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:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8323147262_b9024f55ba_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12512629@N07/8323147262/)
wheel2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12512629@N07/8323147262/) by Adam Woodford (http://www.flickr.com/people/12512629@N07/), on Flickr
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8495/8323147118_628779cdbd_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12512629@N07/8323147118/)
wheel1 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12512629@N07/8323147118/) by Adam Woodford (http://www.flickr.com/people/12512629@N07/), on Flickr
Just glad i was only doing around 30 rather than blasting down the motorway when it happened!
Thats a dangerous one, what has caused that?
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 :thumbdown:
Your lucky running with cars is about as good as mine at the minute, I hope it's nothing major for you man.
Mad camber yo.
You have worst luck with cars than me, its official. :dunno: :thumbup:
Quote from: Binary Shadow on December 29, 2012, 21:38:06 PM
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 :thumbdown:
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 had the car recovered to the same dealer that did the work/checking, by the time we got it there no one was there and the service dept had closed at lunchtime anyway.
Popped in this morning and service dept was closed but confirmed with the staff that I had left the car there and it couldn't be driven so its been sat in the customer car park looking sorry for itself with the tow eye and wonky wheel all day.. great advert for them im sure.
Should call me tomorrow at which point i'll be asking just how its broken so badly so soon after they gave me the all clear no issues found speech.
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!
Quote from: Clock'd 0Ne on December 31, 2012, 12:06:47 PM
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 :D
Just been down the dealer to inspect the damage for myself :(
£2500 to repair.. merry f'in christmas!
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?
Yeah, really sorry to hear that! Have they said what caused it or if its related to what you took it in for in the first place? It seems to me that if you think its possible it could be from something they missed it might be worth an independent inspection. 2.5k is a lot for something that could have potentially been avoided because of them!
Quote from: Binary Shadow on December 31, 2012, 16:45:44 PM
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.
There is significant damage from the failure.
The ball joint connecting the top control arm to the hub assy failed.
It appears to have gone with no warning, they are adamant that there was nothing wrong when they checked it. They noted some bits and bobs about the lower bushes getting tired but nothing else.
The bill includes
Replace control arm, failed
Replace brake discs, badly scored need to replace both sides, will resurface pads as they have plenty left.
Replace brake splash guard, destroyed.
Replace wheel arch liner, destroyed, they will also paint the body where the damage is to stop it corroding.
Replace drive shaft, this had failed (leaking grease) before the incident but I was ignoring it as alone is £700 to replace.
Replace air springs (pair), these are working but are very tired so may as well replace while its all in pieces to save some labour cost.
Replace wheel bearing
Replace tyre, ruined.
They have also found a fuel leak.
Its amazing how much damage was done, the control arm dropped onto the brake splash guard rolling it over the disc and grinding a hole into it before badly scoring the disc, the tyre rubbed the arch liner burning through it and into the bodywork underneath, trashing the inner wall of the tyre.
Its a fair chunk of work and parts so im not really surprised at the cost now I have seen it. They have dropped the labour involved in diagnosing it (over £100) and given me a loan car for the duration, so theres some good will from the dealer. I also get discounted labour and parts due to the age of the vehicle, I shudder to think how much it would cost without that!
It's why I like old cars :D
If it brakes to this extent, just forget about it. Walk away.
What car :D
Quote from: Binary Shadow on January 01, 2013, 12:46:07 PM
The ball joint connecting the top control arm to the hub assy failed.
It appears to have gone with no warning, they are adamant that there was nothing wrong when they checked it.
Bollocks,
I'd be going to see a solicitor if it was me.
Any one remember moggy 1,000's and marinas at the side of the road with the front wheel hanging off, that's because mechanics! didn't know how to check them.
Give all that I'd be seeking a second opinion as filbert says, see if you can get another mechanic/AA inspector out to look at it perhaps? I know jack about the mechanics of it but I'm pretty sure there's no reason anything like that should happen without warning under normal conditions IMO, I've been driving long enough to never have one corner of the car decide to implode on me. Especially given its a top of the range Beemer!
Yes, if you know how you can tell if a balljoint is on it's way out, the swedish MOT told me I had one I should replace before next years test so they knew it was faulty but not yet dangerous (otherwise it would not have passed).
how did it fail ?
not familiar with the setup on that car, so had to google for diagrams/pictures...
but for a start... there are no ball joints on the back end... you only need them on the front end where the wheels steer
there's plenty of rubber bushes on the back end
but if one of those is going to fail, you can tell for a good while before it does... even if the rubber in it magically dissipeared, it should still hot together, it's just a bolt through a hoop with rubber between, if rubber goes the bolt is still stuck inside the hoop?
only think I can think of is it snapped clean off....
if it has snapped off, got and see it asap, look at the break and see if there's any rust in it... if there is then it was cracked for a while before it broke and they should have noticed it
(99% of people would probably miss it, but it's enough for you to argue for a better price, especially seeing as it could have killed you)
if it just snapped clean off, then it was a faulty part :(
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=NJ72&mospid=47762&btnr=33_1219&hg=33&fg=30
Item 20 theres a ball joint that connects the control arm to the hub
Quote from: Binary Shadow on January 02, 2013, 09:05:45 AM
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=NJ72&mospid=47762&btnr=33_1219&hg=33&fg=30
Item 20 theres a ball joint that connects the control arm to the hub
If they had pried the balljoint they should've been able to tell that it was faulty ! I could do that !
Really you shold only pay for replacement of balljoint (and driveshaft)the rest had not been damaged if they had done a proper check when you had the clonking and asked them to check.
ahhh, that's a different diagram to the one I was looking at... odd use of a ball joint tbh
I'd still want to see it, and see how it failed
it's easy to be a keyboard warrior on here and say you should demand it all repaired for free etc... but the garage will tell you to shove it unless you have a decent reason/evidence behind it.... without that they'll just tell you to shove it
and tbh.... better of going to an independent garage
even the euro car parts type places can get genuine BMW parts for a fraction of the cost now (I know a bmw wings are £14 because a mate got one a while back)
if you give me your reg/model info etc.. and a list of parts, I could get them priced up for you.... main dealers normally have a 60% markup on parts to start with
if you could get parts at cost, and cheap labour you'd be onto a winner
I did some phoning around and stuff but tbh factoring the cost and effort to get the car moved i decided to do what i could with BMW
£1700 and several days later I have my car back in a rolling state, it still needs a new tyre and brake discs but I cut some corners to be able to drive it out of there.
Has new air springs and a drive shaft on top of new brake back plate, wheel arch platics, control arm and other bits and bobs.
Not driven it far but that clunk I took it in for.. doesnt appear to still be there.. :tinhat: