Door panel repair or color match replacement?

[Gene in NC]

Door panel repair or color match replacement?

What a struggle. B---- of a time trying to get panel repaired or find color matched replacement. Dealer has part no for '89 "Natural" (tan/parchment) at $471. Highly unlikely new would be reasonable match for 18 year old panel.

1)Tried shop that had repaired our '89 with black panels. Was laughed out of the shop. "Too far gone, Nathan".

2)Tried to buy claimed "TAN" used panel on eBay. Disaster. Not tan but kind of grayish called "Pergament" from a later model. Battling with seller to get PayPal refund. He wants me to ship back. UPS wants $92.91 for Raleigh to Asheville, NC ship. Twenty two lbs. but box slightly oversized. Note color mismatch in second pic.

Two questions (see website for pics):

geneinnc.zoomshare.com

1)Panel repairable using Billr's post? Note shrinkage of material from trailing edge and top of the panel in first pic. I could be happy if some indications of repair showed on the panel.

2)Short of buying set of panels in some color fairly close to original, how the heck to find/assure a replacement match? Set of panels in compatible color might not be too bad.

Finally got digital camera, Canon 530, then had to learn how to load into pc. Unsuccessful in editing images down to bimmer.info spec so I set up the website. This has been a real pita to get this far.

Hope no one has been in similar mess, but if so "Help!"

Gene

[Gene in NC]

Hot darn, the freebie website works!

[BMWCCA1]

The color you have is Natur. It is not the same as the later Parchment as you found. Since this is the second post related to color I've answered today on different sites, maybe I should remind everyone that you can pull your back seat and check the build label for your interior color and upholstery code before you try and match colors. Or go to RealOEM.com, plug in your VIN and see what the choices are for your production range before you try to match your color. Yours have got to be the worst set of panels I've ever seen. Did the car come from a particularly hot climate? Good luck.

[Venus4NU]

2)Tried to buy claimed "TAN" used panel on eBay. Disaster. Not tan but kind of grayish called "Pergament" from a later model. Battling with seller to get PayPal refund. He wants me to ship back. UPS wants $92.91 for Raleigh to Asheville, NC ship. Twenty two lbs. but box slightly oversized. Note color mismatch in second pic.

We are having this same problem with a transaction on eBay. Bought two seats for my husbands jag. Was assured it was the same color code as the VIN stated. When the seats arrived they were much darker. They were not the same seats that were pictured in the auction. These had mildew, rips and seam seperation. The auction clearly said the seats had no rips or seam seperation. On top of this the guy put them in trash bags to ship them. The bags of course were shredded by the time we got them and all the plastic knobs were broken. THe guy said he would refund if we sent them back. We only paid $60 for the seats and $240 for the shipping. WTF? No way are we going to repay the $240 to send back for $60 refund. We are now going through square-trade and have made no progress thus far. We decided to be fools again and bought another set of seats off of eBay. Asking the guy to e-mail us the color code on the car instead of us telling him what ours said. Seats arrived and are in perfect condition. My faith was restored. We are going to just choke up the first one as an expensive $300 lesson.

[Kalevera]

Gene,

I have a set of fronts that I am vacillating on selling.

Natural leather, wood trim, something like perfect. I'd need good money for them.

Parchment/pergament was the khaki color used as a replacement for the earlier Natural/natur.

You should have no problems matching the color. Early cars used it, later cars didn't. Natural was used through ~ '92, although earlier cars could have parchment.