KMS Door Brake Reinforcement Plates The door brake on your E32 7 Series or E34 5 Series is a small mechanism which allows your door to easily remain open in one of two possible positions. The amount of stress on this simply item is very high, and it's simply bolted to the door sheet metal. The simple fact is, these cars are renowned for cracking the sheet metal around the door brake. The cause of the cracking is the door brake mechanism itself. As it ages, the door brake will begin to bind. This binding will put large amounts of stress on the thin sheet metal of the door, loosening the door brake bolts and in turn allowing even more flex. The cycle continues until one of the door brake mounting tabs breaks, or the door rips. How can this be prevented? We offer the KMS Door Brake Reinforcment Plate as a preventative maintenance item. The plate will reinforce the sheet metal around the door brake, regardlesss of the condition of the door brake itself. Beyond saving the door sheet metal, installation of this plate will also prevent cracking of the door brake's mounting tabs because it vastly reduces flex of this area created while opening and closing the door. Can I use it to fix a torn door? Until now, the only fixes were sending the car to a body shop to weld up and repaint the door, or replacing the entire, very expensive, door. While our reinforcement plate is not really designed as a repair plate for a torn door, many customers have used it successfully to do that. The torn sheet metal is secured by sandwiching it between the door brake and the reinforcement plate. Installation is quick and simple Installation of the KMS Door Brake Reinforcement Plate does NOT require door panel removal (unless you are also replacing the door brake itself). Installation takes approximately 5 minutes per door and simply requires removal of the pin from the A pillar and the two bolts from the door frame. View Installation Instructions (PDF) Australian and South East Asian Customers! Contact our exclusive Australasian distributor, Autologic at http://www.autologic.com.au. Description Price       UPDATE! E24 and E30 Plates Available! Due to the volume of requests for models other than the E32/E34, we are pleased to announce the release of door brake reinforcement plates for both the E24 6 series and the E30 3 series! Here's an example of the damage that can occur when a door brake fails. Note that the upper bolt has ripped through the door metal, and that the shaft from the brake has broken and damaged the A pillar around the securing point. As you can see from this photo, the total surface area of the door that is engaged by the brake bolts is tiny. This places a large amount of stress on these small areas. Failure from metal fatigue is inevitable. Previously, owners were offered the choice between expensive body work on the door, or large, ugly, and typically inneffective washers on the bolts. KMS has developed this reinforcement plate to help spread the load of the bolts on a good door, with the added benefit that it will restore correct function on a door that has suffered minor damage from a bad door brake. The reinforcement plate from KMS is the ideal solution. Neat, good looking, made from stainless steel so it won't rust, and barely noticeable when fully installed.