Broken Rear Radius Rods?

[DoubleA98391]

I'm the second owner of the car. I know its not for offroad stuff like rock climbing but it has seen a dirt road or two. I always go slow on them. According to the dealership the previous owner was a doctor's wife so maybe she took it rock climbing lol...
I have a suspicion something happened to it at the mechanic I was told to take it to (he's the only one in my town that does BMW) because some of the plastic under panels have cracks and I have never applied enough force to crack them. The problem also started right after I got it back from him.
As for a collision, I'm not sure but the CarFax is clean. How fast would you have to hit something to make these break?

[Toothbrush]

My mother-in-law took her Crown Vic to the dealership for something a few years back (less than 3 years old) and they let it roll off a lift with the door open. Yep, not a good sight. She ended up trading it in, to the same dealer, but still. Accidents/neglect can happen with even the best mechanics.

That's the only reason I bring it up. Your vehicle may have just had a odd occurrence, but it's really odd both are completely broken in nearly identical ways.

[DoubleA98391]

Yeah that's my thought. It might not have been the owner of the shop, he's pretty cool. Maybe it was one of the people working for him. I'm honestly not sure how it happened, but I've never driven it hard enough to break stuff. I've also heard if you drop it down with a jack too hard that the air springs could burst so I've always lowered it slow.

When the funds get here for the parts, I'll post again to tell if it's fixed or not.

[smassey321]

Those parts should be cheap used from ebay. I doubt there is a big market for them. Should be over half the cost of new.

[Nanniepoo]

Originally Posted by Toothbrush

Not sure of the history of this vehicle, but was it taken off road with heavy use (rock climbing), involved in some sort of collision, dropped from a lift...?


For both sides to be broken at the same point suggests something more than a pothole, unless it was the width of the entire vehicle + sufficient speed. At least to me.

Or launching off a speed bump.

[ard]

It would take a massive impact to shatter those parts..... amazing.

Doctors wife.... lying pieces of crap.... but seriously its the modern trope of 'old lady church sundays'...

I though I saw an open weld on one of the tubular members in picture #1, no?

[DoubleA98391]

I don't think it's a weld opening up. To me it looks like the steel is overlapping and it's only welded on the bottom.
I've let my parents and brother borrow the car but I really doubt they did any speed bump launches. I'm just going to stick with blaming the mechanic. I normally don't take it to anyone because this place is a huge help with DIYing.

[DoubleA98391]

Originally Posted by ard

I though I saw an open weld on one of the tubular members in picture #1, no?

I just looked closer at the photo and the part on the vehicle. It's just the rubber mount. Maybe it looks that way from the molding process.

[crystalworks]

Those are aluminum arms... could someone have put it on jack stands/lift in a bad location and snapped them? Would make sense that both sides are identical if that's the case.

[DoubleA98391]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Those are aluminum arms... could someone have put it on jack stands/lift in a bad location and snapped them? Would make sense that both sides are identical if that's the case.

That was my thought. Maybe the mechanic I took it to has a helper that isn't very good. I can't prove it was him though but I am fairly certain I'm not the one who broke them.