I'm proud owner of BMW 335i Xdrive, 2011 and very new to this forum. Can anyone advise how important is to install Body Side Molding by the door side? As it cost $250 plus $450 as labor ( no matching paint) in the dealership. Is it worth installing? regards
It's up to you. I had a few very minor door dings on my '01 330xi, none so far on my '10 335d. My son has few/none on his '07 335i coupe. Moldings aren't going to stop dings, as truck/suv doors will still get you, and many other cars also have doors that will miss the molding.
It depends on a lot of things. How particular are you? [Can you stand to have minor imperfections on the side of your car or can you put up with an ugly addition to it?] How careful are you? [Willing to park in outlying areas where there are no cars close to yours?] Finally, are you ever going to spend more than this $700 to repair the nearly-inevitable dings and dents? I know I wouldn't.
What CR & floyd said; only you can decide. Door moldings do more to protect you from your own carelessness than that of others. I'll tell you this: My favorite (?) "door ding" on my E46 was located halfway up a C-pillar. No add-on molding worth having would have prevented that one.
Ok....now here's the real question. Why should we even have to worry about door dings. Why can't other people be more considerate???? I better stop here, as this applies not only to car door dings, but virtually everything else under the sun.
Most people aren't OCD about their cars like we are!!!! Hold on I think I see a leaf on my tire, okay got it. Anyway I always park way out of the way to avoid the careless. Funny I often see other nice cars out in these areas too. Don't be a jerk though and take up two or four spaces. That is just asking to be keyed.
A thought occurs to me...reminds me of my days as a power boater. When you dock a boat, you put fenders (bumpers) over the side to prevent damage. I wonder if anyone has ever tried anything like that with their car when parked???
Our E60 535i was black and I was afraid it would be all dented up before the end of the first year. Despite the fact that my wife had to park it in spots that guaranteed door dings, the car looked showroom fresh the day the lease ended. I don't know if it was pure luck or if the car is more of a tank than I gave it credit for, but the doors were flawless.
Europeans--or at least the Germans--have figured out the answer but either they aren't telling or no one here is listening. Door dings just don't seem to happen over there, despite ridiculously close-quarters parking in the cities. Why? Because people are considerate of the adjacent cars. I freaked out the first time I saw what passed for a "parking space" wherein I'd have to slot my brand-new Bimmer--literally, just over a foot on either side. Then I noticed that from from the lowliest Opel to the zootiest Maserati, nobody had door dings. End of worries. Until I came home, anyway....
Ah, yes. But that consideration ends as soon as they strap on a pair of skis. Don't even think of going skiing in Europe with shiny new skis if you want to keep them shiny and new. They think nothing of "ski stacking" in the lift lines.
