BMW Suspension damage - rear bent suspension (help)

[thewy003]

Hi all,

Had a prang in my e46 330ci.

Last night the back end slipped out on the ice and I drifted into the curb. The rear drivers side wheel took the brunt of the impact and now seems to be bent out of place. Having spent £300 on a set of new rear bridgestones the day before I'm sure you'll appreciate my devastation (not the tyres fault may I add - complete driver error (and councils reluctance to grit certain roads))

Does anyone have any costing thoughts on this? Suspension arms etc?

Christmas isn't expensive enough as it is!

Matt.

[martin mrt]

Likely be a lower rear trailing arm, i did this to my E46 M3 in the Ice 2 winters ago, the arm i got from a well known BMW breakers FAB Recycling, for £18 plus P+P

I damaged the stering rack too but had it just been the rear wheel that took the impact it would have been reliatively cheap to repair, just requiring fitting of the arm and a geometry set up

[thewy003]

Thanks. I was sure I wouldn't be the only out there, theyre not exactly the most enjoyable to drive in the snow.

I'm searching for reassurance that it won't break the bank and that it can be easilymfixed. Also don't want tom take it somewhere and get ripped off.

[TheEnd]

There is a thin pressed metal camber control arm which I believe was designed as a sort of fuse, so it'll bend and deform if it gets a decent knock.

[anonymous-user]

And luckily for you, becuase it's the drivers side, you don't need to drop the diff to get the inner end bolt out from the subframe (Couple of years back i collected a large pothole when a bit sideways and bent the nearside lower arm, and you have to move the diff to change that one, which makes it more of a job ;-(

[thewy003]

Thanks for your replies.

Took the car to a local repair centre this morning who confirmed a bent lower control arm on the right rear. I took a look myself and could clearly see the damage. Thankfully nothing snapped or hanging out of place.

So. Estimated £84 labour costs. As I type I'm awaiting a call from him to give me the price of the part. He thinks it could be £150. Any thoughts on this? I will call BMW park lane where I used to work and get a price.

[anonymous-user]

I bought a genuine one from bmw, think it was circa £65 (i actually ended up buying 2 and replacing both sides so the car would turn in evenly (had worn bushes after 100kmiles and would have ended up with one new stiff one and one old sloppy one)

[john_p]

thewy003 said:

Thanks for your replies.

Took the car to a local repair centre this morning who confirmed a bent lower control arm on the right rear. I took a look myself and could clearly see the damage. Thankfully nothing snapped or hanging out of place.

So. Estimated £84 labour costs. As I type I'm awaiting a call from him to give me the price of the part. He thinks it could be £150. Any thoughts on this? I will call BMW park lane where I used to work and get a price.

Eurocarparts
This one?

Edited by john_p on Sunday 5th December 11:18

[thewy003]

Possibly yeah.

Looksvlike the main pic but not the thumbnails with the prices attached... Make sense?!

[paprika]

Aren't the rear control arms £50 odd ?