DIY: E36 Roof Ledges- The Poor College Version

One thing that has been killing me on my Boston green E36 is the window trim. The trim that is located directly about the door openings is called a roof ledge. The trim comes from the factory as a thin metal piece coat in some sort of rubberized paint. Over time the rubber paint fatigues and starts to split. For me, the splitting started about two years ago. This is what it looks like.

Over the last two years this eye sore has cantered to the point of sourcing new roof ledges. I started by calling BMW of Pleasant Grove. I never really get the feeling that they treat you like they should. They always treat me like I am some stupid little kid with an old E36. To some extent they are correct, but I would appreciate them not letting me know.

BMW of Pleasant Grove wanted $143 per trim piece! I was not about to pay over $300 for a cosmetic piece of trim. I started to search other places that I thought would have competitive prices. TischerBMW or online at getBMWparts.com wanted the lowest at $81. I then searched bimmerforums.com to see if anyone had any further suggestions to remedy my plight. Most of the leads that I obtained from members on the forum lead to dead-ends as no one wanted to ship me a set due to the high probability that they would break.

I was faced with the option of forking over some serious coin or...

BAM! Electric tape to the rescue. I had remember reading something about it on the forums long ago. I thought that I would give it a try. I was impressed at how easy it was to do--it took no longer than five minutes and was probably the cumulative price of... 3 cents. I figure I have nothing to lose. Here are the afters...

You might be able to tell that it is tape you you were really close, because I didn't prep the surface at all. I have read about how others will sand down the surface, which is reflected through to the surface of the tape. If have lots of cracks and bumps in the original trim, these will surface after you lay down the electrical tape.

Overall, I thought it made the car look ten years newer and an excited to see if Rachel notices a difference.