Guess What I Found On Otherside Of My Trunk?(pics) - BMW Forum

Delmarco · 08-26-2005, 12:59 AM

So the mystery continues!!!

used

used
Can someone tell me how this is possible? One side totally bad and the other side perfect?
I'm lost at the fact that I drove around with this since like last April or May...at least that is when I heard the sounds...it could've been like this since I bought the car last year June 2004.

both RSMs:

The Driver's RSM is fucked!

Ljk619 · 08-26-2005, 01:22 AM

S*** that pretty bad. Looks something like a big rock caught in the tread of your tires and shot through (which is not likely at all), but it looks like $$$ is definitely going to be needed.

e36surge · 08-26-2005, 03:28 AM

Holy ****. The only thing I can hypothesize... most if not all all highway on-ramps and off-ramps (north america) are right hand turns. If you're 'prone' to hard driving maybe the weight shifting to the right side caused the RSM to go and continued driving caused the further damage to the sheet metal. Wow.. I've never seen anything like it... did you check your sub-frame underneath the car?

Find a good welding shop and have them repair and re-inforce. It shouldn't be that expensive. I had my Jeep's frame re-done (rear cross member) for about $300 CD$.

Good luck and sorry to hear about the bad break. Keep us up to date.

zeaq · 08-26-2005, 03:28 AM

Terrible!!

swanvesta · 08-26-2005, 04:50 AM

jesus! man that looks like something has been forced up through the metal. see how a piece is all curled over.. i've had a fence stake through my floor before in a landrover when i was off roading, but that was just thin ally, not steel! probably wont cost that much to fix if you take it to a car body repair shop or a small welding shop..

Dudesky_E36 · 08-26-2005, 05:26 AM

Okay, those are much better photos. I can't see any evidence of a paper gasket in the pics. Looks like it disntegrated (or was never installed), causing excessive rusting around the stud & nut area, and eventually shearing the metal.

theironm0nk · 08-26-2005, 08:14 AM

Remember that story you told us how you killed your shocks I think this is when it happened.

drz · 08-26-2005, 08:36 AM

A good body shop shouldn't charge you much to do it. Try to get someone to recommend you a place they've used.

Gator · 08-26-2005, 08:50 AM

It looks like the upper shock mount was violently ripped out while still bolted in place. It also looks like one side was pried downwards thus pushing the other side upwards while it was being ripped out from the underside of the car. I don't see how it could have been done with the shock still in place. In any case it was not the result of either normal or abnormal driving. If I had to guess, I would say the shock was removed and then someone pried out the upper shock mount with a crowbar while the mounting nuts were still in place.
If your lucky,a good body shop might be able to repair the damage without cutting out and welding in a new mount from a junked car. Anyway, good luck with the repair and be thankful that it didn't result in an accident.
As an afterthought, you might want the check with your insurance company. It just might be covered.

thekid · 08-26-2005, 09:30 AM

I vote to ban Delmarco if he continues to post these images that are offensive to my eyes.

That really does such though. I hope you get it back to normal.

Delmarco · 08-26-2005, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gator@Aug 26 2005, 07:50 AM
It looks like the upper shock mount was violently ripped out while still bolted in place. It also looks like one side was pried downwards thus pushing the other side upwards while it was being ripped out from the underside of the car. I don't see how it could have been done with the shock still in place. In any case it was not the result of either normal or abnormal driving. If I had to guess, I would say the shock was removed and then someone pried out the upper shock mount with a crowbar while the mounting nuts were still in place.
If your lucky,a good body shop might be able to repair the damage without cutting out and welding in a new mount from a junked car. Anyway, good luck with the repair and be thankful that it didn't result in an accident.
As an afterthought, you might want the check with your insurance company. It just might be covered.

[snapback]372601[/snapback]

no its not covered...

I think every E36 driver should go to their cars right now and peel back their trunk mats to see if the have this...

Ljk619 · 08-28-2005, 12:25 AM

The morning after I saw this post I went and starting tearing my trunk apart and checked my RSM's. Luckily mine are still in perfect condition, no rust or anything. But I couldn't sleep all night after looking at those pictures of yours, I was having nightmares. Was about to go out at 3 in the morning to start tearing apart my trunk and check them.