Glovebox Sag ?

[Rob - [ OHIO ] Silver 98 4dr M3]

Glovegox sag ?

My car has this , one side of the glovebox droops down farther than the other .

Anything that causes this directly ?
Anyway to fix it ?

Cheers
Rob

[Rob - [ OHIO ] Silver 98 4dr M3]

Meant GLOVEBOX not GLOVEGOX

My typing sucks

[fix that didn't work well for me, M_Good]

http://hopefully will work better fo...glovebox.shtml

One day I'm going to take the whole thing apart and fix the bad design......... somehow ;)

[M_Good]

linky

[DanC-1996M3]

Hear me out, this one is a stretch. Perhaps literally. ;-)

Did your M3 come with that big bible-sized leather owner's manuals pouch? It seems to fit nicely and it's of course the natural place people wanna keep that info. Well, my theory is that this nice little binder actually makes the door warp over time. If you check it out, even though the door closes pretty simply, it touches the binder a bit. I think that binder pushing against the door, over time and interior heat, warps the door just enough.

My last two E36's had the sag, and they both had the binder in the glovebox since new. My latest had the binder too, but it was stored in the trunk. The only fix I found was to get a used non-droopy glovebox and swap it out. The DIY fixes didn't seem to help. Replacing the glovebox is quick and easy. 6 philips screws and one 10mmm bolt up behind the glovebox light. I think I paid $75 for a good one, and it cured my angst so I found it worth the money.


dc

[crap, so i've stored manual in... M_Good]

door pocket. Ive put aobut 40 k on the car in 3yrs. It has always sagged though. I dont remember where the manual was when I purchased it.

So, does a new box cure what ails us? If so, i'll sign up for a new one. Its the only eyesore in my car, save the ugly hole in my driver bolster. (have to find a leather upholstery shop around here)

[DanC-1996M3]

This was some 5 years ago that I replaced it, on a 1995 325is (same part and woes as an M3). I saw the car about a year ago at a local car show and the glovebox still seemed tight, no sag. When I sold the car I had warned the new owner about the hunch I had about an overstuffed glovebox (perhaps) leading to a saggy door, so he kept his glovebox lean -- no leather binder.

I dunno, could just be superstitious, but it seemed like a potential commonality. There's obviously something fragile about that glovebox door, so this is how I've thwarted off the glovebox gods.

Y'don't want to tick off the glovebox gods.


dc

[TXMDCAGuy]

Mine had some major sag going on and I finally got around to taking a closer look at it when taking out the glovebox and found this ...

On the side that was sagging (right side), there is a small gearbox that allows the door to open slowly hen released. Again, not the main hinge - it's the hinge that allows the door to open gracefully rather than just pop right open. Apparently the door had been opened too far and a small ball and socket (?) joint popped apart. When you tried to close it, the pieces jammed up against each other and caused that side to droop when the door was shut. While trying to pop the hinge piece back together, I snapped one of the plastic pieces, which fixed the sag problem anyway, since there was no interference when trying to shut the door. The only difference is that it just pops right open now.

The easy way to check to see if this is your problem or not is to push the button on your glovebox and see if the door just swings right on open or if it lowers slowly. If it pops open quickly, then that pice is already disconnected and that is your problem that is causing that and the sag.

[Bob K]

I don't quite get it. Maybe my problem is different. My glovebox door sags below the spot on the dash it is supposed to meet up with. It seems more to me like the latch needs to be adjusted upward to hold the door tighter in. Is the latch adjustable?

[M_good]

[M_Good]

[Bob K]

I spent some time examining the glove box. Mine sits about 1/4" too low and the inside light stays on. I found that if I latch it, then push it up firmly I can hear it latch at a secondary position and everything lines up as it should. But when I release it it pops back down.
Is there a way to adjust so that the door stays latched at the second position?

[wizman007]

I was going to use the understeer method, but I was hesistant because I think the screws look tacky. I came across this fix and tried it. It took 20 minutes and the result was excellent.

glovebox fix

[wizman007]

I was satisfied initially with the results from the aforementioned fix, but I investigated further and noticed there was more room for improvement. I pushed up on the box door in the center, I noticed the door could be pulled tighter, but adjusting the latch mechanism is not an option. So the decided to modifiy part of the latch assembly that is on the door. This part:




I used a vise and a screwdriver that has flat sides to slighty bend the part inward. The latch itself marks this piece (scraped paint) so I bent there. This bend hold the door tighter on the latch. Do this at your own risk. I made three different adjustments so as not to go too far. Bend to taste:





The results are great, even better than before. Sorry the pics suck. I had to use my camcorder to take the pics (no flash). And no, I don't use Armour All. I don't know why the dash looks so shiny. The meguiar's I use leaves a matte finish...anyway: