BMW E46 Trunk Lid Grip Fix ( 323 / 328 / 325 / 330 )
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I just wrote this DIY tonight. I'll try to make it better when I get a chance. Full photos at the very bottom for now, just click the thumbnails.



Items you need:
T-20 Torx to remove the 4 screws
JB Weld WaterWeld This is what does all the magic work and it was the only JB Weld that specifically adheres to plastic. I'm sure you could use other products but this was great to work with.


Possible replacement parts: 51127046911 - (4 Expanding Nuts) These replace the old ones that are on the back of your trunk. My old ones were white, these are black. I would replace these, as they are around $0.48 each. I ordered a extras especially at $.048 each
51138236268 - (1 Plate) Replacement plastic button to open your trunk. Mine probably didn't need replacing but I had the part and why not. Price is around $2.50 or so.
51138244713 - (1 Gasket, trunk lid grip) I needed this as my old gasket was thrashed. This is the most expensive part $11.40 ish. Keeps your trunk lid grip tight to the trunk to keep out water and give it a very tight fit.

* I would reuse your screws. I ordered replacements but they were shorter than the original. Maybe I got the wrong parts but the original screws should be fine.



All you need to do is remove the 4 screws which requires a a T-20 Torx.

Pull it down and then pull out the wiring which is tucked up under your trunk. Remove the wire simply by pulling it apart where it connects.

Once you have that done take some P80 grit sand paper and scuff up the holes on the trunk grip where the screws go. It's hard to get in there and do a good job, but I made due with my finger along with some duct tape on a small screw driver and then folded the sand paper around it. Just rough everything up really good inside and on the outside that goes against the trunk. Clean off all debris when you are done and any lose plastic that might be hanging. Remove the gasket if it was thrashed like mine was at this time also.

If you are lucky enough to have a hole that was not broken, take a screw and put it in the hole and see how much thread you should have showing on the backside. Use this as your guide when you get to the next step of using the JB Weld WaterWeld.

Ok, now comes the fun part with the JB Weld WaterWeld. It comes in a tube with a white outer layer and a darker inner layer. Take 1/5 of an inch or so pinch or slice some off with a knife etc. Don't get too much or your screws won't be long enough to screw into the expanding nut. You then roll it in a ball until it's one uniform color with no streak. This normally takes about 20-30 seconds. You then have about a minute give or take to shape the WaterWeld product. Take it and push it in from the side that goes up against the trunk and start to flatten it out. Less is better, remember so don't mess up. I took a small screw driver and poked through the material. Then I took the screw and started to screw it in. By this time the material is about 65-80% hardened. After you have it shaped the way you want it, take a flat had screw driver, or you tool of choice and start to carve away the excess WaterWeld material. In the previous step you know how much thread should be sticking out the backside. So work quickly and you can carve out putty you don't need. After a few minutes that stuff is really hard to work with, so be quick or else you'll be drilling out the putty and starting again. LOL

This part takes the longest for 2 reasons. One, the process just takes awhile and two I wanted to make sure it was going to hold well to the plastic and I wanted to do a good job.

FYI, I also reinforced the only hole which still had the plastic left on it. It was going to break pretty soon, so just make sure you do all 4 holes.

After that, clean off all the putty which by now is probably all over the place to include the trunk grip as you have carved a lot of it away.

Once you've cleaned it up, proceed to put on the gasket if you need it. Peel and stick it on, this takes a minute or two. After that, remove the old expanding nuts if you decided to replace them. I simply used a flat head screwdriver and just broke some of the edges off then inserted the screwdriver into the hole and pushed in the old expanding nuts. This took a few minutes at most.

You are almost done. Reconnect the wiring and get ready to screw in your trunk grip. After I messed around and had some trouble getting all 4 screws to line up I figured out that you should screw in your 2 inner screws and then the outta screws. Depending on your car it might be different.

Hand tighten the T-20 torx screws down. The JB Weld WaterWater says in 20 minutes that it is harder than steel. I was able to hand tighten the trunk lid grip pretty damn tight. If anything was going to break it would of been the plastic expanding nuts, so I just tightened each one as much as I thought they should be.

That's it you are done. Now my trunk lid grip is snug up to my trunk and it is no longer looking like my car is falling apart.

BMW Trunk Lid Grip Fix

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