Z4 - Cracked top front suspension Strut Mount

P

portculisz4

Member
I have just seen some frightening YouTube videos (USA Based) on the Z4 top mount for the front suspension struts, the illustrations showed a crack about 75% of the way around the centre where the top damper piston is secured. Can't imagine the result if this failed completely. Has anyone seen this problem and had to deal with it ??
 
Yep, had this problem on my passenger side (UK) where it was cracked roughly 2/3 the way around. Fortunately it never gave up. Changed out the entire assembly including top mounts, struts, springs etc for new on both sides. Issue solved.
 
z4003.jpg

Is this what you mean? the struts themselves?

Or strut tower cracks

rouge-cracked-e46.jpg

Lots of BMW suffer with this hitting a pot hole hard can cause this. Can be solved with a strut brace if they are little. Otherwise Welding up, grinding and repainting is a solution if they aren't too bad. The strut towers can also be replaced.

BMW did make a reinforced top mount for the M3 CSL that can be added to the Ms.

In the 10 years of being on here ive not seen it recorded that much as im sure a lot of people don't want to document this as most move through the forum for sale but I have seen a handful of cars with this issue.

Loads of E36 3 series have issues with this but pretty much all sports cars suffer with it with stiffer suspension

Guide here
/Volumes/Marketing/Marketing (TH)/Marketing/SOCIAL MEDIA/GLOBUS GROUP HEALTHCARE/Made in UK/Made in UK finals

Most recent big news items with this is the Porsche Cayman 981 GT4s having massive failures and Porsche basically not supporting the issue.

yjz77U9D.jpg
 
The video above is about the top mount itself failing, rather than the mounting point on the strut tower for the brace.

Here's a frame from the video
screenshot.png

Would any cracks in the top mount be visible without removing the strut?
 
tomscott said:
z4003.jpg

Is this what you mean? the struts themselves?

Or strut tower cracks

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Lots of BMW suffer with this hitting a pot hole hard can cause this. Can be solved with a strut brace if they are little. Otherwise Welding up, grinding and repainting is a solution if they aren't too bad. The strut towers can also be replaced.

BMW did make a reinforced top mount for the M3 CSL that can be added to the Ms.

In the 10 years of being on here ive not seen it recorded that much as im sure a lot of people don't want to document this as most move through the forum for sale but I have seen a handful of cars with this issue.

Loads of E36 3 series have issues with this but pretty much all sports cars suffer with it with stiffer suspension

Guide here
/Volumes/Marketing/Marketing (TH)/Marketing/SOCIAL MEDIA/GLOBUS GROUP HEALTHCARE/Made in UK/Made in UK finals

Most recent big news items with this is the Porsche Cayman 981 GT4s having massive failures and Porsche basically not supporting the issue.

yjz77U9D.jpg
Click to expand...

That’s a brown trousers moment if moving at all, sheer panic if tramping on
 
Replaced all my shocks and springs over the last 2 days. Front left strut was 75% cracked. 0
 

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Question for anyone with the cracks running around the top mounts:
Other than to look at, were you getting any symptoms when driving?
 
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