I noticed that the rubber seal at the leading edge of my tonneau cover has separated from the mounting piece. I'm guessing it is because my tensioners are shot and the top rubs against the tonneau when opening.

Some pics:

Separation
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/bigbillybmw/Broke.jpg

Another view
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/bigbillybmw/Seal.jpg

I'll be replacing these soon, I guess. Looked up the parts/schematic on Realoem (the poor man's ETK). It doesn't look too hard to replace, and the price seemed cheap:

51178205047 and 048 (these are beige - "schwarz" black is 51178205043 and 044, "dunkelgrau" gray is 51178205045 and 046) cost is about $6 each
51478166992 - rivets - need 4, cost $0.21 each.

It's easy. I did it 2 weeks ago. Make sure they don't order the black ones on accident. Inspect the new pieces, one of them had to be reordered because the seal was bad.

You will break the rivets when doing them. Don't use a screwdriver under the main piece to pry them off! A screwdriver won't fit under the rivets, you have to pry from the beige piece to pop them out. Put a rag around the screwdriver or use something plastic or you'll scratch the paint and potentially have rust issues there years down the road.

Thanks for the tip! So would you recommend ordering them from the stealership to avoid hassle with the bad seals?

I also replaced these a few weeks ago. Don't forget to order the rivets too as they break when you remove the old pieces.

Yah, they're so cheap I just ordered them from the stealership. Plus, since one was defective, they just replaced it with no cost to me. I actually had another one that I had already installed go bad (hairline crack made a sliver of the seal come apart) a few days ago and the stealership offered to replace it for me. I'm going today to pick up the replacement. That's two that arrived bad! :P

I replaced mine couple of months back when it was still cold, and last week I was looking at my brand new covers and guess what I saw - exactly the same nasty bites and torn rubber strip on my nice brand new covers :mad

Those damn straps must've been softened by heat.

What's the latest and greatest fix out there for those? Do bungee cords work?

I just reach back and grab (through the dog ears) the bar that's 90 degrees in the air then continue to let the lid go up. No rubbing.

Ya I just reach back and help the top as well. Would like to know the easiest way to fix this as well though, the reaching back is getting old.

Palomino needs to give up his bungee cord fix already! -wink wink nudge nudge-

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

1: check the pics and the marks pointed out.

http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/6099/marksou0.jpg


2: Ok here goes: That is not because of the bouncing top. I have one such a mark on the left side, albeit smaller and it took me while to find out. Don't you ever hear a *clunk* right the moment the storage lid is about to open?

Well...as on most, my window bow didn't reach vertical (slightly off is good too btw) enough. Now when the window bow is raised, stop the process and get out of the car.

Look at the window bow and follow it down near the main pivot point.

*YOU GOT IT* (sorry for the quality, I had to take this in pitch black so I had to aim blind.y)

http://www.idon-industries.com/bimmer/mark.jpg

As you can see, on the end of the window bow is a cilindrical thingy with a screw in it that can be adjusted. All I can think of is some sort of bumpstop. As the roof folds, I believe this "mates" with another part. Hard to tell.
But whatever it does, it's right in line with the leading edges of the lid. So when the lid opens, it grinds on this, making the mark you have.

I had it too and when I found out I just adjusted the lid a bit backward till it just clears this thing when it opens.
This is also critical for the window bow to raise enough, otherwise it will get stuck underneath this little pesky thing.
If that thing wasn't there, the window bow not getting up to vertical would be much less of a matter as the lid would just glide along the bow.

Awesome post!

Mine just rubs against the cloth of the top, though.

Upping this as I think the post I made 2 above this one, can be pretty handy for most.

http://www.idon-industries.com/bimmer/mark.jpg

As you can see, on the end of the window bow is a cilindrical thingy with a screw in it that can be adjusted. All I can think of is some sort of bumpstop. As the roof folds, I believe this "mates" with another part. Hard to tell.
But whatever it does, it's right in line with the leading edges of the lid. So when the lid opens, it grinds on this, making the mark you have.



I watched mine and it rubs against a bow not a cylindrical thing on a bottom. Storage lid touches the bow at about 3-4 inches off the lid level. BTW it only does that after car has been standing for a long time under the direct sun light. This leads me to beleive this is caused by the tie straps softened by heat.
Anyway my rear bow was also hitting a storage lid on it's way down so I just bit a bullet and bought oem tie staps and two storage lid shocks, will replace them over the weekend.

I had it too and when I found out I just adjusted the lid a bit backward till it just clears this thing when it opens.

Thanks for the tip. How did you adjust the lid - and by "lid" do you mean the entire tonneau cover? I didn't think there was enough space to slide the tonneau lid back/rearwards.

No doubt that this is caused by the bow not going vertical enough. I assumed the gauge was caused by rubbing, thanks for pointing out where. I figured fixing the tension straps would resolve this. Is that incorrect?

Anyway my rear bow was also hitting a storage lid on it's way down so I just bit a bullet and bought oem tie staps and two storage lid shocks, will replace them over the weekend.

Any luck? I've got the straps, need to get shocks, and have been putting this off for a while. My car turns 9 next month, so I figure a good "present" will be replacing all these parts...

The only problem with this sub-forum is I no longer have an excuse to put up with my "top problems"... :embarrasm

Any luck? I've got the straps, need to get shocks, and have been putting this off for a while. My car turns 9 next month, so I figure a good "present" will be replacing all these parts...

The only problem with this sub-forum is I no longer have an excuse to put up with my "top problems"... :embarrasm

I installed the new lid shocks and it completely took care of a "rear bow hitting a top lid when closing the top" problem. there is howto on this forum how to change the shocks, the only thing is it's not really possible to compress the shock by hand even a tiny bit.
You have to remove a small clip to fully raise the top by hand, latch the shock, lower the lid and put the clip back. It's a _very_ tight fit, I had lubricate ny hand with a lithium grease to fit into the hole in a lid compartment ;)

As fast as straps go, I already replaced one side. You'll want to leave the other side intact to use as an example. Top does not have to be removed but I had to unfasted front, rear and c-pillar rails. I'm going to put a bead of a clear silicone between the front cowl gasked and a top. I also noticed that all the elastic stripes (sewn frfom the inside toi the top) kind of lost their elasticity, particularly the two that help rear window to fold. They pull the middle of the window down preventing kinking. So I just shortened them by approx 3/4 of an inch. Soldering iron is a must have tool for this to punch the holes for screws in the plastic stripes and trim the edges.

BTW the rivets are removed by pushing the center pin straight through. The pin causes the rivet to expand. Without the center pin, the rivets will just lift out - no prying necessary. You'll need replacement rivets because the pins are usually lost in the process, otherwise they could be used again.

I also noticed that all the elastic stripes (sewn frfom the inside toi the top) kind of lost their elasticity, particularly the two that help rear window to fold. They pull the middle of the window down preventing kinking.

Thanks for the tip on this - I've been having problems with a kinky window :naughty for some time, and look forward to fixing that along with everything else!

I installed the new lid shocks and it completely took care of a "rear bow hitting a top lid when closing the top" problem. there is howto on this forum how to change the shocks, ....

My trick of the year *ahem* was to remove the storage lid from the hinges. Bypass the bootlid interlock and have the lid (the hinges) in the open position AND the bootlid open.

That way, you can install the shocks in their fully extended position, which makes fitting 100.000.000x easier.

you guys kinda lost me. I didnt have to compress my storage lid cover shocks. Initially that was my plan when I was attempting to install them from inside the trunk, with the storage cover closed, but that didnt work out. With the storage cover FULLY opened, I was able to install the socks with them in their fully extended position.

you guys kinda lost me. I didnt have to compress my storage lid cover shocks. Initially that was my plan when I was attempting to install them from inside the trunk, with the storage cover closed, but that didnt work out. With the storage cover FULLY opened, I was able to install the socks with them in their fully extended position.

Exactly, but to have the storage cover fully open, you can't open the boot.

Unless you all did this from inside the storage cover. I couldn't because the holes inside the storage room were too small for me.

Ahh. Understood.

Yes..if I recall, I was able to just barely squeeze my hand down through the storage lid hole with the shock, and just barely snap it onto it's mount. I was, however, able to unhook the clip/pop off the old one from the lower mount...from inside the trunk. I then closed the trunk, and opened the storage lid to get the top part off through the hole.