E12 vs. E28 door comparison

Robert Bondi · Post by **Robert Bondi** » Sun Sep 09, 2012 5:43 pm

This might be a question bested suited for past/present owners of both E12s and E28s (Mike W., Chris Kohler, Sherman, ....?).

So, our interchange FAQ has the doors and glass interchangeable. Since the rear door seals are NLA now for the E12, it would be good to know if the door seals are interchangeable too.

BTW, I did score both NOS E12 rear door seals from non-BMW sources, but I bet this question comes up again someday.

mjleamy · Post by **mjleamy** » Sun Sep 09, 2012 7:51 pm

There is a great document by Tony here: http://tonybmw.co.uk/pages/project_b/e28doors.html

He discusses weather stripping and such

wkohler · Post by **wkohler** » Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:53 pm

The door seals are not interchangeable, unfortunately. The reason is for how the trim on top of the door is designed. On the E28, it simply clips over the top of the door, which in turn required a wider seal to bridge the gap between the edge of the trim and the body. I also think that the E28 design would lend itself to being quieter. I looked into it when I started buying all the new trim for my car. I did actually find a pair of NOS seals for the rear doors from someone on eBay in California. I am not sure if they're OE or not, as they had no part stickers, etc, but they had the mold release and everything on them, so I knew they were new.

Had I not found the E12 seals, I was going to look into modifying the E28 seal to fit, though after looking at it closely, I do not think that's a possibility. It's definitely unfortunate.