Resin/foam injection E46 M3

[nevm3]

Just had this done at Vines Guildford, very good and knowledgeable people to deal with, was assured no more worries with cracking of floor.Car returned pristine, would recommend

[MOTK]

Well they would say that, as very soon your car will be out of 'goodwill' 10 yr period and BMWUK won't authorize any more 'free' work for you (lovely fodder for a lot of dealers).
However, assuming there really were no cracks you should be good for a while, apparently... Myself, I would get it plated if you intend on keeping the car for a while.

Edit- I assumed this was a 'goodwill' gesture, re-reading suggests perhaps not?
Either way, general consensus is the foam ain't all that and if you're going to the bother you should plate it. It's not a massive job and you'll have complete piece of mind then.

Edited by MOTK on Wednesday 18th February 20:27

[Babw]

MOTK said:

Well they would say that, as very soon your car will be out of 'goodwill' 10 yr period and BMWUK won't authorize any more 'free' work for you (lovely fodder for a lot of dealers).
However, assuming there really were no cracks you should be good for a while, apparently... Myself, I would get it plated if you intend on keeping the car for a while.

Edit- I assumed this was a 'goodwill' gesture, re-reading suggests perhaps not?
Either way, general consensus is the foam ain't all that and if you're going to the bother you should plate it. It's not a massive job and you'll have complete piece of mind then.

Edited by MOTK on Wednesday 18th February 20:27

Or you resin reinforce it and have it checked regularly. If/when cracks start appearing you plate it.

I have had mine resin reinforced after having the floor checked at Redish, Mprove and Vines. All three confirmed the floor had no sign of corrosion (dehumidified garage since new), had it reinforced and checked regularly. 3 years later no sign of cracks.

[nevm3]

MOTK said:

Well they would say that, as very soon your car will be out of 'goodwill' 10 yr period and BMWUK won't authorize any more 'free' work for you (lovely fodder for a lot of dealers).
However, assuming there really were no cracks you should be good for a while, apparently... Myself, I would get it plated if you intend on keeping the car for a while.

Edit- I assumed this was a 'goodwill' gesture, re-reading suggests perhaps not?
Either way, general consensus is the foam ain't all that and if you're going to the bother you should plate it. It's not a massive job and you'll have complete piece of mind then.

[footnote]Edited by MOTK on Wednesday 18th February
20:27[/footnote]

So if you bought another e46 (not just applicable to M3's)you would have the work done even if it had been injected/inspected and been given all ok? If injecting car is only temporary why are you not persuaded to have boot floor replaced as would obviously be more profitable and would dealers/specialists not end up with bad reputation for giving bad advice if floor cracks after being injected?

[GregorFuk]

Babw said:

MOTK said:

Well they would say that, as very soon your car will be out of 'goodwill' 10 yr period and BMWUK won't authorize any more 'free' work for you (lovely fodder for a lot of dealers).
However, assuming there really were no cracks you should be good for a while, apparently... Myself, I would get it plated if you intend on keeping the car for a while.

Edit- I assumed this was a 'goodwill' gesture, re-reading suggests perhaps not?
Either way, general consensus is the foam ain't all that and if you're going to the bother you should plate it. It's not a massive job and you'll have complete piece of mind then.

Edited by MOTK on Wednesday 18th February 20:27

Or you resin reinforce it and have it checked regularly. If/when cracks start appearing you plate it.

I have had mine resin reinforced after having the floor checked at Redish, Mprove and Vines. All three confirmed the floor had no sign of corrosion (dehumidified garage since new), had it reinforced and checked regularly. 3 years later no sign of cracks.

I've watched a few of the Redish videos on YouTube and if what I picked up is correct you can't plate it after you've had foam injected. The heat from the welding can spontaneously ignite the foam. So it's plate, then inject foam. But not the other way around.

[NickXX]

I would like to get this done too - how much should I expect to pay to get it done at an Indy/Dealer?

[MOTK]

nevm3 said:

So if you bought another e46 (not just applicable to M3's)you would have the work done even if it had been injected/inspected and been given all ok? If injecting car is only temporary why are you not persuaded to have boot floor replaced as would obviously be more profitable and would dealers/specialists not end up with bad reputation for giving bad advice if floor cracks after being injected?

BMW UK won't authorize boot floor replacement unless the cracks are greater than 25mm. If smaller the only 'goodwill' you will get will be the resin injection, so I am sure you will find BMW dealers happily handing that out and taking $ from BMWuk. In that instance I would personally go elsewhere and have the cracks spot drilled and plated.
Furthermore if I was buying an e46 I would rather a plated cracked floor than a replacement boot floor (actually axle carrier panel) as doing the replacement is major surgery to the car and in the end you get the exact same inherently flawed panel back in its place just waiting to crack all over again.

Edited by MOTK on Thursday 19th February 20:00

[nevm3]

NickXX said:

I would like to get this done too - how much should I expect to pay to get it done at an Indy/Dealer?

Mine was £360 from Vines Giildford. Re other comments best to phone dealers/specialists and form your own opinion. Be good to hear your comments.

[NickXX]

Thanks guys - will try and get it done at an Indy this Spring and will report back.

[mattcambs]

Bartlett Automotive in Huntingdon quoted me £355incVAT, all in plus MOT

[NotNormal]

MOTK said:

...
Furthermore if I was buying an e46 I would rather a plated cracked floor than a replacement boot floor (actually axle carrier panel) as doing the replacement is major surgery to the car and in the end you get the exact same inherently flawed panel back in its place just waiting to crack all over again.

Are you sure about that?

My understanding is the newer carrier panel is different from the originals.

[MOTK]

It's indeed a very very very slightly different panel, the same as orginally fitted to MY 05/06 cars. I had an 06 car which showed very early signs of cracks visible from standard usage before I started modifying it (coilovers etc), so in my experience I would say the 're-designed' panel is of little or no improvement and will still eventually crack.

[NotNormal]

Indeed, but what you fail to also say is that when fitted now by the dealer as a repair it's also resin injected as part of the work so in effect its likely to be more resistant to cracking when compared to what was fitted originally

[darreni]

I'm sure that if it was better to plate, rather than replace the floor, BMW would have done that.

The BMW cost is approx. £5k (there is something like 43 hours labour), vs the plated cost of approx. £1,800.

When you then consider that BMW have replaced thousands of floors & give the replacements a 10yr warranty, you'd have to assume they have gone with the option that offers the least chance of a repeat failure that they would then have to replace again.

If I was buying, I'd be more than happy to have a manufacturer warrantied solution fitted.

[Babw]

darreni said:

I'm sure that if it was better to plate, rather than replace the floor, BMW would have done that.

The BMW cost is approx. £5k (there is something like 43 hours labour), vs the plated cost of approx. £1,800.

When you then consider that BMW have replaced thousands of floors & give the replacements a 10yr warranty, you'd have to assume they have gone with the option that offers the least chance of a repeat failure that they would then have to replace again.

If I was buying, I'd be more than happy to have a manufacturer warrantied solution fitted.

Having spoken to a few E46 M3 owners in Germany who have had their floors replaced, cracked again, replaced, cracked, replaced....you get the picture. Most have their floor replaced and get the new floor resin reinforced, this is what this bloke had and at the time it was still holding.

One guy was on his fourth floor, it's a track car but still that's ridiculous. There have been people who have had the car aligned poorly post replacement and no doubt within the next few years we'll see corrosion issues around the new welding. It's a BMW derived retrospective fix, the car was never designed with the replacement of the floor in mind.

The best cars are those with the original floor with regards to corrosion and originality. Even though the engineers may have designed the replacement process with the best intentions, for dealers the warranty fix gains income and the quicker they can get through the repairs the higher rate their bodyshop turns over.

Also you can have the plates bonded in place which is the method I would go for as personally welding would be last resort.