My newly bought '90 BMW E34 failed the safety inspection because of, among other things, a rusted rocker panel. What's the easiest and cheapest way to get it to pass? I'm thinking about cutting a metal piece and welding it over the holes, but I'm not sure that will be enough. I have a stick weld and sheet metal about 1 mm thick that I can use.
Ideas are welcome. :-)
Ulf
Apparently you are either in Norway or Sweden. I would echo the premise of the other poster that the aptness of the repair is likely to depend upon the instructor.
In the UK, they used to require you to cut out the old 'sills', and weld in new ones, not just patch them over. The structural integrity of the repair is important, not just the appearance.
Some unibody cars turn into wrecks when you have weakened components.
I would suggest you counsel with the inspector, and do the job that will not only pass, but will also save your life.
Yup, and I'll be taking the car to another station the next time. The inspection guy was in a shitty mood when I inspected the car, so he was obviously going to find something to fail it for.
I found a page which describes the procedure, doesn't look that difficult. After cutting out the old piece I can use it as a reference. And if I spray the whole rocker panel with undercoating it should be close to impossible to see exactly where it was fixed.
Yes, but I don't intend to keep the car. I already have two cars and a motorcycle, that's enough. :-)
Ulf
Reading this with interest as I was a vehicle safety/emissions inspector for 12 years, but going by the letter of the rules here, you can't fail a car for rusted components unles you can demonstrate some kind of disallowed wheel movement or something like that, just the fact that it's ate up and would disintegrate in a wreck is not good enough...
I found this out with much frustration after having a customer bring me a Toyota pickup truck with frame rails so rotted, that when I tried to lift it, the rear section of the truck began to try to pitch rearward and fall off the lift, and the gap between the bed and the cab widened to about 6 inches at the top before I could get the lift to stop raising...
Obviously the truck was extremely dangerous and had no business on the road, but there was no listed rejection for that in the criteria for rejection...so I called the State Patrol (who implements the inspection program) and the Trooper in charge of the program told me that unless I could show wheel movement or unsafe handling characteristics due to it, (which I couldn't) I can't fail it...oh well....:shakehead
I guess that shows how far behind the U.S. is in auto safety inspections...sigh
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