e46 m3 cracked chassis!

[m3dan]

imagine my horror when i took the car into the dealers for MOT and they rang to say the chassis had a crack in it and it was going to cost UPWARDS of £10k to replace!
it had failed on a few other bits but obviously the crack was the main concern to say the least. the dealer said they were going to try and process a warranty claim even though the car is 5 yr old and has no warranty and they would let me know by the end of the week(it was tuesday). essentially it would have been a write off and i couldnt claim a penny from anyone.
the dealer called last saturday to say they would repair the car under warranty which was brilliant, to be fair they didnt quibble even though it had the last inspection 2 at a local indy and was out of warranty.
it is going to take about 3 weeks to do but they couldnt tell me a lot about what they would have to do as it has gone to another bodyshop.
what do you reckon they will have to do?, will they have to strip the car down completely ?
will i benefit from this i,e. rebuilt car or will it have a different chassis no ?
has anyone had similar or is this an isolated incident?
the dealer has given me a kia picanto 1.0 and has said they dont have to give me a car when i asked for a like for like motor are they right?
any comments welcome

[< FORZA WEST]

Was the chassis cracked on the nearside rear at the rear axle carrier?

We had a few issues but only upto 99 plate where they cracked,theyve since modified the area and for the ones that cracked it was a case of remove the axle and a new chassis leg fitted in.

Interested to know what area for future refence

[E36GUY]

m3dan said:

imagine my horror when i took the car into the dealers for MOT and they rang to say the chassis had a crack in it and it was going to cost UPWARDS of £10k to replace!
it had failed on a few other bits but obviously the crack was the main concern to say the least. the dealer said they were going to try and process a warranty claim even though the car is 5 yr old and has no warranty and they would let me know by the end of the week(it was tuesday). essentially it would have been a write off and i couldnt claim a penny from anyone.
the dealer called last saturday to say they would repair the car under warranty which was brilliant, to be fair they didnt quibble even though it had the last inspection 2 at a local indy and was out of warranty.
it is going to take about 3 weeks to do but they couldnt tell me a lot about what they would have to do as it has gone to another bodyshop.
what do you reckon they will have to do?, will they have to strip the car down completely ?
will i benefit from this i,e. rebuilt car or will it have a different chassis no ?
has anyone had similar or is this an isolated incident?
the dealer has given me a kia picanto 1.0 and has said they dont have to give me a car when i asked for a like for like motor are they right?
any comments welcome

Cripes. Dealer sorts out a warranty claim and now he's moaning about a courtesy car!

They aren't obliged to offer you a car at all hence the word courtesy!

But seriously...a cracked Chassis? how the hell did that come about? You must of shat a brick! Pleased to hear that they are sorting it for you with a warranty claim. That sounds like a serious defect so even at 5 years old I'd have been expecting BMW to at least help fix it!

[paoloh]

m3dan said:

imagine my horror when i took the car into the dealers for MOT and they rang to say the chassis had a crack in it and it was going to cost UPWARDS of £10k to replace!
it had failed on a few other bits but obviously the crack was the main concern to say the least. the dealer said they were going to try and process a warranty claim even though the car is 5 yr old and has no warranty and they would let me know by the end of the week(it was tuesday). essentially it would have been a write off and i couldnt claim a penny from anyone.
the dealer called last saturday to say they would repair the car under warranty which was brilliant, to be fair they didnt quibble even though it had the last inspection 2 at a local indy and was out of warranty.
it is going to take about 3 weeks to do but they couldnt tell me a lot about what they would have to do as it has gone to another bodyshop.
what do you reckon they will have to do?, will they have to strip the car down completely ?
will i benefit from this i,e. rebuilt car or will it have a different chassis no ?
has anyone had similar or is this an isolated incident?
the dealer has given me a kia picanto 1.0 and has said they dont have to give me a car when i asked for a like for like motor are they right?
any comments welcome

Dan, what planet are you living on???
They are doing a £10k repair free of charge and you are bhing about a courtsey car..........
What would you prefer, Pay £10k and get a 1 series courtesy car or pay nothing and get a Picanto?
Where do you get this idea of like for like anyway? It's not a non fault accident FFS

[sniff petrol]

Are they going to reshell it or just weld it up?

[m3dan]

dont get me wrong i am well happy with the picanto and my request was a bit cheeky and a little bit tongue in cheek as i was signing for the kia, but as the old saying goes 'if you dont ask'.
i must say that i am impressed with bmw as not once have they tried to get out of it when they could have agreed to pay for just parts or nothing at all.
i am not ungrateful just misunderstood

[Dave Dax builder]

sniff petrol said:

Are they going to reshell it or just weld it up?

They certainly wouldn't be doing a re-shell for £10K.
They'll drill out the spot welds holding the cracked section in place and weld a new section in.
I have seen this before (Not on one of mine, thank god) and it was cracking around one of the suspension mounts.
I should imagine, back seats out, carpets etc out, drill, grind, weld, paint etc and then re assemble.

[The JM]

Just for your info, my 03 E46 suffered a split boot floor. The split was a good 12 inches long. It was caused by the diff not being re fitted properly. BMW did it under warranty bless them! I love BMW warranty.

[M5GT]

I HAVE MY OWN GARAGE AND IN THE LAST 3 YEARS I HAVE SEEN FOUR CARS WITH THIS PROBLEM. ALL WHERE REPAIRED UNDER WARRANTY BY BMW! GOD BLESS!!

[m3dan]

thanks for your comments,i am suprised to see it has happened as often as that but as you say , i too love BMW warranty!

[< FORZA WEST]

where was it cracked?

[mat205125]

Dave Dax builder said:

sniff petrol said:

Are they going to reshell it or just weld it up?

They certainly wouldn't be doing a re-shell for £10K.
They'll drill out the spot welds holding the cracked section in place and weld a new section in.
I have seen this before (Not on one of mine, thank god) and it was cracking around one of the suspension mounts.
I should imagine, back seats out, carpets etc out, drill, grind, weld, paint etc and then re assemble.

That's exactly what I'm doing with mine.

Sorry to resurrect an old post, BTW, but thought I'd add to an existing one rather than start a new one.

Luckily for me, I picked up that there is a crack propogating around the mounting to the chassis (nearside rear effected mainly), and the car is now up in the air and repaired to the highest standard over the course of the Xmas break. It sounds like the nearside rear of the chassis mount is typically the one that is most effected as (I imagine) this is the one that experiences the largest flex when the torsion torque of the engine is transmitted to the wheels.

Mine's a 2002 car by the way.

I'll photograph my repairs as I progress, and put together a bit of a diary of the steps I take .... Whilst they're off, the subframes will be getting a good clean up and repaint to protect them.

Are there any threads related to this problem that I have missed, or does anyone have any more recent experiences of repairing this issue since this thread started?

[bikealarmblair]

Dozens of threads on the subject on every BMW forum

Here's mine before & after Dynotorque repaired it & also fitted their upgrade kit

[Schermerhorn]

What year is your car? Is it a particular age of E46 M3 that is affected or does it affects cars from all ages?

[bikealarmblair]

It affects ALL years

[mat205125]

Thanks for the pictures bikealarmblair. Looks pretty much identical to the severity of my repair that I'll be undertaking, and the style of strengthening plates that I'd planned to fabricate.

I'm tempted to call Dynotorque to see if they do their plates as a kit to repair the car though, to save some hassle with the repair.

Anyone know of anyone else doing something similar off the shelf?

[mat205125]

bikealarmblair said:

It affects ALL years

.... and isn't something that could easily be picked up with a visual inspection with the car on the ground if you went to buy one!!!

[Mr Bimmer]

bikealarmblair said:

Dozens of threads on the subject on every BMW forum

Here's mine before & after Dynotorque repaired it & also fitted their upgrade kit

Don't get me wrong, but why didn't you get it done properly by BMW? Is your car over 10 years old?

[bikealarmblair]

Mr Bimmer said:

bikealarmblair said:

Dozens of threads on the subject on every BMW forum

Here's mine before & after Dynotorque repaired it & also fitted their upgrade kit

Don't get me wrong, but why didn't you get it done properly by BMW? Is your car over 10 years old?

Because I'd rather pay someone I trust to do the job & I wanted and also because I wanted it updated to cope with the torque I'm putting through it.

[Pig Skill]

What was the rough cost to strengthen it? Mines approaching 10 years old and I was considering the cavity foam method but that looks more substantial

Many thanks