[Davey303]

Hey Friends,

Figured I would do a little due-diligence on this issue that I've been having of my door trim literally falling/breaking off the car on a monthly bases. The car has 45k on it, and service records shows that it has been in 8 times to have the door trim replaced/reinstalled.

Just recently I had it repaired and 4 days later 3 of the 4 fell off. We haven't been able to figure out what the cause of it is, yet. The car is garaged, the doors are closed gently, etc. It appears that the plastic pieces that hold the "bolt/dick/screw" into the door are what keep failing.

Anyone else have the same issue or words of advice for me? My dealer is baffled by the issue and they have only seen the car twice for it, where the previous owner had it at a different dealer and they saw it six times (in 35k miles).


Here's a few pics of what I'm talking about.






Thank you!

[rohitsja]

wow, that's really weird !! never knew this could even happen !!!

[Davey303]

Originally Posted by rohitsja

wow, that's really weird !! never knew this could even happen !!!

Me either...and it wont stop happening, haha.

[Taran.J]

Have dealer replace door cards and trim assuming your still under warranty. That's weird as shit. Usually the plastic clips start to just break after 8ish years when trim starts to rattle but never have I seen it happen like this

[PureE92]

[QUOTE=Davey303;16693654]Hey Friends,

Figured I would do a little due-diligence on this issue that I've been having of my door trim literally falling/breaking off the car on a monthly bases. The car has 45k on it, and service records shows that it has been in 8 times to have the door trim replaced/reinstalled.

Just recently I had it repaired and 4 days later 3 of the 4 fell off. We haven't been able to figure out what the cause of it is, yet. The car is garaged, the doors are closed gently, etc. It appears that the plastic pieces that hold the "bolt/dick/screw" into the door are what keep failing.

Anyone else have the same issue or words of advice for me? My dealer is baffled by the issue and they have only seen the car twice for it, where the previous owner had it at a different dealer and they saw it six times (in 35k miles).


Lol OP i got some bad news brodee. That might be a lemon legit. Plus wait until you leave your car in the heat and the door handle on the passenger side starts melting lmao. Or your driver door picks up some random scratches and scuffs.

[BMWho]

My passenger side door trim completely came off the other day, just as yours. Now, part of the driver side is starting to do the same.

[DOMs335D]

never heard of a problem like that

[Davey303]

Originally Posted by Taran.J

Have dealer replace door cards and trim assuming your still under warranty. That's weird as shit. Usually the plastic clips start to just break after 8ish years when trim starts to rattle but never have I seen it happen like this

That's kind of what I'm aiming for next, but it's a coupe and the door skins/cards are like $1,400 each. It'll be a long uphill battle, more so as I'm not the original owner of the car.


[QUOTE=PureE92;16693991]

Originally Posted by Davey303

Hey Friends,

Figured I would do a little due-diligence on this issue that I've been having of my door trim literally falling/breaking off the car on a monthly bases. The car has 45k on it, and service records shows that it has been in 8 times to have the door trim replaced/reinstalled.

Just recently I had it repaired and 4 days later 3 of the 4 fell off. We haven't been able to figure out what the cause of it is, yet. The car is garaged, the doors are closed gently, etc. It appears that the plastic pieces that hold the "bolt/dick/screw" into the door are what keep failing.

Anyone else have the same issue or words of advice for me? My dealer is baffled by the issue and they have only seen the car twice for it, where the previous owner had it at a different dealer and they saw it six times (in 35k miles).


Lol OP i got some bad news brodee. That might be a lemon legit. Plus wait until you leave your car in the heat and the door handle on the passenger side starts melting lmao. Or your driver door picks up some random scratches and scuffs.

I've had that thought, too. But I only have 4,500 miles left under OEM warranty so I'm not too excited about waiting, ha.

Originally Posted by BMWho

My passenger side door trim completely came off the other day, just as yours. Now, part of the driver side is starting to do the same.

It makes the car look super tacky without them. Plus, there's always the concern they will fall off when you're closing the door and the trim piece will get caught/break in half. Or maybe that's just me being too much of a worry-wort.

Originally Posted by DOMs335D

never heard of a problem like that

That seems to be the general consensus, anyways. The dealer hasn't seen any cars come in with these issues either or at least not with a "newer" car.

I'm just stumped.

[parabola]

Superglue.

[Davey303]

Originally Posted by parabola

Superglue.

Maybe once I'm out of warranty I'll entertain that idea more, lol. I've questioned doing it now but I'd rather know if anyone else has had issues and if they had an outcome from it.

[Denton]

What does you not being the original owner have anything to do with anything? It's under warranty and after that expires in 5k hope you're good with buying new door panels.

[X_Drive]

Just order an entire set of female retainers and install them in the door panel before you install the trim with the "dick," retainers.

The issue is that the white female retainers break pretty easily. After that they just don't hold well. This usually happens when the trim is removed and both the retainers come off the door panel. Then the tech/person either tries to remove the female retainers by prying them off and breaks them or cracks them. Or they try to caveman the trim back on with both female retainer still on the trim.

The correct way is to replace the female retainers if they have been compromised in anyway. Also, to correctly re-install trim the female retainers, they have to be installed in the door panel first then the trim w/the male retainers.

If you do not do this then there is a high likely hood that you will have a floppy trim piece that always falls face first on to really rough surfaces.

[NGEE]

Originally Posted by X_Drive

the "dick," retainers.

lol!

OP, I don't know what it is you're holding in your hand in the first photo. I've had my door trim off and back on 12 times, and I've never seen anything like that.

[hockeyplayer]

Originally Posted by parabola

Superglue.

Maybe not a good idea since you have to remove the trim piece to get the door panel off.

[David3]

I agree, all the plastic clips (BMW calls them "hutfix") should be replaced. Most of the time, one or more of the clips break when the trim is removed.

[TittoBlunt]

The exact same thing happened to me about 2 months ago. I replaced all the retainers and reattached. Haven't had an issue with it since. I have a feeling that it's the way I drive that caused it. I typically have my leg leaning on the door as I'm driving and I think that caused the retainers to weaken and break.

[smithf80]

Never heard of this but try new trim and new clips. Used door cards are cheap but I don't see how that could be the issue since the clips are what holds the trim in. they are little blue things.

[doogee]

Whoever is doing the repair doesn't know what they're doing and should definitely replace all the clips.

[Davey303]

Originally Posted by X_Drive

Just order an entire set of female retainers and install them in the door panel before you install the trim with the "dick," retainers.

The issue is that the white female retainers break pretty easily. After that they just don't hold well. This usually happens when the trim is removed and both the retainers come off the door panel. Then the tech/person either tries to remove the female retainers by prying them off and breaks them or cracks them. Or they try to caveman the trim back on with both female retainer still on the trim.

The correct way is to replace the female retainers if they have been compromised in anyway. Also, to correctly re-install trim the female retainers, they have to be installed in the door panel first then the trim w/the male retainers.

If you do not do this then there is a high likely hood that you will have a floppy trim piece that always falls face first on to really rough surfaces.

The female pieces have been replaced at least twice, if not more. I don't know if they were replaced when the previous had the car, but I can always look that up.

A tech and the foreman did the work the last time to ensure everything was done correctly, and they took their time in doing so.

Originally Posted by NGEE

lol!

OP, I don't know what it is you're holding in your hand in the first photo. I've had my door trim off and back on 12 times, and I've never seen anything like that.

I'm holding the female connection and the "dick." haha.

Originally Posted by David3

I agree, all the plastic clips (BMW calls them "hutfix") should be replaced. Most of the time, one or more of the clips break when the trim is removed.

Which they have been. The last time they ordered and replaced all 16 (8 on each door) and put new trim pieces on as well. The problem I am seeing is that the female ends are breaking and causing the trim to come off.

Not sure if I implied otherwise, but the trim is falling/breaking off on its own. It hasn't been tampered with, pulled on, etc. It's the connectors failing, from what I can tell. There's a few female ends inside the door and broken tabs on what female pieces I was able to recover.

Originally Posted by doogee

Whoever is doing the repair doesn't know what they're doing and should definitely replace all the clips.

All of the clips have been replaced. The car has been in eight times at two different dealers with at least four techs working on it through out.


I appreciate all of the insight and comments, fellas. It's helpful to know that it's not a common problem (didn't think it was initially, but wasn't sure either) and for the technical language.

[NGEE]

Originally Posted by Davey303

I'm holding the female connection and the "dick." haha.

Ah, I see that now. Wow, I was looking at it totally wrong. Putting it in those terms cleared it right up for me

I notice that the female clip in the separate door pull piece is still holding tight, while the female clips in the door panel have all pulled out. So my theory is you have a defective door panel - the panel slots that hold the female clips are not holding the clips in tightly, likely because they've rounded-out or otherwise enlarged ('prolly due to the trim being removed/replaced so often). So when the female clip (with the *dick* still inside lol) wanders slightly out of it's slot in the door panel, it wouldn't take much downward/upward pressure on the trim to separate that male insert because of the lever effect.

Think you need new door panel(s). If it were me and the car were out of warranty, I'd figure a way to keep those females from wandering lol.

[doogee]

Originally Posted by Davey303

All of the clips have been replaced. The car has been in eight times at two different dealers with at least four techs working on it through out.

If all the clips have been replaced, then someone has broken all four door panels. They need to be replaced. There is not other fix.

This isn't rocket science.

[Davey303]

Originally Posted by NGEE

Ah, I see that now. Wow, I was looking at it totally wrong. Putting it in those terms cleared it right up for me

I notice that the female clip in the separate door pull piece is still holding tight, while the female clips in the door panel have all pulled out. So my theory is you have a defective door panel - the panel slots that hold the female clips are not holding the clips in tightly, likely because they've rounded-out or otherwise enlarged ('prolly due to the trim being removed/replaced so often). So when the female clip (with the *dick* still inside lol) wanders slightly out of it's slot in the door panel, it wouldn't take much downward/upward pressure on the trim to separate that male insert because of the lever effect.

Think you need new door panel(s). If it were me and the car were out of warranty, I'd figure a way to keep those females from wandering lol.

Haha, you can't get over the whole "dick" thing, can you? It's amazing how many items in the car they refer to as a "dick." If they don't have an obvious name, that's what they call it lol.

Originally Posted by doogee

If all the clips have been replaced, then someone has broken all four door panels. They need to be replaced. There is not other fix.

This isn't rocket science.

Never proclaimed it to be rocket science, so we are good there. The point of this thread was to see if anyone else was in the same boat as me and if they were able to get BMW to warranty the door panels. The car is still under warranty but have put off replacing the door panels for this long, I believe/think/worry it will be a huge PITA. Hence, why I jumped on here to see if anyone had any pointers for dealing with BMW as well as if anyone has had similar issues.

Thankfully (I hope) I have a coupe so I only need to replace two door panels. Though, as you can see in the top pic, the trim from the rear seat has also popped off (has only happened once since I've had the car).


Thanks again for everyones input.