2012 LCI with broken rear springs

[E46_TommyP]

Hey guys, was wondering if anyone else has had broken rear springs on their e70. Packed the x5 up for a family vacation to Maine this passed Saturday, maybe 150lbs worth of stuff. Drove about 10 miles up on the Taconic state parkway, and all of a sudden I heard a loud pop kind of noise like my tire just blew out. So pull over look at the tires and nothing. So I drive a little bit and I can definitely tell something is wrong. Truck is super bouncy and I hear a rattle coming from the passenger rear. Drove the car home and swapped cars. Fast forward to yesterday, bring the x5 up to my buddie's shop when I got home from vacation yesterday. Both rear springs broke and they managed to spiral down around the axle and springs were sitting on the control arms. I searched and didn't really find any cases for the e70. I was shocked considering I have pretty low miles (52k) and i literally drive back and forth to work, there's no off-roading or beating on this truck. I'm pretty baffled by this. Just wondering if there has been any other cases.

[ard]

I might have read one or two posts here and on BF about this. Certainly a rarity.

Might try to hassle BMW for a repair if you are close to the 4 year warranty... Given a buddy with a shop, prolly not worth the effort.

But...Worth you reporting it to NHTSA as an event that could have caused a loss of control.

[E46_TommyP]

Originally Posted by ard

I might have read one or two posts here and on BF about this. Certainly a rarity.

Might try to hassle BMW for a repair if you are close to the 4 year warranty... Given a buddy with a shop, prolly not worth the effort.

But...Worth you reporting it to NHTSA as an event that could have caused a loss of control.

My buddy is a bmw tech and him and all of his coworkers have not heard of a case like this with an e70. I was going to bring it to bmw but he works at my local bmw and he said they would laugh at me if I tried to get them to replace out of the warranty period. Just ran out in january. I will update with pictures once I get the old springs out and have them in front of me.

[ard]

BMW has a written "goodwill" policy- the dealer can actually approve stuff that is just barely out of warranty.

HOWEVER, it is at the dealer's discretion- if your buddy knows his shop (i.e. The front office/SAs) are bascially kind of dicky, then that's that.

Here is the one I was thinking of: https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...r-springs.html

Rare though.... Does that make you feel better? Or just super unlucky??

[E46_TommyP]

Update:
So my buddy and I installed the new springs on Saturday. What a pain in the ass. You know it's going to be a job when you pull up the bmw job manual and each job calls for 4 hours a side and the job asks for bmw specific tools. Luckily we did not need a spring compressor for this. Job went smooth and x5 is back on the road. Passenger spring broke at the bottom about 3/4 of a coil, driver side broke at the top and bottom and the bottom wrapped tight around the control arm, we had to cut it to get it off. Really hope I won't have to do this ever again. Spring orientation in pictures are the same to get an idea of how much is actually missing from one to the other.

NEW SPRING ON RIGHT OLD ON LEFT


DRIVER SIDE SPRING BEFORE WE TOOK IT OUT


DRIVER SIDE RIGHT PASSENGER LEFT COMPARISON


DRIVER LEFT PASSENGER RIGHT

[E46_TommyP]

rear spring number is 33536779860 for both sides. I also strongly suggest you buy x2 lower spring pads(3353687003). lower spring guide pad(3353687004). x2 upper spring pads(3353687006)

[bfeng]

I have seen this happen multiple times on our ML SUV's around 70k miles. The ends of the spring are subject to getting sand/grit ground into the protective coating where they flex against the spring perches. Once that paint is compromised, winter road salt starts to weaken the spring. Plus, a build up of dirt/grit on the perches holds salt and moisture against the spring and makes corrosion worse. Our's have all broken at one of the ends. Dealer has been clear with us that springs are a wear item. Anyway, not surprised it happens with our E70's as well. On our latest ML, I've been trying to wash that area of the undercarriage better during the winter. Don't know if it will help or not. The British solution would be to make sure your lever shocks leak just enough to keep that area forever coated in oil.

[philly42]

I had a spring break....not in the X5M but in the MZ3. They were not oem but TCKline springs. They said it's not common but does happen and replaced it. This happened when I was in NY....maybe it's the crappy roads there roads. LOL