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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
BMW E46 330i 2002 Subframe Crack
- Thread starter alucard
- Start date
DieselFan
Honorary ///Member
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,
I got my car back today.
They charged me quite a bit.
They charged me R4700.
I don't think it's TOO BAD considering they changed the subframe bushes, rear trailing arm bushes, diff bushes and swaybar bushes. They also cleaned all the parts that were taken off the car.
Although it was R700 more than I would have liked to pay.
I got my car back today.
They charged me quite a bit.
They charged me R4700.
I don't think it's TOO BAD considering they changed the subframe bushes, rear trailing arm bushes, diff bushes and swaybar bushes. They also cleaned all the parts that were taken off the car.
Although it was R700 more than I would have liked to pay.
alucard
New member
So I opened the boot floor last night and this is what I came across. Don't know what to make of this.
Is this the previous owner that fixed the problem / tried to hide the problem with sealer?
Or is this the factory sealant used?
What does yours look like?
Sent from Street Standing Telkom Payphone
looks like factory sealant to me...
you not going to get the boot coming out before the mounting points for the subframe rip... I have not seen the boot rip on any cars with less than 200kw so non Ms are safe with just a plate install
you not going to get the boot coming out before the mounting points for the subframe rip... I have not seen the boot rip on any cars with less than 200kw so non Ms are safe with just a plate install
AndreasSA said:
mine looks similar only silver...
AndreasSA said:
lighting is probably making it look different I would bet it is white like the rest of the car
Crash_Nemesis
///Member
I got boot floor rips last year.... The Subframe was reinforced before, but they still appeared. They were tiny rips by the spare wheel carrier. They were easy to weld closed. The main problem that you need to look for is where the rear axle carrier panel starts. On my E46 M3, the spot welds had started coming loose and the floor was dropping. We needed to weld it back up and put a brace in the rear to add more support -- why? -- because supercharger... :fencelook:
See this pic -
You can see the spot welds that let go. The metal has not cracked. The cracking you see is the rubber sealant that BMW use. The metal from the chassis legs and the rear axle carrier panel are just separating. THe rear axle carrier panel (the part that holds the subframe and diff) started dropping.
This is easily fixed by clearing away the boot rubber. Removing the diff and subframe and pushing the floor back up. Then welding the panels together and putting in some metal sheets to add some support. We then weld some brackets from the boot floor (rear axle carrier panel) onto the brace that is installed. This will help hold the floor up.
Going back to your rubber sealant on the spare wheel carrier, the rips I had were pretty much where you have rubber sealant, but don't recall seeing that much sealant. Only way to tell is to remove the rubber sealant and have a look underneath. But only do that if you are really unsure about the cracks. The spare wheel carrier is the easiest to fix. You want to check the rear axle carrier panel (as seen in my pics).
See this pic -
You can see the spot welds that let go. The metal has not cracked. The cracking you see is the rubber sealant that BMW use. The metal from the chassis legs and the rear axle carrier panel are just separating. THe rear axle carrier panel (the part that holds the subframe and diff) started dropping.
This is easily fixed by clearing away the boot rubber. Removing the diff and subframe and pushing the floor back up. Then welding the panels together and putting in some metal sheets to add some support. We then weld some brackets from the boot floor (rear axle carrier panel) onto the brace that is installed. This will help hold the floor up.
Going back to your rubber sealant on the spare wheel carrier, the rips I had were pretty much where you have rubber sealant, but don't recall seeing that much sealant. Only way to tell is to remove the rubber sealant and have a look underneath. But only do that if you are really unsure about the cracks. The spare wheel carrier is the easiest to fix. You want to check the rear axle carrier panel (as seen in my pics).
alucard
New member
moranor@axis said:AndreasSA said:
lighting is probably making it look different I would bet it is white like the rest of the car
It is light grey in colour. It's not like the sealant was sprayed and then it was sprayed the car color over it.
It looks like it was applied over the normal white paint job.
Is your sealant below the car color paint job?
alucard
New member
To be honest I think the E46 M3 is more prone to the tears and damage as it does not have the back seat plate as reinforcement that the 4 door sedans have (apart from the huge power difference obviously). So all 4 door E46 should be way stronger there than the 2 door m3's and ci's.
I'm not going to remove the sealant there. If there were cracks the sealant should also show it (Or am I wrong?). And I don't see any cracks following all the seams.
The sealant on my car seems a bit over applied but still seem factory. It even follows all the seams even into the very bottom of the battery compartment. Sealant looks the same everywhere.
I'm not going to remove the sealant there. If there were cracks the sealant should also show it (Or am I wrong?). And I don't see any cracks following all the seams.
The sealant on my car seems a bit over applied but still seem factory. It even follows all the seams even into the very bottom of the battery compartment. Sealant looks the same everywhere.
Crash_Nemesis
///Member
To be honest. I doubt your boot is ripping. As moranor said, it should show up on subframe first and spread from there.
And agreed, your car does have more reinforcement with the back plate where the rear seats come into play.
And agreed, your car does have more reinforcement with the back plate where the rear seats come into play.
crash are you going to run bolts from the subframe onto the brace you have welded in? this will stop the lad transfer to the boot floor
Crash_Nemesis
///Member
Might look at doing that. At the moment we are running L shaped plates that are welded to the top of the Rear Axle carrier panel and then to the brace that we have installed.
The boot floor that is directly under the brace is in fact the spare wheel floor. It hasn't collapsed and is supported by the chassis legs on both sides. The part that has collapsed is the rear axle carrier panel. The subframe is connected to this panel, which is right next to the boot floor and it sits just behind the brace, not underneath it, so we cannot run bolts into the brace for the rear axle carrier panel. As you can see in this pic below
The "boot Floor" (rear axle carrier panel) that is collapsing is then welded onto the brace with L shaped brackets. Redish motorsports does the same thing on their kits.
The boot floor that is directly under the brace is in fact the spare wheel floor. It hasn't collapsed and is supported by the chassis legs on both sides. The part that has collapsed is the rear axle carrier panel. The subframe is connected to this panel, which is right next to the boot floor and it sits just behind the brace, not underneath it, so we cannot run bolts into the brace for the rear axle carrier panel. As you can see in this pic below
The "boot Floor" (rear axle carrier panel) that is collapsing is then welded onto the brace with L shaped brackets. Redish motorsports does the same thing on their kits.
Crash you MUST run bolts directly from the subframe to avoid issues later on... this will direct the force into the extra brace and in effect 'clamp' the boot together
without this it will just start tearing at the weakest point again over time once you supercharge
without this it will just start tearing at the weakest point again over time once you supercharge
its the gold bars he loads in the boot after heists :rollsmile:
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