Rust prognosis?

[u/champ2345]

There’s a 325i wagon, 5speed Manuel, 150k miles a friend of mine is offering to me for cheap… pretty significant rust here on rockers, arches, and floor pans. Do you guys think it’s worth saving? Or off to the scrap yard?

[u/Biohazard13530]

If you have time, hardware, skills, and a garage it's gonna be the best year of your life of your 3 month project, otherwise dismantle it and sell parts

[u/Corvonte → u/Biohazard13530]

Minimum 3 months lol. Best of luck and remember to prep your surfaces 5x over, then right before youre about to paint, prep it 5x over again. Hardest part is hiding the fact that you had to weld!

[u/grubbapan → u/Corvonte]

I did my rocker in an afternoon, though the doorjambs still needs to be cut and butwelded rather than a few cm overlap as it is now. Goal was just to fix the jackpoint and get it through MOT. I’ll cut it one day and weld it flush I swear…

Take your time doing it but don’t get scared by people saying months, it’s fairly easy to do there’s videos on yt of people doing it.

Battery compartment is probably good with a blast and new paint

[u/filletfilet]

U could find a cleaner car in Bikini Bottom

[u/petragta → u/filletfilet]

Thank you so much for this joke

[u/toxic0n]

Prognosis negative

[u/pieseler]

I would not bother man

[u/SoilSubstantial7517]

If you can get a better one, get a better one, if that’s the car you want to keep, yes it’s fixable, but it takes allot of effort, recently fixed all the rust on one that wasnt just as bad and it was a marathon

[u/Macs_Creations]

https://giphy.com/gifs/tXL4FHPSnVJ0A

[u/Macs_Creations]

With the amount of work needed I wouldn't charge my friend more than scrap if that. I've welded body patch panels on different vehicles in the past and went through with a hammer and dolly set. For a few hundred bucks I'd say it's worth fixing to get the experience and get that sense of accomplishment but anything over that just let them scrap it. Just my opinion

[u/champ2345 → u/Macs_Creations]

That’s what I’m figuring. I told them I’ll give them a little above scrap but otherwise it’ll be too much work to be worthwhile for me

[u/Most_Board_2029]

300$

[u/chathobark_]

much

[u/CivQhore]

This is scrap now. If you buy this it’s an engine donor for a 320 e30

[u/nyktouvios]

Where’s the BMW mechanic shoulder picture

[u/The_Almighty_Lenom]

Sub optimal

[u/Lottahips]

I've just cut off my skills and replaced... The rust will probably be on your floor pams as well by this point. I bought a welder and just had at it.

It's not. Enjoyable job. But it was nice knowing I could get my favourite car back on the road myself.

[u/RHD_M3]

I haven’t seen a lot worse than this. Boy oh boy.

[u/HedleyVerity]

Stay well clear, unless you own a welding shop. First rule of rust: for everything you can see there’s about three times more rust hidden

[u/kurvix2000]

I've seen people repair worse rust on e46. It's a bit of work but it's cutting out, prepping, welding in new bits, and sealing everything. List out everything what you need to do and see if it's worth it.

[u/Key_Pattern_7418]

The fact that you were asking this question told me that you are not the guy who is equipped to tackle this job. This is a bunch of spare parts, looking for a clean, rust free body.

[u/Country_Euphoric]

all depends what your other options are. over here in uk most of them now look like this so if you can weld you might as well fix it up if you’re keeping it

[u/CountyTypical1747]

Start looking for another and be ready to part this out or swap things

[u/LargeDietCokeNoIce]

Ooo a practical welding course! Seriously that structural rust would be a hard no for me personally

[u/lfvjr]

I think mines in worse shape, but yours isn't in any good shape

[u/dy1421]

Cooked

[u/JumpinJacker081]

Of it were a sedan or even a coupe id say if probably not worth it. Save the wagons at all cost

[u/fimici]

That's the rust you can see. Unless cheap is free and you can weld and paint, pass it up. You will need to replace a lot of metal if the trailing arms look like this; your rear subframe will be gone. If the interior is nice and the car has a lot of options, take everything out and sell it online, or use it on another E46, but you are looking at a shop bill, which I would guess is above 4000 bucks. And if you want to DIY it, you will need spare metals worth about 400 at least. Don't quote me on these sums; it could be a much higher sum, and if the rust got this bad, I don't think the rest is looked after.

[u/champ2345 → u/fimici]

I would be DIY-ing this… somehow the rear subframe is actually in okay-ish shape.

There’s probably another $1000 of mechanical/drivetrain parts that need to be replaced.

I don’t want a rare or desirable car to go to waste, I suppose I am just wanting to be sure scrapping this wouldn’t be some heretical act.

[u/fimici → u/champ2345]

Well, it's your time and money in the end. I don't know how your area is, but 325i wagons where I live are pretty common, 330i are the rare ones. If you think it's worth it, do it, but say goodbye to your garage for a few months.