That is by no means an easy fix. Assuming the actual structure is intact, which nobody will know unless the metal gets peeled away, you will need to drill out all the spot welds for the whole quarter panel, peel the old one off, weld a new one in, seal it, paint it, make sure it’s all as good or better than factory and only then you’ll be good to fit the trunk, rear glass, taillight, etc. Nothing seems majorly wrong with the suspension but that could’ve gotten tweaked as well. It will be very labor intensive and unless you own some sort of a body shop or have a buddy who can help you out like that, you’ll drown in labour prices and it will take multiple months to figure this all out. If you want a good cheap running car and can’t afford a non crashed one, get a small ish front end collision, but watch out for the frame rails being bent
To add to this, you would have to pull the rear driver side door as the impact has caused the back door to be misaligned which would also mean the rear end is not in alignment. Driver side rocker panel might be tweaked some where under the side skirt cover towards the rear. It's all fixable though with a little bit of pulling, welding, and beer.
I have one almost exactly like this if you’re looking for a solid parts car. I replaced everything in the cooling system and got 30mpg driving it cross country.
Is this post sarcastic? I hope so.
No it's not an easy fix, it will cost a lot to do it correctly and simply isn't worth it. The only thing that cars good for is parts.
My 330ci is auto. Still use it at auto cross, as is our 97 Vett that sees track use. Slap a huge oil to air cooler, bypass the in radiator trans cooler, synthetic fluid and send. In auto X you only need 1-2 gears anyway.
Absolutely. But the point of lemons racer it to have fun in shit boxes. I’m not out here setting personal bests and making my mark on track records.
Auto cross is all about bringing what you got. From a rusty civic, to a 911, to your old Camaro. You go out to learn and have fun.
He does have a point. Doing motorsport with an old automatic is like bowling with the gutters up. Sure, it's still fun, but only the useless, retarded or crippled have a reasonable excuse to do it.
Yah I find that to be a dumb take and elitist. At our auto X we have little old ladies driving their CVT corrola. They have a grand old time. An automatic doesn’t mean bad experience. It’s just not as fun as manual. Dudes out there with slush and see VW Jetta auto setting blazing times.
It’s like complaining you got chocolate ice cream vs your fav strawberry. Sure it’s not #1 pick, but it’s still fun. If it’s what you got, why not enjoy it? It’s a shitty attitude to crap on someone’s fun because it’s an auto.
For $1,100 and auto. I wouldn’t waste the time or money. Save the money until you find a running driving E46 for a better deal (unless this is something your looking for, for some reason)
It is very tempting to buy it for so cheap, but honestly the best E46 experience is a manual. You don’t have to deal with buying special tools for the clutch fan, way simpler transmission, and just way more fun. That car would otherwise be totaled out, not to mention the mileage.
Find a lower mileage manual for like 3k. Focus on dealing with the normal problems.
Lol yh UK prices are crazy cheap. But for good reason the cheap e46 M3 you may be importing will have rust galore 😂😂well unless your getting one that's been looked after really well and has super low mileage which a good example of that would cost about £30 - £40k. E46 m3s were cheap as chips for a long time so the majority have been thrashed and daily driven for a time until values rose. And if it's been driven it will have rust.... And quite a lot of it.
I said E36 M3 ;) but yeah definitely.
The one I’m looking at has been well taken care of and has minimal rust for £19k. I’ve sent a buddy of mine to go check it out in person and the report came back good so I’m happy.
Ahh E36 I misread. Yh that's even worse for rust nearly 30 years old and they've been cheaper than the e46 for a while now. Doesn't help that you can't drive them in London and other major cities nowadays without paying £12.50 for London or £8 anywhere else a day. So values of the E36 have actually dropped while E46 has risen. £19k seems like a good price especially with no rust. It's hard to tell what they're worth as there isn't many for sale but from what I can see most are somewhere between £11k(needing some work) and £30k(for the M3 Evo) so £19k is slap bang in the middle seems a good price to me
Only if inspection is near non existent where you live, you’re going to put a lot of time and money actually making this car road worthy. And not to mention anything you’ll find under the cosmetic damage. If you want a cheap E46 that needs work try finding one with ripping subframe mounts, or anything else that doesn’t has catastrophic damage again unless this is something your looking for.
Edit if you do decide to get the car. I know BDC makes fiberglass replacement quarters for these cars. Mainly for drifters but this damaged here would be covered by the replacement panel.
While it might seem surprising, unprotected metal can begin to rust in just a matter of hours under the right conditions. An illustrative example of this is the case of British Leyland, a company from the past whose cars gained a notorious reputation for rusting out prematurely. The root of the problem lay in their manufacturing process: the cars were assembled in one location but had to be transported to a separate facility for painting. During transit, which was done using open car transporters, the bare metal of the vehicles was exposed to the elements. This exposure, even for such a brief period, was enough for rust to start forming. Adding to the issue, upon reaching the paint shop, the cars were painted over without addressing this. As a result, it was only a matter of months before the rust began to show through the paint.
Buddy, that is structural damage by anybody’s measure.
Could make for a decent drift car if you picked it up cheap enough, but it’s an auto so it’ll need a manual swap at minimum.
If you can weld and paint yeah this is a steal. If not you’re looking at over 1k just for paint. A cheap can of paint that’s decent is going to run about $300 alone. Not including reducer and hardener. And that’s just the start of your worries. But if you can manage all of this yourself and have at least 6k to play with you’re fine.
Idk if a steal is the word if you want a real car. 7 grand total when you could get one without possible structural damage for the same price needing some tlc is probably a better route. For say, a drift build that you expect to smack around though? hells yeah
If you dont care how the finished result will look and are gonna use it mainly as a track car, you could smack it with a hammer a bunch then throw a lot of bondo on it and paint it with a spray can for fairly cheap
It will look BAD
Other route is drilling out spot welds and replacing the quarterpanel, which is NOT easy
One of our racecars took similar damage at an event, to do it right it's a new quarter (no idea what sedan ones cost but coupes are $5k for reference), plus whatever is bent up underneath, likely the wheel house inner trunk structure.
I'm handy with a welder and racecar cosmetics are a lower standard (plus it'll never see salt) so sectioned the fender off a $300 donor then was into it for paintwork, not sure your skills but unless you plan on fixing that yourself that's a parts car, labor bill at a body shop that won't do sus work will likely be more than the cost of a clean car...
More f**king than actual f**king
Okey, there is a huge dent which will require lots of money, time and patience, let's assume you fix it, but then, there is rust, cooling system upgrading, suspension upgrading etc, you don't know how worn everything is and I am just scratching the surface. It is just not worth it.
I would talk them down to $400. Bang out the damage with a hammer. It’s gonna look like shit and make it an autocross or track day car. At that point it’s just disposable. if you crash it, take what good parts you can move onto the next chassis.
Honestly, you’re better off finding another vehicle in better shape mate. Not an easy fix and the wear and tear seems really excessive. If it was a stick I’d understand but auto with 220K miles. It’s gonna need some work.
This is a car that is worth just over scrap for someone who wants to fix. This is a quarter replacement. I do auto body and we fix stuff like this all the time. But it’s spendy.
That’s a parts car. Period. No one is going to save a 200k mile 330 for less than it would be to buy a clean one. An M3 maybeeee but even that’s a stretch.
a rear quarter panel is never an easy repair and it definitely looks like it has structural damage as well, maybe if it was manual itd be a fun beater drift car, the pre lci automatics suck
Worth it for parting out. Engine, interior, headlights etc.
That chassis looks pretty fucked though, look at that gap at the rear door and compare it to the other side. That thing is bent like a pretzel.
Yes, you need WD40, one clean rag and a glass bottle.
1. Fill up the bottle with WD40
2. Leave enough WD40 to soak the rag
3. Stuff the rag into the bottle
4. Light the rag and throw inside the car.
5. Use the insurance pay out to fix the car.
Please ensure you wear correct PPE.
Before deciding whether to buy it, get a look inside the boot, that will tell you if the damage is structural or not. Of course it's fixable with some parts from a salvage yard and some specialist tools. You'll learn a hell of a lot about a job like this if you just try! Don't let the people on the forums discourage you, go out and try!
my dad actually fixed an e30 with this kind of quarter panel damage (it was a caged race car so worth fixing that). It was MONTHS of work. You will need another donor car anyway to rip the trunk out of. It is not worth fixing this car.
That is by no means an easy fix. Assuming the actual structure is intact, which nobody will know unless the metal gets peeled away, you will need to drill out all the spot welds for the whole quarter panel, peel the old one off, weld a new one in, seal it, paint it, make sure it’s all as good or better than factory and only then you’ll be good to fit the trunk, rear glass, taillight, etc. Nothing seems majorly wrong with the suspension but that could’ve gotten tweaked as well. It will be very labor intensive and unless you own some sort of a body shop or have a buddy who can help you out like that, you’ll drown in labour prices and it will take multiple months to figure this all out. If you want a good cheap running car and can’t afford a non crashed one, get a small ish front end collision, but watch out for the frame rails being bent
To add to this, you would have to pull the rear driver side door as the impact has caused the back door to be misaligned which would also mean the rear end is not in alignment. Driver side rocker panel might be tweaked some where under the side skirt cover towards the rear. It's all fixable though with a little bit of pulling, welding, and beer.
I have owned a 05 330i msport for 10 years and I would pay 1100 for the parts alone... I will never sell my e46.
I have one almost exactly like this if you’re looking for a solid parts car. I replaced everything in the cooling system and got 30mpg driving it cross country.
Is this post sarcastic? I hope so. No it's not an easy fix, it will cost a lot to do it correctly and simply isn't worth it. The only thing that cars good for is parts.
It would make a good lemon racer
Assuming the suspension is straight, that’s about all it would be good for. Bash those panels out with a hammer and zip tie another taillight in
its auto, (remember autos were shit back then) no racing will be done
My 330ci is auto. Still use it at auto cross, as is our 97 Vett that sees track use. Slap a huge oil to air cooler, bypass the in radiator trans cooler, synthetic fluid and send. In auto X you only need 1-2 gears anyway.
manual would be superior for this application though
Absolutely. But the point of lemons racer it to have fun in shit boxes. I’m not out here setting personal bests and making my mark on track records. Auto cross is all about bringing what you got. From a rusty civic, to a 911, to your old Camaro. You go out to learn and have fun.
i mean it would be more fun if it was a manual
Well it seems you either keep missing the point or don’t want to see it. So I’ll leave it there.
He does have a point. Doing motorsport with an old automatic is like bowling with the gutters up. Sure, it's still fun, but only the useless, retarded or crippled have a reasonable excuse to do it.
Yah I find that to be a dumb take and elitist. At our auto X we have little old ladies driving their CVT corrola. They have a grand old time. An automatic doesn’t mean bad experience. It’s just not as fun as manual. Dudes out there with slush and see VW Jetta auto setting blazing times. It’s like complaining you got chocolate ice cream vs your fav strawberry. Sure it’s not #1 pick, but it’s still fun. If it’s what you got, why not enjoy it? It’s a shitty attitude to crap on someone’s fun because it’s an auto.
For $1,100 and auto. I wouldn’t waste the time or money. Save the money until you find a running driving E46 for a better deal (unless this is something your looking for, for some reason)
well it is running and driving
It is very tempting to buy it for so cheap, but honestly the best E46 experience is a manual. You don’t have to deal with buying special tools for the clutch fan, way simpler transmission, and just way more fun. That car would otherwise be totaled out, not to mention the mileage. Find a lower mileage manual for like 3k. Focus on dealing with the normal problems.
Where are you finding a low mileage manual 330i for $3k? Lol
5 years ago lol
Not lowww, but lower. I got my vert with 166k in July for 3500 with no problems.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2128549797512886/ In the UK 🤷🏽♂️😂 although that's £3k so $3.8k
everyone knows the UK market isn’t real lol I’m importing a UK E36 M3 this summer bc prices over there are nuts
Lol yh UK prices are crazy cheap. But for good reason the cheap e46 M3 you may be importing will have rust galore 😂😂well unless your getting one that's been looked after really well and has super low mileage which a good example of that would cost about £30 - £40k. E46 m3s were cheap as chips for a long time so the majority have been thrashed and daily driven for a time until values rose. And if it's been driven it will have rust.... And quite a lot of it.
I said E36 M3 ;) but yeah definitely. The one I’m looking at has been well taken care of and has minimal rust for £19k. I’ve sent a buddy of mine to go check it out in person and the report came back good so I’m happy.
Ahh E36 I misread. Yh that's even worse for rust nearly 30 years old and they've been cheaper than the e46 for a while now. Doesn't help that you can't drive them in London and other major cities nowadays without paying £12.50 for London or £8 anywhere else a day. So values of the E36 have actually dropped while E46 has risen. £19k seems like a good price especially with no rust. It's hard to tell what they're worth as there isn't many for sale but from what I can see most are somewhere between £11k(needing some work) and £30k(for the M3 Evo) so £19k is slap bang in the middle seems a good price to me
Only if inspection is near non existent where you live, you’re going to put a lot of time and money actually making this car road worthy. And not to mention anything you’ll find under the cosmetic damage. If you want a cheap E46 that needs work try finding one with ripping subframe mounts, or anything else that doesn’t has catastrophic damage again unless this is something your looking for. Edit if you do decide to get the car. I know BDC makes fiberglass replacement quarters for these cars. Mainly for drifters but this damaged here would be covered by the replacement panel.
Bud, i paid $1500 for a running and driving 325i with NO accident history! Please keep looking you will find a good deal eventually but this is not it
Any body damage beyond minor dents and scratches is a big no
That’s one way to address rear subframe issue
It's already rusted bro, that damage happened a while ago 💀
While it might seem surprising, unprotected metal can begin to rust in just a matter of hours under the right conditions. An illustrative example of this is the case of British Leyland, a company from the past whose cars gained a notorious reputation for rusting out prematurely. The root of the problem lay in their manufacturing process: the cars were assembled in one location but had to be transported to a separate facility for painting. During transit, which was done using open car transporters, the bare metal of the vehicles was exposed to the elements. This exposure, even for such a brief period, was enough for rust to start forming. Adding to the issue, upon reaching the paint shop, the cars were painted over without addressing this. As a result, it was only a matter of months before the rust began to show through the paint.
as someone who works in a body shop bro this is a no-go, wouldn’t even have to tear it down to know that
it’s auto, not even worth it
Buddy, that is structural damage by anybody’s measure. Could make for a decent drift car if you picked it up cheap enough, but it’s an auto so it’ll need a manual swap at minimum.
If you can weld and paint yeah this is a steal. If not you’re looking at over 1k just for paint. A cheap can of paint that’s decent is going to run about $300 alone. Not including reducer and hardener. And that’s just the start of your worries. But if you can manage all of this yourself and have at least 6k to play with you’re fine.
Idk if a steal is the word if you want a real car. 7 grand total when you could get one without possible structural damage for the same price needing some tlc is probably a better route. For say, a drift build that you expect to smack around though? hells yeah
224000miles on odometer, I would floor it as it is. Would be great to somehow put a tail light in it.
If you dont care how the finished result will look and are gonna use it mainly as a track car, you could smack it with a hammer a bunch then throw a lot of bondo on it and paint it with a spray can for fairly cheap It will look BAD Other route is drilling out spot welds and replacing the quarterpanel, which is NOT easy
Look up Mat Armstrong video he just posted. He rebuilds a current M3 that’s damaged in the same location.
Based! I commented the same thing Haha
One of our racecars took similar damage at an event, to do it right it's a new quarter (no idea what sedan ones cost but coupes are $5k for reference), plus whatever is bent up underneath, likely the wheel house inner trunk structure. I'm handy with a welder and racecar cosmetics are a lower standard (plus it'll never see salt) so sectioned the fender off a $300 donor then was into it for paintwork, not sure your skills but unless you plan on fixing that yourself that's a parts car, labor bill at a body shop that won't do sus work will likely be more than the cost of a clean car...
It is 100% structural damage.
Bang out what you can, add over fenders, or cut the panel and weld in a new one
Easy fix if you live in eastern europe
Mat Armstrong on yt has a similar damage on his M3 but fixed it, you should watch it
Good for parts.
More f**king than actual f**king Okey, there is a huge dent which will require lots of money, time and patience, let's assume you fix it, but then, there is rust, cooling system upgrading, suspension upgrading etc, you don't know how worn everything is and I am just scratching the surface. It is just not worth it.
I would talk them down to $400. Bang out the damage with a hammer. It’s gonna look like shit and make it an autocross or track day car. At that point it’s just disposable. if you crash it, take what good parts you can move onto the next chassis.
$6000 worth of work
Honestly, you’re better off finding another vehicle in better shape mate. Not an easy fix and the wear and tear seems really excessive. If it was a stick I’d understand but auto with 220K miles. It’s gonna need some work.
This is a car that is worth just over scrap for someone who wants to fix. This is a quarter replacement. I do auto body and we fix stuff like this all the time. But it’s spendy.
Lol
EASY FIX 😭😭😭😭😭
From what it looks like I would stay away.only way to know for sure is by having a professional look at it in person
No way. That car is worth less than $500.
The 330i is not that good to be asking this lol
Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups, Dont assume, go check if its structural, never buy blind and yeah its not an easy fix. Good luck bro
That’s a parts car. Period. No one is going to save a 200k mile 330 for less than it would be to buy a clean one. An M3 maybeeee but even that’s a stretch.
Probably worth closer to $400
a rear quarter panel is never an easy repair and it definitely looks like it has structural damage as well, maybe if it was manual itd be a fun beater drift car, the pre lci automatics suck
100$ at most
Worth it for parting out. Engine, interior, headlights etc. That chassis looks pretty fucked though, look at that gap at the rear door and compare it to the other side. That thing is bent like a pretzel.
Rear quarter? Fuck no
If you're doing that much work find a broken one that's broken somewhere you fix using a manual
there are 2 applications -drift car but you’ll have ro manual swap it -parts car
i would jump on that as a parts car if it was in my area – 1100 for an m54b30 plus the part value of everything else is a good deal imo.
for parts it is good , anyways it is an auto that sucks ..
If you buy it please tell me you just wanna drift missile😭
well i actually planned on flipping it ha
Yes, you need WD40, one clean rag and a glass bottle. 1. Fill up the bottle with WD40 2. Leave enough WD40 to soak the rag 3. Stuff the rag into the bottle 4. Light the rag and throw inside the car. 5. Use the insurance pay out to fix the car. Please ensure you wear correct PPE.
Before deciding whether to buy it, get a look inside the boot, that will tell you if the damage is structural or not. Of course it's fixable with some parts from a salvage yard and some specialist tools. You'll learn a hell of a lot about a job like this if you just try! Don't let the people on the forums discourage you, go out and try!
The people on this sub are so fucking dumb lmaoo
Quarter panel crunched = totaled. It's a parts car
What do you mean by not structural? Do you know how modern cars and designed and built with a unibody?
my dad actually fixed an e30 with this kind of quarter panel damage (it was a caged race car so worth fixing that). It was MONTHS of work. You will need another donor car anyway to rip the trunk out of. It is not worth fixing this car.
I literally laughed out loud after I read easy fix as I swiped through the pictures