Iron

he most difficult and surprising part with the big rust-through space was the drivers side of a sunroof (photo 1).

In a front part of the sunroof on corners there're drains. If they are not inspected for a long time, the water stays in the sunroof and starts to damage metal. But in this case the part has been rusted from the opposite side. It is a very mystic thing. Damage originated exactly at a place of factory welding of two parts of a body (a photo 2). Probably, it is a factory defect.

A front left fender was also strongly damaged (photo 3, 4, 10). It turned to a dust in places of fastening. But the passenger side fender, despite of obvious mechanical damages, was actually in a condition of a new one.

Very bad

Different cars and models have their known weak places. The right back arch is the one of E24 well known problems. With this car it appeared to be unexpectedly fresh one.

By the way, my fears to lose the back window lift mechanism were not confirmed — it is in completely working condition.

Another E24 weak point are doors. The worn driver's and passenger doors hinges trade places as a rule before sale exchange. But it solves a problem only for a while. On the one hand, it is possible to order a new hinge (#41511865829) which costs approximately 80 USD. But on the other hand, there is a way simply to replace the old rod with another self-made one, having drilled it from a hinge.

The bottom part of doors also was in a very bad condition. The driver's door from below has been completely destroyed, though it was almost not noticeable from outside. Water gets inside of a door from glass and, accumulating inside of a door, very quickly spoils iron.

The boot lid was like new. Though in places of fastening of hinges the body usually decays because of shrinked lid seal.

Taillights is the next headache of 6-Series cars owners. The thin rubber seals often becomes shrinked. It leads to condensate getting between it and a body. The result was the rotted part body at the left side pulled off together with the right taillight when it was to be removed. It was the real surprise when the left taillight assembly and the bordering area have been found in a perfect condition.

Leaky adjoining windshield sealant has led to the small rust area on a body from the driver side.

At the bottom

As a whole, the condition of the bottom part of the car was quite good. But nevertheless, the weak place of E24 body is the part where the exhaust pipes pass. It is located at a passenger side, closer to a gear tunnel. In this place pipes are very strongly heated because of exhaust and the temperature differences which destroys metal very quickly. This car was not an exception (a photo 9).

The bottom in a trunk was quite good though frequently there are rust problems here because of water in a spare wheel box. It stays there because of a bad sealant of a trunk lid.