discussion New M2 exposed radiators?

[MR_Y]

I saw this M2 at a dealership today.
I was surprised to see that the radiators have zero protection.

Surely, a mesh cover must be available to protect the radiator?

Seems like an oversight from a design and practicality perspective?

 

[TurboLlew]

That is a big surprise actually - the big brothers have quite a bit of mesh (but whether this makes much of a difference or not I guess is debatable - I've had a bird make its way through my F10 grilles before... (OK 'make it' might be generous ) - that being said these things can take VERY big smacks (ask me how I know LOL) and retain structural integrity. Having a finer mesh would certainly prevent larger debris from causing damage or at least slow it down enough that it would be damage rather than destruction.

 

[individj]

it looks small...perhaps it needs direct air and anything in front of it would make it less effective

 

[MR_Y]

it looks small...perhaps it needs direct air and anything in front of it would make it less effective

It is a large opening. You can fit a hand ✋ palm over and still have space.

I see that BMW do sell the stone guards as an option. Surely a must have for SA...

Stone Chip Guard
Top: 17 11 9882365
Bottom: 17 11 9882366

 

[MOE 000 GP]

I think was a bit of a design mishap..saw one at a arc having it replaced as a guy hit a stone and it made a hole in it....I'm sure bmw will get a recall for a repair or something cause it's looking for trouble especially with our roads with the out of stuff laying around

 

[Bernard///M3]

At the launch at MFest 2022 they said that front was designed in such a way to assist in cooling as it’s a track focused car hands all the vents and shapes were designed to work and not just for “looks”

 

[MR_Y]

At the launch at MFest 2022 they said that front was designed in such a way to assist in cooling as it’s a track focused car hands all the vents and shapes were designed to work and not just for “looks”

Ironically, Porsche GTx cars come radiator mesh protection and those are arguably also track oriented cars.

GT4

 

[TurboLlew]

At the launch at MFest 2022 they said that front was designed in such a way to assist in cooling as it’s a track focused car hands all the vents and shapes were designed to work and not just for “looks”

As opposed to other cars which are not designed in such a way to assist cooling (or aero?). That is such a dumb reason to give to clients.

The vents being functional (which is a thing on all M cars of all generations and certainly all track orientated cars) and the vents being totally exposed with no protection are two different things. The former statement is speaking to the function of the intakes/vents as opposed to the Supra which has fake stuff everywhere and cars like Type Rs where there are bulges, bumps and vents that literally do nothing.

Of course a very fine mesh would be a bad idea, but the ones on the other Ms have fairly wide holes and would allow plenty (probably as much) airflow while creating a barrier to slow down larger particles (certainly those big enough to cause damage).



I feel the fact that they have parts to rectify this shows that it is actually a design issue. It does look more aggressive without the grilles... sort of like you went to a dodgy tuner and he decided to cut out bits for 'airflow' or 'aero' (which is really what this car is like... gives you that 'designed by some dude in a shed' impression. And his mate could then have created the body kit using rectangles and squares...)

But jokes aside if a GT2 RS Weissach package can have mesh, then so can this thing...

Looking at that shape in the grille in more detail (this is the first time I've actually taken notice since before @MR_Y brought this up) it made me think of my F90s radar module that sits in the bumper. Unlike the F90 (example above) that has a different design for cars that are not specced with the radar unit, the M2 appears to have one bumper for peasant-spec and cars with boxes ticked. Google sure enough confirms that the M2 can be specced with this. this should kill any BS argument from a dealer about "oh the grille restricts airflow on this god-tier track car" - the surface area of the grilles (and well designed ones) wouldn't have as much impact on airflow as this radar module but the LACK fo grilles and the radar unit has a very high impact on the size of object that could be let through or stopped.

My feeling is that their workaround for extra airflow for high spec cars (being generous here) "might" have been to have (radar+no grilles) and then (no radar + grilles) as an option and by the time production came about they ended up making cars wtih no grilles + no radar (with the option to buy them and fit them at extra cost).