Need held with Driver's Door Armrest swap

[mecheng03]

So my armrest is cracking from use/TX heat and since I had to tear apart the door to replace my failing door lock so I bought a replacement armrest (51417224363) from ECS tuning with the intent of a quick swap. However, the stock door panel part does not have any screws holding the plastic tabs in place and they are all melted on. According to realOEM there are plastic torx screws (51419124466) that are about a $1 a piece that may or may not work.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_6744

I searched the forums (briefly) and couldn't find this topic. There are a few chevy posts about using a soldering iron vs heating a bolt to melt the plastic nubs. I saw another post about using internal star washers as well but I will have to cut the interior door handle (51416980093) off to swap the armrest which will not work there.

Has anyone done this swap before and if so what is the best way to do this?

Right now I just plan on cutting the parts off with a dremel and then trying to screw them in place with the OEM screws (18 each for arm rest + 6 each for door handle). Hopefully the door handle will reattach with plastic screws or I may have to jerry rig it while I wait for the replacement.... Also, I'm assuming the new armrest will likely need to have the nubs cut down a well but I will likely find out in the thick of it.

[E82MSport]

For production, most door panels are put together by sonic welding. Typically when replacing a bolster insert, or in your case the armrest, you will need to grind away just enough of the melted plastic to remove the panel you're replacing.

Because these are serviceable parts (rather than replacing the entire door panel) the common attachment method is using screws. This takes a little patience because you need to prep the attachment bosses on the armrest (cutting to the correct height) in order to create a tight connection with the panel substrate.

We would use this method if the parts we were replacing were high wear items that would need to be replaced often. I worked for an OEM building show cars for auto shows. These cars were always needing door panels replaced due to wear and damage.

If we knew the car wasn't going to see a lot of wear we would sonic weld the panels together. You can do the same thing with heat but it's harder to control and can ruin the substrate attachment point fairly easy if not careful.

I suggest using the screws and once everything is nice and tight how you want it, use some hot glue over top of those connections. The nice thing is, if you ever want to remove it, hot glue is removed fairly easy.

[mecheng03]

Thanks! Turns out the screws are a special order from Germany (at least a 3 week wait) and the dealership recommended a local bolt/screw shop.

[Yeineken]

Friendly for those in the future.

I'm installing my Revozport door cards and ran into the plastic welds as well. Following the advice above I just cut the round hats off the weld and cleaned the remaining plastic up to be able to receive a lath screw. Found #8x1/2" to be a perfect match.

[mecheng03]

So, I actually did the swap this weekend with my dremel and the BMW torx screws. The dealership was no help and actually told me the parts didn't exist. I went to a local screw shop and got a similar screw (8x12mm) but it didn't work out because they were intended for metal. I ended up taking a gamble with ECS tuning and although it took 4 weeks for them to get the screws they worked great. I just paired it with enough parts to get free shipping. The swap was super easy and I would recommend it if your armrest is cracking.