Snapped control arm F30 320i - Actually E90 320i

[Ralf*]

all I can say is "shame"

a young lady came "limping" into the shop today with a new-ish F30 320i, we lifted it up and so the front left control arm snapped right thru about mid-distance.

apparantly she hit a pothole about 1km away and came crawling into the shop.

Unfortunately due to the scope of work required and the need to purchase the spares and time required, we coudn't do anything for her today, except let the car sleep over in the shop for the weekend, and attempt the repair on Monday.

I didn't realize that the suspension is so "soft", that it takes just a pothole to snap the control arm like a dry twig.

will take some pics of the wounded car on monday.....shame to be without ones BMWbaby for the weekend

 

[Midas335i]

Damn :fencelook:

 

[freerider]

Woman do tend to think that potholes and speed bumps are things to be attacked at high speed. I'm not entirely surprised.

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[Midas335i]

Think I need to inspect my daughters F30 :tease:

 

[RAArmstrong]

Woman do tend to think that potholes and speed bumps are things to be attacked at high speed. I'm not entirely surprised.

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Have an aunt who lives in Craighall Park, was in the car and she never once slowed down for a speed bump and/or those strange mini traffic circles they have there, good thing my uncle got her an XC90 :fencelook:

 

[///Maniac]

Shame. Poor car. Just a question though, wouldn't this have to be replaced at a BMW dealer seeing that the car is most likely under motorplan?

 

[Ralf*]

Shame. Poor car. Just a question though, wouldn't this have to be replaced at a BMW dealer seeing that the car is most likely under motorplan?

My thoughts as well, she only arrived (limped in) shortly before closing time, at 12h00 today, we were probably the closest shop for her to seek assistance.

will find out on monday what the next step is, and whether we must phone BMW (probably Isando is the closest) to send a flatbed and pick it up from us.

 

[///Maniac]

She should probably get her insurance involved too. It would be nice if they would allow you to carry out the repairs. Always nice to get extra business:rollsmile:

 

[Speedy]

Probably an insurance claim would be the option, and repair via BMW to keep m-plan intact.
Shame though poor car....

 

[///Maniac]

would be interesting to know if motorplan would cover that, I don`t think they would as its a result of abuse/negligence (in their eyes), probably an insurance claim would be the option?

Yes motor plan wouldn't pay for the repairs but because the car is under motor plan it would have to be repaired by BMW I assume. That's what I meant by my post above. I should have worded my post better, sorry.:sorry:

 

[Speedy]

Probably an insurance claim would be the option, and repair via BMW to keep m-plan intact.
Shame though poor car....

would be interesting to know if motorplan would cover that, I don`t think they would as its a result of abuse/negligence (in their eyes), probably an insurance claim would be the option?

Yes motor plan wouldn't pay for the repairs but because the car is under motor plan it would have to be repaired by BMW I assume. That's what I meant by my post above. I should have worded my post better, sorry.:sorry:

Ha ha no stress, I actually re-read your post and edited mine after is sank in. :=):

 

[///Maniac]

Lol, now I look silly haha.

 

[zaleonardz]

Keep in mind, that while this appears shocking, the car did its job.

In an impact, those parts are designed to snap/disintegrate along with everything else in front in order to dissipate the force of the impact.

So while in a pothole example, this is not plausible, its a safety design that it goes poof.

With regards to the warentee, yea it has to go to BMW but..

BMW will sell you the part, its a simple fitment.

If she does take it to BMW, they will probably replace everything including the subframe, which a simple repair like that could cost 15 to 20k upwards where its not required.

And most importantly, it will get a comment on motor plan.

Change the part, with the labour, its probably going to be cheaper then with the clients excess anyway.

But check for mushrooming on the shock tower, check for other damages ect.

 

[Ralf*]

Keep in mind, that while this appears shocking, the car did its job.

In an impact, those parts are designed to snap/disintegrate along with everything else in front in order to dissipate the force of the impact.

So while in a pothole example, this is not plausible, its a safety design that it goes poof.

With regards to the warentee, yea it has to go to BMW but..

BMW will sell you the part, its a simple fitment.

If she does take it to BMW, they will probably replace everything including the subframe, which a simple repair like that could cost 15 to 20k upwards where its not required.

And most importantly, it will get a comment on motor plan.

Change the part, with the labour, its probably going to be cheaper then with the clients excess anyway.

But check for mushrooming on the shock tower, check for other damages ect.

Leonard

thanks for the advice
:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

will print out this page and all the comments on Monday and show it to the lady, and if still under motorplan, (likely) that she must take it to her insurance for further repairs to keep motorplan intact.

she (african lady) didn't seem to clued up, and just wanted it fixed ASAP, but she hasn't thought thru the consequences of asking "us" to repair it for her....she also doesn't have a "male" figure in her life to show her the rights and wrongs, and to come to her rescue now that she was stranded with her car, as we had to (offered to) drive her to her house in Tembisa South (Birchleigh)

the next question.....?

If she doesn't have insurance, but the car is under motorplan...what then ?

 

[zaleonardz]

Well,

this is a sore point for me with regards to BMW motorplan, so forgive some mindless dribble.

Certain BMW dealers will have motorplan cars painted with me (usually just a bumper or a fender) because I am half the price of what an approved shop would charge, I am not kidding.

BMW also sells a paint protection package, underwritten by Dent Doctor/Innovations, but as per motorplan, it has to go to a BMW approved panel shop.

I have had BMW dealers in there telling me that if I buy parts from them, I can do any repair I want, provided that the car goes in for a quality check, which is usually about R1,500.

So in essence, I can replace the front end on a new F01, and pay 1,500 for the quality inspection, and have my repair officially approved, provided I pay them money.

This is crap....

Oh and another thing, your insurance company CANNOT dictate to you who to use, they cant even insist of having the vehicle repaired at a approved shop, because most guys that insist cars go to a specific shop, is getting kickbacks...

GRrrrrr

Anyway the control arm will probably be like R1,400 or something (may be cheaper actually) and labout like 250 or 400, so that's like 2k for the repair, which = the standard excess anyway.

You will also be able to help her out on Monday, BMW panel shop you will be subject to a waiting period

If she launches an insurance claim, you need to have the car towed, claimed lodged, assessor sent out, claim approved, so this could take like 2 weeks.

 

[///Maniac]

Based on what Leonard has stated above I would say just carry out the repair yourself. As long as you use original BMW parts and no one reports it to BMW or insurance they wouldn't even know that anything happened. And you would properly do a better job of it anyway.

 

[Midas335i]

Based on what Leonard has stated above I would say just carry out the repair yourself. As long as you use original BMW parts and no one reports it to BMW or insurance they wouldn't even know that anything happened. And you would properly do a better job of it anyway.

When ordering that part from bmw one would have to quote the VIN :fencelook:

 

[freerider]

Based on what Leonard has stated above I would say just carry out the repair yourself. As long as you use original BMW parts and no one reports it to BMW or insurance they wouldn't even know that anything happened. And you would properly do a better job of it anyway.

When ordering that part from bmw one would have to quote the VIN :fencelook:

Rubbish

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[zaleonardz]

+1 Don...

This is not true, quote them a specific part number, and you can most def buy the part.

 

[Peter@AEW]

When we order parts from BMW we first log into realoem and then quote the part number to them.