Dangerous Curves? BMW Z8 owners reporting cases of chassis warpage
Apparently, BMW's high-end Z8 roadster really was best left on the show-stand. The gorgeous piece of 507-influenced sculpture rolled into dealerships in 1999, at which point no one could be forgiven for wanting to place red velvet ropes 'round its perimeter. Well, Z8 owners, long convinced of their convertible's collectible status, might now be considering a different use for those ropes-- to strangle the company's engineers with.
According to Business Week, owners are reporting that sections of the car's aluminum chassis are prone to warping. In specific, the James Bond special's shock towers are apparently given to distorting. The flexible uprights make themselves known by wrenching some of the car's sensuous curves into new and unintended forms, leaving the cars (to say nothing their owners) shaken and stirred. Due to the inherent difficulty of working on the Z8's aluminum structure, even a rudimentary fix could cost tens of thousands of dollars. The question is, who is going to pay for it?
The issue, first discovered by members of the Z8 Club of Munich has now gained sufficient traction among owner's groups that BMW has been pressured into launching an inquiry.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nicholas Haug 8:10AM (1/19/2006)
BMW made this car for the movie. They just thought they could get away from developing it for the actual road. Quite a disappointment for Munich's "Ultimate Driving Machine".
www.performancegt.com
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Nicholas Haug 8:20AM (1/19/2006)
BMW made this car for the movie. They just thought they could get away from developing it for the actual road. Quite a disappointment for Munich's "Ultimate Driving Machine".
www.performancegt.com
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GrowUp 8:39AM (1/19/2006)
It's a serious manufacturing defect that affects the safety of the car. BMW should pay, power to the owners.
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spdracerUT 9:00AM (1/19/2006)
I guess they didn't do a very good job of FEA
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Shawn 9:06AM (1/19/2006)
Where did you get BMW made the Z8 just for the movie? I thought everyone knew the story behind the Z8 already.
Basically BMW's Board of Management went for a ride on some vintage cars. After which they gave the directive to create a roaster that was to be the spiritual successor to the 507. The assignment was given to Henrik Fisker.
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MattS 9:19AM (1/19/2006)
What else did this the Syclone right?
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Shaboobala 9:34AM (1/19/2006)
BMW=Bauen Mitt Warcrimes.
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Dave 9:40AM (1/19/2006)
Nicholas, I find it funny that you make an unsubstantiated claim, and than rip off the story and put it on your website.
As for BMW, this is unfortunate. They may have to bite the bullet on this one. Too bad, because the Z8 is a gorgeous vehicle in person. One of those cars that I would never own yet, as an enthusiast, I'm just happy that it exists.
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Car-la 9:47AM (1/19/2006)
That is some really bad news about a really nice car.
I'd be mightily enraged if I was an owner. If BMW doesn't want to lose some wealthy customers, they'd better get this fixed without aksing the owners to pay. Otherwise, this might have been the last BMW these people bought.
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Craig Weems 11:49AM (1/19/2006)
For cars currently unbent the fix will be simple. Additional braces will be welded/riveted/glued to existing supports. If the original design was an 80% solution they just have to improve it by 20%. The new supports will likely be pretty small they might look like a strut brace. Adding these supports to a straight chassis will not take long once the parts have been engineered and manufactured. For those poor souls with bent cars: I expect they will be returned to new condition and then have the fix applied. Remember when GM had the motor mount problem? Did they fix them? No they just put in a cable that kept the engine from moving to far if they did break.
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Geotpf 12:03PM (1/19/2006)
What about cars out of warranty? Some of these cars are six or seven years old now, and I don't think BMW has a ten year warranty, probably the standard 3 years. It is a manufacturer's defect, though, but the warranty has expired, so if BMW wants to get out of fixing them, I suppose they could.
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Robbie 12:14PM (1/19/2006)
This is in addition to problems that have arisen on the Z3 body type - many owners of the higher powered M coupes and roadsters (especially the last years with the 315hp S54 type engine) have reported structural problems with their rear differential mounts. Keep in mind this is made out of good old steel.
The mounts, which are stamped, can develop cracks initiating at one of the radiused corners. This can lead to failure of the diff mount and collapse of the rear suspension. Additionally, there is a cross member in the rear that has shown evidence of poor spot welds.
I was in the market for an M coupe until I read about this problem, now I am having second thoughts.
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Anthony A 1:05PM (1/19/2006)
It is amazing how people put a spin on a story like this. This is a total failure on this vehicles development process. Point being, if BMW let something major like this be released for production, it makes you wonder what else has slipped through.
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Corey W. 3:19PM (1/19/2006)
Even though this article has nothing to do with GM, I knew sooner or later someone would make a negative comparison. It never fails on this site!!
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the friendly grizzly 3:40PM (1/19/2006)
I can't imagine anything going wrong with a BMW. I mean, they ARE German...
(It all reminds me just how flimsy and cheap my 1969 2002 was. I lost all confidence in the car when, pulling the e-brake handle up, the mechanism tore right out of the floor-pan. I see the tradition continues).
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Justin 6:21PM (1/19/2006)
There is some established precedence for BMW repairing cars out of warranty. They Nikasil engine coating problem of their early- to mid-90s V8s come to mind. Ford made similar out-of-warranty repairs on the Taurus SHO's V8 engine.
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autoblog@orcatek.com 10:24AM (1/28/2006)
I believe BMW will fix the cars and made this video to show my continued joy at owning one.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7602889075141294244
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