dwz8
March 21st 2006, 16:05
All,
today 2 BMW engineers have examined my Z8 for any damages. They took a couple of photos. Nothing spectacular, and in a very friendly atmosphere.
Both gentlemen were eager to confirm that BMW is interested in a solution and is indeed working on it.
Some interesting statements:
There are already test cars on the road to evaluate possible solutions
They are examining strut supports as well as strut braces
There are no precise results yet, however, they are working full speed on this
Inside of BMW a working group exists populated with high-ranking people to deal with this situation
Concerning repair methods:
At this point in time any bending of distorted strut towers is not allowed. However, they are examining, up to which degree of deformation this would be possible.
Most important: If a strut tower is "bulged", this does NOT automatically mean that the entire frame will have to be exchanged. There are repair parts available for the front of the car that enable the exchange of one or both sides. Still this must be repaired in one of the centers, but it is much less cost intensive than a frame exchange. I suggested that BMW should issue an official statement about this to inform their customers, since this is the crucial part of our discussions.
They also tested replacing the strut tower alone, however, the results were not satisfactory regarding the welding process and quality.
Still a lot of open questions, but they assured me that they will inform me soon about the next steps.
today 2 BMW engineers have examined my Z8 for any damages. They took a couple of photos. Nothing spectacular, and in a very friendly atmosphere.
Both gentlemen were eager to confirm that BMW is interested in a solution and is indeed working on it.
Some interesting statements:
There are already test cars on the road to evaluate possible solutions
They are examining strut supports as well as strut braces
There are no precise results yet, however, they are working full speed on this
Inside of BMW a working group exists populated with high-ranking people to deal with this situation
Concerning repair methods:
At this point in time any bending of distorted strut towers is not allowed. However, they are examining, up to which degree of deformation this would be possible.
Most important: If a strut tower is "bulged", this does NOT automatically mean that the entire frame will have to be exchanged. There are repair parts available for the front of the car that enable the exchange of one or both sides. Still this must be repaired in one of the centers, but it is much less cost intensive than a frame exchange. I suggested that BMW should issue an official statement about this to inform their customers, since this is the crucial part of our discussions.
They also tested replacing the strut tower alone, however, the results were not satisfactory regarding the welding process and quality.
Still a lot of open questions, but they assured me that they will inform me soon about the next steps.