Broken Rear Spring

skilby99

Member
Just thought i would share my experience with you guys as i have learnt so much from the board...

On Friday as i approached my 04 Z4 3.0 parked on the drive i saw what looked part of a spring on the floor, it was in fact part of the rear spring that had snapped off. Having read that the Z4 was prone to this i wasnt that surprised but a little miffed it had happened to my car.

I decided to ring my local dealer (Bluebell BMW) as the car has FSH with them, I chatted with the service guy and he admitted that this was a common fault for the Z4 and would be happy to put a request through to BMW for a "goodwill gesture" request and BMW might part issue credit on either the spring/labour or if extremely lucky both!

I asked him about the likleyhood of BMW paying for the lot (as it was quite clearly a fault with the spring) and he wouldnt commit as BMW do it on a case by case basis, he then went on to explain that in order for him to send the request to BMW he would have to examine the car for 1 hour to ensure it was genuine fault....at a cost of £129! I asked if BMW would cover this charge as well and he said no.

Trying to get some sort of guaranteed subsidy to this problem i rang BMW Customer service and spoke with a lady who also admitted this was a common fault but would not give me indication if BMW would pay anything towards it, as per the previous chap i spoke to she said it is considered on a case by case basis.

Dont get me wrong, i am not that worried about the cost, what i am annoyed about is the fact that this is clearly a fault of BMW and substandard parts and they refuse to admit any responsabilty up front until you have commited to the £129 inspection charge and even then they have the right to walk away.

It makes my blood boil that a company like BMW can still charge their customers money to have a repair done that was caused by substandard materials! :evil:

I would be interested to know of any other people on the forum who had this problem and if BMW have helped fund the repair. :(
 
Took the Z4 for a short drive this afternoon and whilst trundling through Enniskiillen town centre at less than 10mph heard a metallic thud and a "chink...chink...chink..." noise as something bounced about on the road and wondered what I'd just run over.

When the traffic cleared and my speed went over 30mph, the slightest road imperfection gives a load metallic rattle from my rear offside wheel..... does that sound like a broken spring to you?

Does to me :evil: especially as it appears to happen so often it probably deserves it own sub-section on this forum :D But after just 16mths and 12k miles??

Called BMW emergency service when I got home and spoke to Steven, who was really helpful but somehow didn't go along with my broken spring theory. To save time tonight (we have loads to do and the Zed is 10 miles away in her garage) he suggested it was ok to drive it the 20 miles to Prentice's in Omagh tomorrow.

Couldn't have happened at a better time... we have a long UK trip organised from first thing Thursday morning.... hope they can fix it.

If it is the spring, do they replace just the broken one or both? I would think both the same as you would for shocks, but just want to be armed with the right info come tomorrow....

Advice appreciated guys and gals!
 
That sounds like the same as when mine went.

They replaced just the one off-side spring. took 'em a couple of days but that was the only because they hadnt got the spring in stock.

fingers crossed everything is sorted out for you nice and quick :)
 
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