Terrible day...

[BimmerWill]

Well was leaving the gym this afternoon and looked right in the parking lot to check for merging traffic as I was turning left. Soon as I turned around to look where I was headed I ran right into a curb with the front passenger wheel. So far damage is pretty bad from what I can tell. Tore the bumper all to pieces, tore off some of the ducting to the brakes, bent the front control arm, curbed the wheel pretty bad as well as ate up the tire and mushroomed my shock mount.

The shock mount is what I'm most worried about...not sure if that's a fixable issue or not I'm pretty sure it isn't...here is some pics of the carnage.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/27/81a0daf2f8e8454ffe89217c46d5a033.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/27/2201dee383cbcaf343c43a89f85718d8.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/27/ac7ddcb044ae61e67ea232a629152ca2.jpg

Driver for comparison
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/27/63c73b2ae305f67e25caffc719814bef.jpg

I feel like such an idiot. Wasn't going more than 7-8 mph.

[cakM3]

Holy cow!!! :jawdrop

Sorry to see this :(

[BimmerWill]

I'm heartbroken. Not even sure where to begin. Waiting on a tow truck at the moment.

[cakM3]

Good luck....hope things will work out for you...

[3ZHP]

Not a good thing, hope it works out for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[johnrando]

I HATE reading bad news like this... so frustrating. Glad it wasn't worse... fingers crossed that the mount is OK. Sorry to hear.

[ELCID86]

Sorry Will.


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk.

[kayger12]

Dude... sorry to see this.

[Barefoot-ZHP]

Man that sucks!!!
Hang in there!
Did you install the IX reinforcement plates that fit underneath the shock towers?
If not, the part number is: 51 71 7 036 781, they are about $10 x2.. it helps with that…
You might need to go to Kmac or similar to get the alignment exactly right, I would at least install the IX plates if nothing else.

[BimmerWill]

Yeah plates will be first thing I do. Just got home with it. Won't no full extent of the damage until tomorrow morning when I can start taking her apart... Worst case scenario I'm looking at close to a grand to get her right again :( ... Again

[Fenrir]

Oh gosh I'm sorry :(

[Hornung418]

Bummer Will. Sucks to see all of this. Been there and you lucked out your radiator/condenser weren't damaged.

You can replace the front shocks as a pair and add in the rough road shock plates. They can bang that strut tower back into place and it will be as if nothing happened. Good chance to upgrade to ZHP control arms. Maybe even a ZHP bumper to replace the M3 rep? You'll be okay with a few hours of shop labor.

Good luck with the repairs!!

Sent from my GS3.

[Smilez]

Damn Will. Well I guess good excuse to upgrade ?

[BimmerWill]

Yeah this is true. Everything will be done by me if i can help it. My biggest concern is to get the alignment true again after the fact. Everything else can be fixed fairly simply. I'll have to check on the shock it may still be good but hard to tell so far.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/27/edbf7c60828b3c73268ac1a52ebf254f.jpg

Thank you all for the support I appreciate it.

[Smilez]

Might have bent the shock. I've done that :(

[Oli77]

Sorry to hear Will, hang in there, it will straighten itself out.

On a side note, didn't know you could bang the strut tower back in shape!

[BimmerWill]

Sorry to hear Will, hang in there, it will straighten itself out.

On a side note, didn't know you could bang the strut tower back in shape!
I'm certainly gonna give it a whirl then reinforce it.

[BimmerWill]

Might have bent the shock. I've done that :(
Lord I hope not. Seems to drive alright the little bit that I've moved it since the incident but who knows.

[oldzilla]

Hate to see that, hoping everything turns out for the best.

[danewilson77]

Beat the shock mount down with a 2x4. Replace broken bits. Get an alignment.

Done.

"No flamesuit required"

[BimmerWill]

Beat the shock mount down with a 2x4. Replace broken bits. Get an alignment.

Done.

"No flamesuit required"
You're speaking my language Dane!

Buddy I've had paint the bumper in the past quoted me $175 for spray of a new bumper so that's some good news.

[330i ZHP]

good luck with fix

[brettbimmer]

Oh man, sorry Will. Hope you are able to get her fixed and back on the road soon...without too much trouble or expense.

Sent from my pineapple under the sea.

[BimmerWill]

Thanks fellas

[ryankokesh]

Shit man. Hope Dane's right with his fix (he usually is...) Either way, good luck...


Sent from my iPhone

[BimmerWill]

Took two days ago... :/
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/27/d044a3e0f8038a9a350ad220ab7a674c.jpg

[WOLFN8TR]

Man I really hate seeing threads titled "Terrible Day".

Nothing worse than self inflicted car damage, believe me I know. :face palm

Hope she is good as new in no time!

[Vas]

Sorry to hear

[BimmerWill]

I am lucky I wasn't hurt as well as anyone else and that the car isn't in worse shape. Wheel could have buckled and tore the fender all up but it didn't. Debating on tearing it apart tonight and assessing the damage

[BCS_ZHP]

Will,
Get that right front strut out of there first, to inspect it, and second, to give you more room. Once it's out & the car is sturdily on jack stands, place a 2x4 on top of the shock tower and work your way around it to reverse the mushrooming. Take your time, don't be afraid to hit that 2x4 hard, use a 3-4 LB hand/mini sledge hammer to get some force behind it, you will tear up the 2x4's but that's to be expected. I did this with a 325 we bought with a mushroomed tower, kept comparing from one side to the other, pound a little more, check again, that shock tower will move back into shape and a proper alignment will correct the last bit. Good luck with it.
Bruce

[BimmerWill]

Will,
Get that right front strut out of there first, to inspect it, and second, to give you more room. Once it's out & the car is sturdily on jack stands, place a 2x4 on top of the shock tower and work your way around it to reverse the mushrooming. Take your time, don't be afraid to hit that 2x4 hard, use a 3-4 LB hand/mini sledge hammer to get some force behind it, you will tear up the 2x4's but that's to be expected. I did this with a 325 we bought with a mushroomed tower, kept comparing from one side to the other, pound a little more, check again, that shock tower will move back into shape and a proper alignment will correct the last bit. Good luck with it.
Bruce
That's what I was thinking I'd have to do thank you for the tips! Any idea the structural integrity of the tower will be after the fact? I would imagine it would be weaker since it will be bent twice (once out of place and once back in).

[mLuMaN83]

Dude...

I hope you get it sorted out with minimal headache. I feel for you, man.

I had somebody completely lock up the brakes in front of me while I was doing 75 on the highway in my S/C Tiburon. I looked away for a sec and back up to see a car locked up. I knew right away I couldn't stop so I went left into the median at 70 and slowly came to a stop. Completely tore up my body work, bent 2 rims, messed up some suspension pretty good, ripped some fuel lines, etc. My car looked a hot mess.

I know that feel.

[LivesNearCostco]

Will, sorry to hear. I had mushrooming in both my strut towers and I banged one flat myself and had a shop do the other one. Yours should be fine... perhaps a tad weaker for having been bent twice, but I'm sure with reinforcement plates they will hold up just fine.

Years ago I ran a borrowed car over a curb. Luckily it was a 4WD with big fat tires and not a very tall curb, so there was no apparent damage. My specialty for self-inflicted damage on the ZHP was running the bumper cover over parking blocks at low speed. After enough times this would either crack the pork chop wedge or tear out mounting points on the bumper cover (meant for securing the front of the pork chop).

Now that I have a new bumper cover (thanks to my track accident) I approach parking blocks very carefully and try to stop with at least 12" of space between bumper cover and the block. Whereas with the minivan, we just roll up the the parking block and with the fairly high ground clearance, never worry about scraping anything.

[Hornung418]

That's what I was thinking I'd have to do thank you for the tips! Any idea the structural integrity of the tower will be after the fact? I would imagine it would be weaker since it will be bent twice (once out of place and once back in).


Bummer Will. Sucks to see all of this. Been there and you lucked out your radiator/condenser weren't damaged.

You can replace the front shocks as a pair and add in the rough road shock plates. They can bang that strut tower back into place and it will be as if nothing happened. Good chance to upgrade to ZHP control arms. Maybe even a ZHP bumper to replace the M3 rep? You'll be okay with a few hours of shop labor.

Good luck with the repairs!!

Sent from my GS3.

See the emboldened and underlined text for the answer.

Sent from my GS3.

[BCS_ZHP]

That's what I was thinking I'd have to do thank you for the tips! Any idea the structural integrity of the tower will be after the fact? I would imagine it would be weaker since it will be bent twice (once out of place and once back in).

Yes the shock tower will be slightly weakened but by adding the reinforcement/rough road plates as others have stated, your afterwards setup should be stronger than before the incident. From how those 3 top strut mount (TSM) bolts have bent slightly outward, your TSM is likely history, don't try to reuse it, just replace it so you can have piece of mind that it's new. You hopefully did not bend the strut itself, it would take an awful lot of force to do that, just inspect that strut shaft thru its full travel motion while you're replacing the TSM.

[BimmerWill]

Okay starting to piece together a parts list and Ray (Smilez) is hooking me up with a bumper. All together this is looking like about a $800 repair. That is if I don't find any other issues along the way. That doesn't include tire and wheel repairs.

[johnrando]

Not too terrible.

[danewilson77]

Okay starting to piece together a parts list and Ray (Smilez) is hooking me up with a bumper. All together this is looking like about a $800 repair. That is if I don't find any other issues along the way. That doesn't include tire and wheel repairs.
This includes ZHP control arm? I think that alone is >$200.

"No flamesuit required"

[BimmerWill]

This includes ZHP control arm? I think that alone is >$200.

"No flamesuit required"
What are the benefits to the zhp arm? I was only going to replace the one as the other is not that old. That and would there be a difference since one would be zhp and the driver side would not?

[danewilson77]

Oops...my bust dude. Was thinking you had a ZHP. I'm on my tomato.

"No flamesuit required"

[BimmerWill]

Haha no I wish I did. Just a standard 330 for me sir.

[BCS_ZHP]

Not just, "the ultimate"...

[BimmerWill]

Not just, "the ultimate"...
Touche... She is my baby

[Hornung418]

ZHP arms are stiffer and translate to better road feel. Don't worry about itif the other one is newish.

Sent from my GS3.

[BimmerWill]

Gotcha thanks bud.

[Avetiso]

How did I miss this? Sorry to hear, Wil. Don't be too bummed out. A car is a car. That's it.

Still, it's a bummer and I hope you can fix it well.

[BimmerWill]

How did I miss this? Sorry to hear, Wil. Don't be too bummed out. A car is a car. That's it.

Still, it's a bummer and I hope you can fix it well.
Thank you. That's how I'm trying to look at it. Just another challenge to tackle :)

[johnrando]

How did I miss this? Sorry to hear, Wil. Don't be too bummed out. A car is a car. That's it.

Still, it's a bummer and I hope you can fix it well.

That is what you say when something happens to it that needs fixing. Yup, I get it. I tell myself that too when s!@# happens. But, outside of that, a car is not just a car. Part of that is why we're here.... it's more than just a car. :)

[Avetiso]

That is what you say when something happens to it that needs fixing. Yup, I get it. I tell myself that too when s!@# happens. But, outside of that, a car is not just a car. Part of that is why we're here.... it's more than just a car. :)
True to some extent. I guess it depends from person to person. My car enthusiasm is for cars in general, not one specific car. My car just got side swiped hit and run, and I was surprisingly not upset about it. It's life.

[johnrando]

Good attitude for sure.
Not much you can do about it. I do LOVE my car though. :biggrin Sorry to hear about the side swipe.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Avetiso]

Good attitude for sure.
Not much you can do about it. I do LOVE my car though. :biggrin Sorry to hear about the side swipe.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Shoot. I love your car, too. :biggrin

[BimmerWill]

Oh man that really sucks sorry to hear. I don't feel nearly as bad about what happened to mine. Could be much worse

[johnrando]

Shoot. I love your car, too. :biggrin

:wub

[BimmerWill]

Going to get a tire on Tuesday and hopefully an alignment done then off to paint. I'm so ready to have her back but haven't been able to work on it because of school. Maybe driving next weekend who knows!

Anyone know the best way I could go about fixing my wheel or would I be better off getting a replacement?