shock tower torn

[Teh Prof]

My driver's side rear shock tower has torn. Guess I should be a little less spirited, huh?

My mechanic says he can weld a plate on top with appropriate cutouts for screws, and that the tower will be stronger than it was when it came from the factory afterwards. Really frustrating though. I'm really lucky it didn't tear all the way.

Proof that I do in fact own an E36:

[preyash]

Thats rough man, hope it all works out good, how did it crack.

Preyash

[Teh Prof]

Originally Posted by preyash

Thats rough man, hope it all works out good, how did it crack.

Preyash

That's the big mystery. I was just driving along one day and it started making noises. I don't recall that I was doing anything especially wild when I started hearing it.

[///M Power]

Go to the dealer. There's a specific part number for the exact plate to weld onto the shock tower. Yeah that's right it's such a common problem the dealership has a part number for a plate to weld onto the tower

[Teh Prof]

Sadly the dealer doesn't seem to know what you're talking about, although there is some sort of ancillary reinforcement brace they recommended. Sigh.

[///M Power]

Tell them STFU and look again. It's a $15 part and you get your local welder to fix it for you. Takes a few hours. Should be like $500-$600 total


And after you get that done put in a set of these: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html...ID=BMS3005-100

[e36surge]

Is this the part? #'s 16 and 17 in the link below:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...42&hg=41&fg=25

You can find aftermarket for better reinforcement. See link below:

http://www.bimmerworld.com/html/rear...ent-plates.htm

Hope this helps.

[Teh Prof]

16/17 are in fact the replacements. The body shop is welding them in, hopefully over the weekend so I can stop driving this POS Saturn Ion. Said it should cost me about $300.