Part number for the Reinforcement Plate Bolts

[cn90]

1+,

Agree with @aureliusmax.

While investigating an oil leak, I left out this aluminum plate for weeks while chasing the leak (turned out to be the return hose to the PS Pump, easy fix).
I drove around for weeks w/o the plate.
Zero issues whatsoever. Yes, I re-used the bolts a few times. Zero issues.

E46 3-series has no plate, E39 5-series has no plate, E83 X3 has a tiny plate.

Every time there is a thread like this, there are armchair generals coming out saying:
- You must use new bolts.
- You must drive with the plate.
Or the sky will be falling....These are the people that believe the BMW engineers like a Bible.

Then there are those of us who don't believe everything BMW engineers tell us. We challenge their wisdom...

This topic (re-use the bolt, and can one drive without the plate) has been beaten to death. For more entertainment, people should search for that thread.

PS: if we want to advance society, we need to challenge the conventional wisdom...

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by cn90

...

Every time there is a thread like this, there are armchair generals coming out saying:
- You must use new bolts.
- You must drive with the plate.
Or the sky will be falling....These are the people that believe the BMW engineers like a Bible. ...

I never said you must use new bolts (and I don't).

I did say you should never drive without the plate installed. Guilty as charged. Was quoting BMW on that...

I never said anything about the sky or the bible... or believing everything BMW say. Which I don't.

What I WAS trying to say (and I didn't make the point very well) - just because we don't understand the reason for a design consideration doesn't make it wrong.

Again, wild guess on my part - the X5 was marketed as an all-road vehicle (unlike the e46 for example) so BMW probably added a bunch of extra design considerations because of this.

In normal use, I also doubt that having the reinforcing plate off will cause any issues - I was just trying to point out that stating it has zero structural effect is just plain incorrect.

And you don't need to be an engineer to see that...