I purchased this car for my wife (This was her dream car.). It was a Certified Used Car with only 17,800 miles on the odometer. The first time I gave it a little test on high speed cornering, I noticed that the rear end did not feel very secure. It goes into a wobble.
I took it to the BMW dealer that I purchased it from to have them check out the rear suspension and they said it was ok.
Knowing that is was not ok, I took it to an independent garage and they also said that it was ok.
I basically gave up on the problem and drove it like a little old lady. My wife is not a fast driver, so there was no problem there.
After 3 and one half years I decided to tackle the problem again. I thought replacing the rubber rear suspension bushings with polyurethane bushings might help. When the mechanic raised the car off the garage floor, he called me and said that the problem was where the rear suspension connects to the main frame, it could move up and down an inch where it shouldn't move up and down at all. He said he would have to "make" a spacer to stop the monkey motion.
Now, I'm thinking, "Why would BMW design something like this?" When I asked the mechanic, he said he didn't know, but that for $1,300.00 he could fix it. Reluctantly, I gave him the go-ahead. Now I am really worried about having a mechanic redesigning the attachment of the rear suspension to body connection.
Has anyone ever heard of this problem? Of course BMW says, "Nein".
Dinan says they have a $2000.00 fix and that they have seen the results of the failure at the connection point. They weld in a bracket to beef up the body at the connection point. This is a BMW we're talking about. I can't believe this is happening.
At 2900 pounds, this is not a light weight sports car for its size (The Honda S2000 only weighs about 2400 pounds, granted it has a 4 cylinder engine instead of a 6.) But I have owned several BMW's before and always thought they were built very solid.
I am going to have a meeting with the mechanic and see what he has in mind before I let him proceed. I have built several kit cars and am familiar with modifying things to make them work, but since this is a stock car, I get a little worried when someone says they have to modify the suspension to body connection in order to make it work right.
If anyone has experienced this problem, please let me know if they had it fixed and what the fix was.
Thank you,
Jim A.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I purchased this car for my wife (This was her dream car.). It was a Certified Used Car with only 17,800 miles on the odometer. The first time I gave it a little test on high speed cornering, I noticed that the rear end did not feel very secure. It goes into a wobble. I took it to the BMW dealer that I purchased it from to have them check out the rear suspension and they said it was ok. Knowing that is was not ok, I took it to an independent garage and they also said that it was ok. I basically gave up on the problem and drove it like a little old lady. My wife is not a fast driver, so there was no problem there. After 3 and one half years I decided to tackle the problem again. I thought replacing the rubber rear suspension bushings with polyurethane bushings might help. When the mechanic raised the car off the garage floor, he called me and said that the problem was where the rear suspension connects to the main frame, it could move up and down an inch where it shouldn't move up and down at all. He said he would have to "make" a spacer to stop the monkey motion. Now, I'm thinking, "Why would BMW design something like this?" When I asked the mechanic, he said he didn't know, but that for $1,300.00 he could fix it. Reluctantly, I gave him the go-ahead. Now I am really worried about having a mechanic redesigning the attachment of the rear suspension to body connection. Has anyone ever heard of this problem? Of course BMW says, "Nein". Dinan says they have a $2000.00 fix and that they have seen the results of the failure at the connection point. They weld in a bracket to beef up the body at the connection point. This is a BMW we're talking about. I can't believe this is happening. At 2900 pounds, this is not a light weight sports car for its size (The Honda S2000 only weighs about 2400 pounds, granted it has a 4 cylinder engine instead of a 6.) But I have owned several BMW's before and always thought they were built very solid. I am going to have a meeting with the mechanic and see what he has in mind before I let him proceed. I have built several kit cars and am familiar with modifying things to make them work, but since this is a stock car, I get a little worried when someone says they have to modify the suspension to body connection in order to make it work right. If anyone has experienced this problem, please let me know if they had it fixed and what the fix was. Thank you, Jim A.
- jamesaadduci, Union City, CA, US