[microways85]

I recently had my car repaired by a car body shop from a front end damage. The chassis leg was pulled out .

However the leg is kinked from the pulling out . I raised this with the body shop and they now want me to buy a piece from a breaker and they are looking to weld on the new piece to replace the kinked area .

Is this the right way to do it can the chassis leg Piece be removed and welded back on ?

It's the kinked area piece that I meant .

Thanks in advance

Link to picture


https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi...9301&source=48

[RoundelM3]

Repairing unibody chassis components is very different from the older body-on-frame style. Difficult to say whether cutting and replacing that piece will restore original chassis integrity or not. It would have to be done very carefully and with a particular type of welding technique to avoid future degradation from corrosion and normal flexing.

[Daftasabrush]

Photo attached (easier for others to see).

The only way of properly repairing that is by buying the new section from bmw: https://www.etkbmw.com/bmw/EN/search...20/ECE/41_2140

This is not a cheap repair to do correctly. Usually (certainly in the UK) cars are crushed if they have chassis damage like that as it's uneconomical to repair them.

[Wires]

Originally Posted by roundel335

Repairing unibody chassis components is very different from the older body-on-frame style. Difficult to say whether cutting and replacing that piece will restore original chassis integrity or not. It would have to be done very carefully and with a particular type of welding technique to avoid future degradation from corrosion and normal flexing.

What he said. Once it's creased like that, there is zero strength left, and it will naturally want to bend in that spot again (so it needs to get fixed).

[rking117]

If this is an insurance job then they are obligated to either repair or total it. So i would definitely raise the question to them to sort out.

[IndotagSwizz]

in the US this is the type of stuff you get into when you see "rebuilt" tittle....and guess what those cars go for..... half or less than half money than what the same exact car without structural damage is...guess why..

[Daftasabrush]

The problem with repairing this outside of the official process is if you strengthen or weaken something while fixing it then it won't retain the designed crumple zones. This means that in a crash it won't act as intended and could seriously impact someone's life as a result. When cars are designed and manufactured, great care is put in to ensure they're designed, welded and tested so that each and every car performs identically in a given crash. Unless you follow the correct repair procedures with genuine parts, you compromise this design significantly.

[greekcs]

wow. that looks very substandard. Did your insurance company pay for the repair or was it out of pocket?

[Daftasabrush]

Looking at the other threads he's posted on the internet about this (across many different forums) this wasn't an insurance job, his story differs too, in some he bought a repaired cat D car, in others he repaired the car. Either way, it's fucked.

[microways85]

Well it's now been made to look good so can't tell anymore

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by microways85

Well it's now been made to look good so can't tell anymore

Old thread I know but still thought id put in my $0.02.
You cant tell until u crash something, even lightly hitting something, that rail will fall off like an icicle. I've rebuilt dozens of BMWs myself and you should always replace the damaged section with a new one, at the very very least if your doing a ghetto and budget repair un drill that section out and pound it flat from both sides and then weld it back on, that will at least give it some strength back and the welds will stiffen the surrounding areas so if you crash again at least it won't collapse completely again where the crease was.

Regarding the other question if you can replace sections of the chassis, yes you can and BMW sells various sections of the unibody and they are not that expensive to buy. Its always best to replace body sections that have been severely kinked instead of just pulling them out

[Tomka 330e]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

Old thread I know but still thought id put in my $0.02.
You cant tell until u crash something, even lightly hitting something, that rail will fall off like an icicle. I've rebuilt dozens of BMWs myself and you should always replace the damaged section with a new one, at the very very least if your doing a ghetto and budget repair un drill that section out and pound it flat from both sides and then weld it back on, that will at least give it some strength back and the welds will stiffen the surrounding areas so if you crash again at least it won't collapse completely again where the crease was.

Regarding the other question if you can replace sections of the chassis, yes you can and BMW sells various sections of the unibody and they are not that expensive to buy. Its always best to replace body sections that have been severely kinked instead of just pulling them out

Hi any one know where and how I can order some parts (BMW sells various sections of the unibody and they are not that expensive)

[schernov]

Dealer or any other online oem parts reseller