I agree that the coupes and convertibles have far fewer problems and likely fewer possibilities for problems.

I have 2 convertibles, a 2006 E46 330cic and a 2003 VW Beetle.

Both cars drop the glass each time the door is opened. The VW has updated window regulators that actually drop the window with the keyfob, but will also drop the window with the door pull.

Addition the convertible and coupe windows are much longer/larger and heavier.

The coupe and convertible windows DO NOT have fur lined guide gaskets. Typically the coupe and convertible windows have 1 or 2 guide rods inside the door that the glass glides on. So the heavier glass, the lack of fur lined guide gaskets and the fact the glass drops every time the door is opened are probably the main reasons these window regulator hold up better. I also think the coupe and convertible window regulators are more robust for the heavier glass and the fact the windows get a lot of side to side tweaking when people open and close the door by the glass rather than the door.

But also for the record, it is not just BMW window regulators that are problems. Honda and GM have issues as well. Many of these have the cable and pulley system and the plastic pulleys crack and break. Often the problem is with the rear windows because they are not used often enough. As you said, part of the problem may be the glass sticking to the gasket over time, the other part is the pastic pulleys get stressed and sometimes crack from the tension of the cable.

I also just today replaced the plastic slides with rollers in a rear window on my sons 1996 Impala SS. The original nylon/plastic slide were kind of a rectangular shape, for some reason these break quite often, not sure if the problem is age or the design. I replaced the rectangular slides with round wheels, very easy to just press the ball of the window regulator into the new wheel.

As for the gaskets sticking, for years I have been using spray silicon that does not have petroleum in it. For example the Gunk/Liquid Wrench silicon spray smells like it has petroleum in it. Also a product called Gigaloo which seems to be very much like a silicon spray.

I spray a paper towel or rag down with the silicon and while the gaskets until they are clean and lubed. Then I spray the fur lined window channels down a as well. Also agree about keeping the top edge of the window clean, seems that there is always crud building up on the top edge of the glass.

So far I have not had any window regulators fail in any of my cars other than the '96 Impala SS, but we are talking about a 20 year old car. Hell the original Urethane front sway bar end link bushings just slit and cracked. I just replaced them because they were hard and brittle, but after 20 years, what do you expect!

Hopefully some forum members can chime in and add pictures of their failed window regulators. Please also include the regulator age, vendor name, where you are located, if the car is garaged and if it is a daily driver or a seasonal garage queen. I assume most Sedans and Touring will be daily drivers or maybe put away during the Winter in some locations.

This may help others figure out what regulators will fail quickly, which regulators to avoid and what PM steps have been taken on Sedan and Touring windows. This way we can all learn what steps other members take, what products they use and what actually seems to extend the life of the regulators.

 

I agree with your observations.
I have a sedan and have been through many regulators...mostly fronts because I rarely lower the back windows. I was going through so many that I have become an expert in changing them out.
My car also made the same 'pop' from a gummed up top of the window.

About 2 years ago I was getting ready to go on a trip and loading up my car when I accidently ripped the tint on one of my windows. Since I didn't think I had time to make an appointment to have the window re-done I figured I'd just take off all my tint. (Big mistake! But that's a story for another thread)

When taking the tint off I noticed how much the tint had 'shrunk' (Cheap tint?) and it was almost like sticky glue along the top edge.
Long story short...since removing the tint and keeping the top edge clean I haven't had any more failures and the pop is very minimized.

Edit: Florida car, always outside in the heat, 2 vehicles 1 driver.

 

...since removing the tint and keeping the top edge clean I haven't had any more failures and the pop is very minimized.

That's encouraging. By the way, I have found that 409 dissolves the tint adhesive that is left behind after removal.

Thanks for your (and jfoj) reply.

 

Just to add, the convertible (and by extension the coupe because they share the same part) have more robust regulators because they have windows that are meant for cantilevered operation.

I cruise regularly on the freeway going 90 with the top down and the windows up to cut down on noise and the windows are incredibly stable considering the lateral load and vibrations they're subjected to. Potholes rough them up too with the inherent side to side motion but they hold up well.

 

Every one of my sedan windows make a pop noise which sounds like the window is sticking to the rubber, just as you mentioned. I also have a suspicion that this continuous pop and friction has somehow loosened the bolts holding the window and that's why they rattle going over a bump. I plan on tightening the bolts, but at this point my window regulators have not failed YET. The car has 127k on it and I've only had it for about 9 months so I'm not sure if they had been replaced before or not.

 

Fantastic write-up, very well articulated. I think you hit all the major points that lead to the WR failure.

 

Completely agree. The place that did my window tint had to refund me to cover a new regulator. They have tools to slide between the window and seal after the adhesive has dried to keep that very thing from happening on all cars. They never used it on mine and sure enough the cable popped off and got wound up around the motor.

 

Good to know the coupes/convertibles have less issues (to be selfish since I have a coupe).

Regarding this point of the OP's "2, the coupe (and vert) roll the windows down slightly every time you open the door. This breaks the static friction daily while it is low, and doesn’t give it days to allow the window to adhere to the rubber seal" I don't drive my car everyday so I don't know about static friction in my situation. Sometimes I just drive once or twice a week and sometimes it can sit for a week. Then sometimes I drive everyday for a week. This daily lowering of the friction seems like a valid point to me but I just thought I would toss that out for discussion.

I use Aero 303 on the gasket and I keep the windows clean. I am almost certain that I have read on this forum that clean windows make things easier on the regulators and this would be consistent with the issue caused by window tint.

I am not sure if this helps, but unless I am going to drive around with the windows/sunroof open I do not lower it all the way when I am talking to someone or swiping the card at the gate going to my parents. Or, when I used to eat fast food I also wouldn't lower it all of the way.

The original owner of my car had the dealer resecure the cable to the regulator and had them replace the cable holder in January 2006 at 28,000 miles. No issues since that time.

I have never had a regulator issue on either 330Ci and the first one did have tint. Both sat outside all the time.

Great original post.

 

My driver side window made that 'pop' noise this weekend after opening it from sitting in the sun after a thunder storm. The regulator is on its way out. That's 2 regulators I will soon need to replace .

 

To be clear, I think the pop sound is the stuck window not a failing regulator. The source of the pop sound is what is causing the failure.

 

Yes I know that but it is the beginning of a failing regulator. Now the window has friction when it goes up and down. It almost comes to a stop mid-way before closing.

 

Any update on this gummy pfledge stuff?

 

Not yet received.

 

http://www.jigaloo.ca/lubricant/1-jig-a-loo.html

http://www.jigaloo.ca/lubricant/4-performa-ptfe.html

I recall Gummy Pfledge leaves a slightly greasy/waxy residue.

 

I use RainX on the exterior of my door windows and it gives the glass a very slick film that reduces friction between the glass and the rubber glass seal along the top edge of the door. Can't use it on the glass interior since I have tint but it seems to help just on the exterior.

 

I know people are well aware of the zip tie reinforcement for broken clips, but most don't know how to reinforce the rears. I did this trick to my rear that had a broken clips and it worked beautifully. I didnt bother buying any special wire, just used a couple of paper clips. I highly recommend doing this. It's strong enough that the metal edge holding the bottom coupled with two paper clips repaired a broken plastic cable mount. I'll replace it regardless, but if you're in a pinch this will actually hold for quite some time.

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=29259

 

Having replaced around 12 window regulators on random E46 sedans I have noticed the following:

1- The side window guides tend to become hard and actually cause a lot of friction with the glass. Dust and weather conditions cause this. The horizontal water gasket not so much.
2- Aftermarket regulators are not 100% bolt on and require some tweaking aka re-alignment of the glass, not much by 2mm at most
3- That 2mm misalignment causes the glass to bind on the 2 vertical guides at some points in movement
4- The tensioner mechanisms always break at the bottom part, which is when the motor pulls the cable to roll the glass down
5- Whole tension to unbind/roll down the glass is applied to a very thin piece of plastic that can easily be reinforced not to break
6- The gasket o-ring between the spool and the housing on the OEM regulaotr tends to break loose and jam
7- Sedans have 1 rail to hold the glass vs 2 rails on the coupe (probably for the larger size) therefore more stress

 

Having replaced around 12 window regulators on random E46 sedans I have noticed the following:
...

4- The tensioner mechanisms always break at the bottom part, which is when the motor pulls the cable to roll the glass down

This seems to reinforce my theory. Thanks.

 

OP - thanks for the thread, you've reminded me to re-do mine !

I read a fair bit about this too. Well hot day last year in Oz, cars been sat at work in sun all day, front windows down, drive off........whilst driving rear windows down, pop out goes my passenger rear - took my tinting film out with it
Replaced with OE part from one excellent retailer we have here, Clickable Auto - Melbourne. They only sell ridgy didge (original) reg's as not worth the hassle selling other types.

Somehow, I managed to source gumi pfledge here in Oz (we get bugger all compared to you blokes in the US, who have access to every conceivable part, oil, tools etc and good prices).

Clean, lubed all windows. Did inside the tracks too, inc with some actual silicon spray. It does make a difference. One can tell by the speed of operation, lower noise etc.

Did the missus's vw too. Ive done reg's in that - plastic clip fails & glass drops into door.

 

I appreciate all of the suggestions, although I don't picture myself ordering all of the suggestions and trying them. I could see myself with 30 bottles of failure on the shelf. What I am hoping is that if you have an idea, try it for a while then post your results here. What I am looking for specifically is a product that after application to the top window seal, minimizes the pop sound and lasts at least a couple weeks. I think this problem is the worst during the hot summer months.

jfoj - can you confirm that the Jig-a-loo gets rid of the pop sound when you open the window (even after not being opened for a couple days)? (also - looks like a Canadian product, where do you get it in the US?)

...Somehow, I managed to source gumi pfledge here in Oz (we get bugger all compared to you blokes in the US, who have access to every conceivable part, oil, tools etc and good prices).

Clean, lubed all windows. Did inside the tracks too, inc with some actual silicon spray. It does make a difference. One can tell by the speed of operation, lower noise etc...

lobe - can you report back with your gummy pfledge results after time? Honestly I am reluctant to try it due to the comment from jfoj that it is greasy/waxy after application. I am worried that this will collect crap over time and make a mess. Sorry if this led anyone astray, but it still may be a viable option.

I will get some of the silicon spray with Krytox that Uro engineering suggested and post up the results. This may take a couple weeks to get, try, and evaluate.

Those that have window tint, I think cutting the tint down has made the biggest difference for me so far.

 

I think I'm going to start a daily practice of breaking the seal by rolling them down a lil and back up just for good measure.

 

Might be counter-productive. As a group let's find a good lubricant or conditioner that keeps the sticking from happening.

The Meguiar's was a bust. Pop came back in a couple days. Latest try is spray wax, so far so good after 3 days.

 

Unfortunately mine decided to strip the gear teeth on the motor assembly after it jammed.

Here is the right side regulator, which I have not yet installed. You can see there is no clearance between the spool and metal frame.

Somehow the regulator managed to clearance itself.

 

Hello everyone, my name is Daniel and I'm with URO Parts. We definitely appreciate the valuable feedback and keen observations made in these window regulator threads! Yewzer B Lewzer is 100% correct about one of the biggest window regulator design challenges: the cable jumps off the pulley upon release of tension when the regulator is in the fully up position. Our engineers agree that this is one of the key causes for failure in the system and is precisely why we added ball bearings to the pulleys. Bearings allow the cables to be substantially tighter than OEM, reducing cable slack without increasing drag. As Yewzer observed, URO Premium regulators also have a smaller gap between the pulley and the steel rail and the groove in the pulley is deeper to further resist cable jump.

In addition, we routinely pull samples from production runs and test them in actual car doors (many have gone 400,000+ open/close cycles and counting) to observe wear, identify potential issues, and confirm manufacturing is to specification. We have had great feedback from some of our distributors and certainly welcome real-world feedback from e46fanatic members and other end users. Our goal was to surpass OEM performance and durability and though achieving a failure rate of zero isn't realistic due to manufacturing anomalies we're very pleased with a warranty rate of far less than 0.5% thus far.

 

Before anyone calls Uro out for a thread hijack, please know that I invited them to post this here.

 

By the way UROpartsman, thank you for posting some of the other design features. I wasn't sold on the ball bearing alone but now that I understand the whole picture I like it.

 

What I can say is the following:

It is good news that there is a 3rd party building window regulators.

It is good news that the 3rd party is trying to improve the window regulators.

It is good news that the 3rd party has someone interested in the failure mode.

I do not fully understand URO. They make a lot of different products, so we can all hope they stick around and investigate future failures, make minor changes, and even help owners understand if additional lubrication and cleaning of the glass and track is necessary.

This is ALL positive and we should all provide positive feedback to a vendor willing to listen. Hopefully more good comes from URO for the regulators and other parts they supply and maybe they will consider stepping up to other common E46 failure areas so we can keep these things running for years to come.

 

I greatly appreciate the positive feedback from many of you in this thread.

As far as lubricants go our engineer recommended one called Krytox from Dupont, but it's pretty pricey. Has anyone tried it?

 

Would that be for the rubber or the tracks?

 

Looks like there are lots of versions of Krytox, from $100 per ounce to $6 for a spray can.

 

That's for the rubber...

 

I would consider the Jig-A-Loo Performa PTFE

 

Doesn't look to be easily available outside of Canada. Where do you get it? Can you confirm that it gets rid of the pop on a sedan?