running board install and rivet gun advice
 

i installed my boards today without any problems and i am a novice.
the only problem was the rivet gun i ordered from napa did not fit the bmw rivets.
the story is that i printed out the pic of the one recommended (nonplastic one for about 13 bucks) from the forum and ordered it--they told that one was no longer avail and ordered me an alternative. it doesnt work. i went to sears, autozone, autozone plus, home depot---no luck
i am without a gun and therefore cannot drive the car
it looks i will have to re-order from napa and that will take a few days!!!!
so be careful and make sure the gun u get fits the rivets.
and buy some spare rivets from the dealer---v cheap a few bucks.
getting the old rivets out is easy---use a drill bit.
hope this helps
if any one has advice regarding the specific rivet gun i need from napa, it wud b v muvh appreciated
n p

is it this thread?

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...ight=rivet+gun

which one did you order?

I did the same thing you did, went to Home Depot, Autozone, Kragen and even Napa Autos, but they didn't have what I needed. The one you need is:

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...tion=Rivet+Gun

That's the one I finally bought and worked perfectly.

I used a standard rivet gun but drilled the hole in the rivet holder a little bigger so that the rivets fitted in. easy and saved a load of money on a new gun.

my standard rivet gun has a multiple 'rivet size' capability which includes 4 or 5 sizes of tips for everything from super tiny rivets to large rivets, including plastic ones.

i got mine from some specialty store over 5 years ago and it works fine. its not the green one, nor the $13 one. i'd give you the model # but i'm 300+ miles from it. it has 5 tips, and works fine. adrian's solution is also a great idea.

i recommended the wrong gun as i had no problem with my 'non green not solely plastic' rivet gun. i apologize for the inconvenience.

Mine had 3 different heads but none were big enough so I though it`d just drill it a bit. Very easy to do and I had two spare heads for normal rivets.

Nice useful feedback.Re the gun,I used a normal rivet gun with multiple rivet size.
How did you install your boards without the rivet gun??

running boards
 

i didnt end up finishing the job.
now one has that rivet gun locally so i have to order it.
so the car is grounded unless i take off what i already installed.
everything is fitted on and i just need to secure the trims and all with the rivets.
what a pain in the ass!
anyway, hopefully it should be worth it.
thanks for the advice everybody.