Cracked spring! + to do list (brakes etc), advice please

B

Booner

Member
 Oxfordshire
Hi guys,

Been pretty busy working away at a list of things to get done in a logical order and came across this cracked spring on the rear drivers side :(

crackedspring2custom.jpg


crackedspring1custom.jpg


Think I have any grounds to take this to BMW, considering the car is 4 years old....should a spring really shatter like that? Dodgy metal work?

So my logical order of summer improvements in the next few weeks is as follows:
2 x Continental PS2 tyres fitted to the rear - DONE found the cracked spring whilst fitting tyres.
Eibach lowering springs all round
OEM Discs all round
Redstuff pads all round
ATE Typ 500 brake fluid
Clutch delay valve delete mod
Full hunter laser alignment
Paint restoration and full detailing

That sound about right? would you guys do that lot in any other order?

It's a lucky car, my girlfriend is going to be jealous of the care I am giving to it! :D
 
Took my Zed to BMW dealer out of warranty with broken spring, quick call to BMW Central and spring replaced FOC BUT if your going to fit Eibachs why bother. As for the order of things - do all the mechanical stuff first and the detailing last just as you have listed and then send us some pics! :thumbsup:
 
AlanJ said:
As for the order of things - do all the mechanical stuff first and the detailing last just as you have listed and then send us some pics! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Agreed, given you are fitting some lowering springs, I'd get the alignment done straight after that.

As for the springs, it's a common failure, and there are reports of them going very early. Mine went just before it's 3rd birthday so covered under warranty.
 
Broken springs are a common problem, see here: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9219
Agree with the others, Eibachs then alignment. No need to trouble with replacement oe spring.
 
srhutch said:
I was going to say, think this is the first ///M to report this problem.
Click to expand...

Nope mine also went on the M probably around the 2 year/25K mark. Same spring too.

I had the same problem in my previous Z4 which was out of warranty at the time, I had to shell out for that myself about 200 iirc.
 
Haha I am not fat, I'm 22 years old and weigh 11.5 stone! I can't feel any clunks or bumps, but the alignment isn't right....pretty sure this has something to do with it!! :D

Well I would love for BMW to replace, but if it's common...I have been looking for an excuse to tip myself over the edge and buy Eibach springs. I will add them to the shopping list :)
 
i had the two rears replaced,one at 15.000 and the next went at 17.000!iv'e got eibach springs fitted now and iv'e got to say im really please how the car looks and handles.imo its a lot better on these springs than standard.on the oem springs the car seemed to wallow,all sorted now tho :D
 
Booner said:
Awesome, looking forward to getting them now!

Got any photos etedlm? :)
Click to expand...
have a look at the post titled springs on the 13th april somone posted up a picture of his ///m with eibachs fitted and standard 18 inch wheels :thumbsup:
 
Hi there,

I've just joined this forum. I have a BMW Z4M 2007 reg but I bought it in 2008 with 550 miles on the clock from BMW in auction and it was apparently a management car. The car has now done just over 10,000 as I don't drive it every day. It has just failed the 1st MOT due to two damaged coil springs on the rear and I am very suprised by this and even shocked.

Some people on the forum refer to EIBACH springs - Are these very good????

My concern is that the Z4M will be a bit of a headache car..... :? ....As it is now the springs will be replaced under warranty as it is just under three years by a matter of days but the repair would cost £306 here in the UK which isn't cheap. If it was the case that these springs would break very easily and need replacing very often it would be hard to justify keeping the car long term which is what I want to do subject to reasonable maintenance costs.

It would be great to here the views of all the folks with Z4M's here on the forum......
 
fraz said:
Hi there,

I've just joined this forum. I have a BMW Z4M 2007 reg but I bought it in 2008 with 550 miles on the clock from BMW in auction and it was apparently a management car. The car has now done just over 10,000 as I don't drive it every day. It has just failed the 1st MOT due to two damaged coil springs on the rear and I am very suprised by this and even shocked.

Some people on the forum refer to EIBACH springs - Are these very good????

My concern is that the Z4M will be a bit of a headache car..... :? ....As it is now the springs will be replaced under warranty as it is just under three years by a matter of days but the repair would cost £306 here in the UK which isn't cheap. If it was the case that these springs would break very easily and need replacing very often it would be hard to justify keeping the car long term which is what I want to do subject to reasonable maintenance costs.

It would be great to here the views of all the folks with Z4M's here on the forum......
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say replacing spring at £300 every 3 years is 'very often' or expensive. It is an ///M you're running after all. If that's all you've spent (which you haven't as it is covered under warranty) since you bought it then I'd say you're doing very well.
You're going to hate it when you need tyres or brakes, as a set of rear tyres will set you back £400 and BMW discs & pads all round will cost you about £800 fitted.
 
The car only has 10,000 miles on the clock which isn't much. I do expect to pay out on certain items like tyres (every x thousand miles) and brakes every x more thousands.....

How long should the coil springs be good for? or how many miles would you expect to get out of them for road driving?- -

Some may say how long is a piece of string????

Maybe I've just been unlucky???? is that a fair comment? - OR is it likely that they could go again in another 10k miles?
 
Springs do seem to be one of BMW's 'chocolate' parts on these cars. Springs should really last a long time. I've been told they(Z4 rear springs) go brittle and break around the bottom(or top is it?) not the middle so there should be no safety issues.

I believe the problem is due to using low quality metal during the manufacturing process. Even using the best metal occassionally imperfections will exist which one day 'could' cause a failure but this problem seems a bit too common on Z4's to be occassional imperfections.

I don't think £300 every 3 or so years is too bad though. And springs can be replaced individually so both might not always need replacing, apparently they don't sag or change over time as some people suggest (ie, a ten year old spring having covered x miles is still within tolerance even when compared to a brand new spring)
 
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