To the engineer of the e53 early model window regulators...

[440films]

Is their any difference in the later model E53 Window Regulators?

[Weasel]

All the same.

[ba82]

Originally Posted by Weasel

Look for the post with pics from mrbmwx5 (Tom) about a window regulator fix/modification.

He depicted a way of holding the lift cable into the plastic holder using a piece of home wiring (coat hanger would work ok too) Last time the rear clip let go on my drivers door window I stuck it back together like this and it has been holding up fine for months. This wouldn't be a bad idea to do to a new one to help prevent future problems I guess.

Good point JCL made about closing the doors with the windows down... that does put a lot of impact on the window regulator clips in a direction they weren't designed to handle and may very well be leading to most of the parts failures. As I say this I seem to remember throwing my door closed with the window down and heading an abnormal level of "clank", next time I went to use the window is when the rear clip failed. Not a coincidence!

Thanks for the advice, his "fix" does look like it would work for a way to prevent the issues - or at least delay them.....

I do try to keep the windows up when closing the doors, unfortunatly this isnt always practical. Is there a way to keep the doors from slamming so hard? I have searched and dont see much on this...there must be some sort of adjustment (fingers crossed) or a part to replace? Its clearly an issue.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by ba82

I do try to keep the windows up when closing the doors, unfortunately this isn't always practical. Is there a way to keep the doors from slamming so hard? I have searched and don't see much on this...there must be some sort of adjustment (fingers crossed) or a part to replace? It's clearly an issue.

I don't know of a way to prevent slamming, other than training the users. It comes down to user error. OK, maybe thay should be more robust, but the only thing in your control at this point is the user.

Note that you don't need the windows all the way up to protect the regulators, they just can't be all the way down. Put them up a few inches, and the window is held more firmly, preventing damage to the regulator. This isn't just a BMW issue, it applies to any window regulator.