Abuse Caught Up To Me...Again - RR Damper Mount Broken!!

[JuniorM3]

Hi guy's

Had a strange rattle in the right rear, sounded like a rubber going bad.
My previous thread on this

Today I went in for a closer inspection.

It turns out the rubber is fine, but....

(Scratches are from me using a tire iron to move the damper back in to place, it was rubbing the A-Arm.)

RR suspension, photo taken from below.


Photo taken from the front. You can clearly see the crack.


It's smiling @ me....


#2 is broken




So took the pictures to the dealer, and they made a report.
Sent it to ze homebase, and tomorrow i'll know if it 'classifies' under warranty.
The service guy was smart and wants BMW to give me 2 new rear dampers not just the RR.

So ze question is....mechanical failure due to production?? OR Hard daily driving and track use??

Can't wait to get the damper off so i can inspect closer.

Keep you postes on the warranty and with pics.

[3XTR3M3]

Hey Junior, just a word of advice on servicing with BMW, make sure you tip your service rep and take care of him every time he does something for you, even if it's something small. They always remember and make every effort possible to get you a favorable outcome from BMW. Considering how you use your M3, it's a good idea to have friends at the service department

Keep us posted!

[IMG]

^+1

[Muffnbluff]

Tip your service rep, are you serious? Or just go to a reputable dealer that makes every effort anyways. Or don't horrendously abuse your car like Junior obviously does.

[Grail05]

Originally Posted by Muffnbluff

Tip your service rep, are you serious? Or just go to a reputable dealer that makes every effort anyways. Or don't horrendously abuse your car like Junior obviously does.

money talks... even its just 20bucks... most of them get paid as much as 15 bucks per hours... so yes tipping your SA most of the time works out for both.

[Singletrack]

You should be a test driver for BMW. We would get a more robust M3 : )

Could be a simple production failure, or you may just be too much of a beast for the car. Do you drive any other "road" cars like the M3? Do they handle your driving without failure?

[IND-Distribution]

Originally Posted by JuniorM3

So ze question is....mechanical failure due to production?? OR Hard daily driving and track use??

While you did do a fine job in testing the mechanical limits of the M3 thus far, I don't think any amount of hard driving should make for that sort of failure, short of a car accident!

[SoTempted]

Tip your service guy? I've never heard of that. I'm all for it... so do you just slip him a few bills after you pay for your service?

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by SoTempted

Tip your service guy? I've never heard of that. I'm all for it... so do you just slip him a few bills after you pay for your service?

I give mine a bottle of nice wine at Christmas.

[a burrito]

Money talks.. Seriously. I'm with those that expect great service should be provided to paying customers but its money that makes the world go around.. and gets the bills paid...

Back when we had over 5 bmw's in my family-we would go service our bmw's all at the same dealer, same SA everytime so we used to give my SA gift cards for future convienience.

OP, are you on 100% stock suspension?

[SoTempted]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

I give mine a bottle of nice wine at Christmas.

Wow, that is cool as hell!! I will remember this.

[mastek]

Originally Posted by Ilia@IND

While you did do a fine job in testing the mechanical limits of the M3 thus far, I don't think any amount of hard driving should make for that sort of failure, short of a car accident!

+1 -- this should NOT happen under any driving conditions next to off-roading your M3 down a mountain or an accident.

And quit with the tipping everyone -- its fkn ridiculous -- tipping is out of control to the point where everyone expects it for moderate/mediocre/subpar work -- and you are all perpetuating the idea that its ok to tip for DOING YOUR JOB!!
Tipping should be reserved for EXTRAordinary effort -- unlike restaurants where we tip just for the fact that they are there ... and the person that deserves the tip the most never gets it (the cook/chef).

[JAJ]

I'd go with "mechanical defect in manufacturing". The damper only sees transient loads of a few hundred kg, and the metal's beefy enough for that.

[JuniorM3]

--UPDATE--

Just got a call from BMW.

Allthough the car is over the warranty period 12/08 and miles (80Km). they will get me one new RR damper.
BUT.....they want to instal it and I have to pay labour. est. 105Euro or $80,-.

I want to instal the part myself and make 105/80. But then the warranty wouldn't cover it bla bla.

The part is in back order and i have to wait an est of 1 week for it.

"We advise you not to drive you car in the meantime, sir''

[JuniorM3]

Originally Posted by a burrito

OP, are you on 100% stock suspension?

Yes

[IND-Distribution]

Nice of BMW to cover the damper for you! Those are fairly expensive pieces to replace. Good luck "testing" the replacement piece!

[montreal red]

how much labor are they going to charge you ? i am sure its going to take more than 1 hr to do the swap. plus you'll need a new alignment after... its nice to see that they are willing to cover this despite your car being out of warranty.

[3XTR3M3]

Originally Posted by Muffnbluff

Tip your service rep, are you serious? Or just go to a reputable dealer that makes every effort anyways. Or don't horrendously abuse your car like Junior obviously does.

Dear Muffin, you have some learning to do that comes with experience. Or you can just take experienced peoples word for it.

Also, I would take a look at who Junior is before you give him driving suggestions.

[SoTempted]

Originally Posted by 3XTR3M3

Dear Muffin, you have some learning to do that comes with experience. Or you can just take experienced peoples word for it.

Also, I would take a look at who Junior is before you give him driving suggestions.

Ooooh snap! was just about to unsubscribe from this thread, but now I wanna see where this goes.

[3XTR3M3]

Originally Posted by SoTempted

Tip your service guy? I've never heard of that. I'm all for it... so do you just slip him a few bills after you pay for your service?

Yea, just hand him a $20 or leave him a 20 in the armrest of the loaner you are returning and tell him "theres something in the armrest for you". I assure you'll get a call saying thank you after you leave.

If I need service and give my guy a call, he will make every effort to get me a loaner the same day. They have a fleet of 328s and one 335. He knows I like the 335 so he will always try to get me that over a 328.

I give him a 20 every time I go in for service. It's no big deal but its a day or two of lunch for him. They remember these things.

Keep in mind, a lot of BMW owners are not like forum members or M drivers. They have a different outlook and usually give service reps shit when a light goes off on the dash. BMWs are high end cars and people have some retarded expectations becuase of that. As if nothings ever going to happen to it and if it does then "WTF, fix it!"

So these good gestures do go a long way with service reps.

[3XTR3M3]

Originally Posted by SoTempted

Ooooh snap! was just about to unsubscribe from this thread, but now I wanna see where this goes.

Hey SoT, I really didn't mean it in a bad way. I wish someone told me some of the things I know now that came with experience. As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, I read about tipping the service reps on these forums about 3-4 years ago. I'm glad someone suggested it and I read it. It goes a long way.

[JuniorM3]

Originally Posted by montreal red

how much labor are they going to charge you ? i am sure its going to take more than 1 hr to do the swap.plus you'll need a new alignment after... its nice to see that they are willing to cover this despite your car being out of warranty.

By new alignment you mean cornerweights?? or what? Changing the damper doesn't affect the tows, cambers.

I told the BMW guy that I didn't want to pay anything for the failing part instal. But without BMW instal, it wasn't covered under warranty.
If they charge me 2 or 3 hours (Euro105or$80/PH), than I can just as well buy a new part myself and instal it in my own time. He assured me it can be done in 1 hour or Euro105/$80.
BS obviously!!!, so i'll pressure the hell out of them.

It wil prob. en up with me taking the damper to my shop around the corner.