rocker panels and paint

[new2bmw]

hey everyone. I need a little info. 1989 325i was wondering how you go about removing old rocker panels and installing the new ones? where to cut etc. also was wondering what are the benefits/downfalls of painting your car while apart as to when it is assembled. thanks for your help guys.

[namsayin]

are you rocker panels rusted out or something?

[der affe]

first off, where are you getting the replacement panels? dealer? aftermarket? wrecker?
how bad are yours? rusted? crushed?
are you wanting to patch yours or replace the panels?
pics would help a lot too.

you will need to drill out spot welds to start with.
as far as where to cut, that will be dictated by what you are using as replacement parts. most of the time if you are using replacement panels you just seperate it where the new panel ends.

painting stuff off of the car will depend on the colour. if it is single stage non metalic you can paint them off the car depending on what part it is. if you are good, it can turn out ok.
if it is a metalic don't even try it. you will need to "blend" the adjoining panels to make it look right.

[travis816]

first off, where are you getting the replacement panels? dealer? aftermarket? wrecker?
how bad are yours? rusted? crushed?
are you wanting to patch yours or replace the panels?
pics would help a lot too.

you will need to drill out spot welds to start with.
as far as where to cut, that will be dictated by what you are using as replacement parts. most of the time if you are using replacement panels you just seperate it where the new panel ends.

painting stuff off of the car will depend on the colour. if it is single stage non metalic you can paint them off the car depending on what part it is. if you are good, it can turn out ok.
if it is a metalic don't even try it. you will need to "blend" the adjoining panels to make it look right.

brings up good points. any matalic or even singel stages can come out a little differently shaded. end of story paint it all together.

[jflower]

This is a very large picture of a complete rocker installed.

If you buy it from the dealer it will look like this, and you'll have to pull the rear quarter panel off to get it on correctly. That fact leads me to tell you that if you are trying to replace the whole rocker, leave it to a body shop so they can make sure it's all straight. If you're patching or sectioning a little bit of rust out - der affe has it right.

[FredK]

Wow. That is a seriously disassembled E30.

[jflower]

Wow. That is a seriously disassembled E30.

was. ;) ... almost running now. you should come help me fire it up.

Another very large shot of said disassembled e30. showing what the car would look like if the OP would take the rear quarter off to install the rocker.

[der affe]

i am an auto body tech, here is the deal. you could just section in the portion that is exposed and leave the overlapping sections alone. you have to be a very good welder to make it turn out right though. otherwise you could peel back the top layers of the front and rear qtr panels after you drill out the spotwelds, then fit and hammer down the top sheet metal again, fix what ever damage you caused, then paint it.

if you section it, there are going to be spots where you have only a thin piece of sheet metal you are butt welding. if you don't know what you are doing, you will do more harm than good and end up making more work for yourself.

basically, if you are doing it for the first time, are not a good welder with SHEETMETAL, or have little to no body work experence, don't be a dumb ass and dive in, leave it to a body shop to do.

[FredK]

was. ;) ... almost running now. you should come help me fire it up.

Another very large shot of said disassembled e30. showing what the car would look like if the OP would take the rear quarter off to install the rocker.

:shock:

That project is nuts! I knew you were rebuilding that car... but I didn't realize it was to that extent! Drop me a line, I'd love to see the beast fire up!