plastic and solder holding the clip together. It works quite well; better than the zip tie method (which was my inspiration to try soldering it).

And in regards to E46Mango, the E46 has cable regulators as you know. The E36 has a more typical lifter arm with a large rack gear on it. It has slider bushings that move around in what looks like a specially fabricated piece of Unistrut. They fail too, but in my opinion the E36 regulators are inherently a better design. I've wasted too much time with both

Originally Posted by AfghanScarface

Good writeup! I have this problem on the passenger window of my E36 M3. So you're basically saying that if I replace the broken clip (its obvious this is the problem) then the window should work fine again?

With your regulator, you won't have problems with a vertical slider like we have with the E46. You will have a couple dirty white bushings that slide horizontally with a linkage mechanism to lift your window. Those bushings wear down over time and the whole mechanism gets wobbly and can/will fail. The bushings are cheaply available on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-W...Q5fAccessories

Depending on the year of the M3, whether it's a sedan or convertible, etc may depend on how hard it is to get the regulator out, but rebuilding it is a pretty common sense process. Let me know if you have any issues, but those bushings and about an hour of your time should make your window work like brand new.

I replaced my original regulator with URO and everything is working smoothly. I had to use little force to get the regulator screws in on the motor side as allignment was slightly off. But once they were in no problems. What was nice about the regulator that it was lowered to the correct height out of the box so when you put it in the door it lined up perfectly with the window mounting tabs once you lowered the window to attach it back to the regulator. The window operation is quiet and fast as original and the window rolls all the way up and down as before. I read that some people's window does not go all the way up when they replace a regulator. Not in this case. Maybe I got lucky. Overall I would say this is an easy job and the worst part of the DIY is peeling the vapor barrier. Per TIS I lowered my window so 5.5" (140mm) is visible. At that height the mounting window screws are accessible.

Nice pics.
Good review.

Update for anyone interested, regulators are still operating perfectly. And I roll the front windows down/up a lot.

Excellent. A real review. I know exactly what I'll be purchasing when my zip-tie fix fails.

Thanks for the update! Picking up some UROs as I had THREE ****ING REGULATORS fail in one day.

THREE )#*%&@#_%&*@)#u{jtwt#t@#