Was heading back from seeing some of the GF's friends today and was merrily driving along when suddenly the car started steering from the rear and a horrible noise started, managed to get the car pulled in and found this:


wheel2 by Adam Woodford, on Flickr

wheel1 by Adam Woodford, on Flickr

Just glad i was only doing around 30 rather than blasting down the motorway when it happened!

Not sure yet

Could be a failed ball joint/tie bar or a burst air spring, was no warning at all during the drive.

BMW had the car for a day 5 weeks ago to investigate a clunking sound, they couldnt find anything 

Mad camber yo.

Not sure yet

Could be a failed ball joint/tie bar or a burst air spring, was no warning at all during the drive.

BMW had the car for a day 5 weeks ago to investigate a clunking sound, they couldnt find anything 

Sounds like that was the noise then, maybe the ball joint if it was a clunking noise.
You ring them up, tell them your noise is now that, you could have crashed and been injured and you took it to them and they failed to spot it and they should sort you out!
Should get that fixed for free for the life threatening failure to find the problem.

I slid on the ice Saturday and nicked my steering rod a bit against the curb, so now I have  toe out drivable but a bit hard to keep steady.

You drive with snow boots/chains over there don't you bear? Must have been some pretty bad ice!

I use unstudded winter tyres but studs (unless Rally type) would not have helped on the wet shiny ice, I was doing 30 mph and that was to fast

Sorry to hear that mate!

Is it 2.5k because of the damage caused by it breaking or just how much it costs to get that part fixed, what was the problem in the end?

Have they offered to at least give the labor free?

Just been down the dealer to inspect the damage for myself

£2500 to repair.. merry f'in christmas!

Thats a lot of cash to outlay against a £7k car, didn't you get any warranty when you bought and if so does it cover the part in question.

Also what part is it you need, i can look on the national db at work and see how much they cost 2nd hand, maybe find someone near you selling one, and btw i wouldn't be taking it to a main dealer for repair work or even servicing unless you want to pay through the teeth, there are plenty of good specialists around and likely to be a lot cheaper.

I know a lot of run of the mill garages round here charge £50+vat/hour for work, i found a local lad who does work for £25inc/hour and he is far better than most places i have used and generally is on the ball with most stuff.