E46 shock tower crowning?
 

Huh. This is really a problem for E46's? :scratch:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=128511

Funky....

I've largely settled on the E46 but I've heard a few things about the car such as the water pump and a possible "rotten sub floor" somewhere out back (I guess a weak pinch weld that can tear?). Now this?

Does anyone have an idea how serious this is for the E46? Seems like a strut brace may help or would that simply concentrade stress elsewhere?

Is this just one more thing to add to the list of stuff to watch for on the E46's?

The rear subframes are weak and the rear trailing arm mounts are weak. The rear subframe afflicted the E36 but not the E36 M3, the trailing arm mounts have been weak since the E36 was introduced. E46 has the same cooling system maladies as the E36 - most of them just aren't old enough to have issues yet.

Probably not a huge deal for a car that isn't tracked.

Which means Nick's car(s) is about to implode upon itself.

Alex

Great, now I have to go check my car. I've hit a couple of potholes hard in the last 38K miles.

:speechle:

Sounds like another place for your BFH.

Maybe the angioplasty will make it change its ways :dunno:

:+1

(well, make that 81K miles)

OK, I just checked mine, and they're definitely not flat. And the bolts are definitely not parallel.

But I'm not convinced this is actually wrong:

1) The bolts are fixed as part of the strut assembly. (The rotating top piece, whatever that's called). If these are not parallel, then this means that after the shock tower bowed, it bent all of these bolts too? I don't remember what they looked like when they were off the car (whether they were slightly angled) but I have a hard time believing they are all bent (and if so that would be really bad. :scratch: )

2) It makes sense to have a bit of an arch in the top. When you pop the pin and slide the suspension around in the camber slots, the top is moving in a slight arch. If the top of the tower were perfectly flat, the small camber adjustment wouldn't work right.


EDIT: and even if it's not normal, if it gives me some extra negative camber, I'm not sure I care. :eeps: