Oh dear......

S

shabba

Member
Hi all,

Not good, was driving along and heard a big bang, like I'd bottomed out, got out and on 1st quick inspeciton couldnt see anything, checked underneath etc. However once I reached my destination a few miles later I checked again and it seems the front passenger side suspen has basically collapsed! This has caused the tyre to also wear right out on the inner wall, I mean literally wear right through!

Also I've just noticed a bulge in the other front tyre, so I will need a pair of tyres and a front shock. Has anyone else every seen or heard of this happening? I was driving normally not fast, didnt hit any potholes etc.

Seems the plate at the bottom of the spring has just shapped off or something.

My cheap weekend at a mates is suddenly looking very expensive.
 
Sounds like it could be the lower control arm/ball joint has collapsed? I'm amazed you were able to drive it :o
 
Looks like the bit that holds the spring in place has just gone, spring is just flapping. Yep it's literally destoryed the trye!
 
Any pics Shabba? Might be useful for people to see. Sorry to hear the bad news, but hey, everythings fixable....could have been a lot worse eh! :thumbsup:
 
Only got pics of the car itself looking rather low, didn't have a jack to hand. Will replace both front shocks and both front tyres, expensive times, just strange thing to happen.
 
shabba said:
Only got pics of the car itself looking rather low, didn't have a jack to hand. Will replace both front shocks and both front tyres, expensive times, just strange thing to happen.
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But thats pretty unusual for any car to be honest, so i wouldn't let it spoil your enjoyment :thumbsup:
 
You've got me worried now! The other week there was a really loud bang just as we were pulling away from a set of traffic lights. At first, I thought someone had rammed the car from behind, but they hadn't. A quick inspection didn't reveal any damage anywhere obvious and there was nothing under the car. Think I'd better make a more thorough examination!
:?
 
allhitradio said:
You've got me worried now! The other week there was a really loud bang just as we were pulling away from a set of traffic lights. At first, I thought someone had rammed the car from behind, but they hadn't. A quick inspection didn't reveal any damage anywhere obvious and there was nothing under the car. Think I'd better make a more thorough examination!
:?
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yours sounds like the cracked rear spring issue
 
paddy wright said:
allhitradio said:
You've got me worried now! The other week there was a really loud bang just as we were pulling away from a set of traffic lights. At first, I thought someone had rammed the car from behind, but they hadn't. A quick inspection didn't reveal any damage anywhere obvious and there was nothing under the car. Think I'd better make a more thorough examination!
:?
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yours sounds like the cracked rear spring issue
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Really? Oh well I suppose I'd better bite the bullet and take it in to be looked at!
 
allhitradio said:
paddy wright said:
allhitradio said:
You've got me worried now! The other week there was a really loud bang just as we were pulling away from a set of traffic lights. At first, I thought someone had rammed the car from behind, but they hadn't. A quick inspection didn't reveal any damage anywhere obvious and there was nothing under the car. Think I'd better make a more thorough examination!
:?
Click to expand...
yours sounds like the cracked rear spring issue
Click to expand...

Really? Oh well I suppose I'd better bite the bullet and take it in to be looked at!
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You probably dont need to take it in to get it checked. Assuming you still have the alloys you had in your new member post, then you can probably see the majority of the spring without even removing the wheel (torch is helpful to get light where you need it). That plus running your fingers along spring helped confirm the issue I had.
 
Not as bad as I thought...

I was expecting to have to replace at least the 2 rear springs, but got away with only one. Also, the engine light has been on and off for weeks. In the end, this is all I had to have done:

1 Oxygen Sensor 95.00
1 Spring 77.00
Labour 67.50
VAT 47.90
Total £287.40

I was expecting far worse and was having thoughts about selling the Zed. I seem to have found a pretty good Indie BMW specialist here in Lincoln (Forrest Motors), so maybe I'll give it a bit longer before making a decision.
:D
 
Nearside rear spring broken at 43k miles. a very common problem. I had this with my E46 M3, E46 330, and E46 318i. A rare bad design by BMW!
 
Wizas said:
Nearside rear spring broken at 43k miles. a very common problem. I had this with my E46 M3, E46 330, and E46 318i. A rare bad design by BMW!
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Yet I've not had a broken spring on any of my BMWs, from a lowly e34 520 to my current Z4MC (with 49,998 miles on it).
 
If the OP has had both nearside tyres damaged,which it sounds like, maybe he did either run over something or drop into a pot hole.He may have done it on another journey, but the failure happened on a subsequent one and just took a while to manifest itself.Bad luck whatever happened.
 
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