2012 E70 Bent Subframe

[Spokane2017]

This car never ceases to amaze me...
About a month ago we either hit something in the road or hit a pot hole. The car gained a clunk and when the A/C came on, there was a horrible grinding noise. I figured a bad strut and A/C compressor went. 85k miles.

Took the car to the local Indy shop and they called and said I need to open an insurance claim for body damage. The sub-frame is bent and has pushed the front sway bar up against the A/C pulley. It it also folding the turbo duct.

He sourced a good front sub-frame locally and will replace that to see if it fixes my issue. Will also check alignment and may need a frame shop check.

Good grief. No airbag set-off, no other damage. Can't take a big bump? When can you actually enjoy this thing and not be nickel and dimed to death fixing all of it's issues....

[CLS70]

Interesting; to bend those parts you should have taken a really serious hit and other elements would have been damaged as well (e.g. bent rims? blown up tire?...) IMO something does not add up...... was the car on a hoist? what about the reinforcement plate underneath?

[smassey321]

I think the subframe is aluminum and easily bent. Subframes are one of the first things to be taken at the junk yard so they must get damaged often. Especially on the lower to the ground E90s.

[blue dragon]

Subframes or stiffening plate?

[ard]

Congrats.


300,000 + posts ive read on the E70 X5 and yours is the first that was bent while the owner was driving and they didnt even realize it.


Someone said something doesnt add up...agreed.

[Spokane2017]

Right! Bought the car from the dealer with 48k miles and now at 85k it happens.

State Farm is sending out an adjuster, but I agree. How does the car bend without blowing a tire, breaking a wheel, etc.



Maybe someone stole it, Duke's of Hazard'ed it, and returned it.

Mystery to me...

Will update as more news comes in.

Originally Posted by ard

Congrats.


300,000 + posts ive read on the E70 X5 and yours is the first that was bent while the owner was driving and they didnt even realize it.


Someone said something doesnt add up...agreed.

[CLS70]

Indeed !!! a General-Lee type of jump would be a plausible explanation for a bent subframe !!!!! - hope you are able to fix it and find more clues...

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Spokane2017

Right! Bought the car from the dealer with 48k miles and now at 85k it happens.

State Farm is sending out an adjuster, but I agree. How does the car bend without blowing a tire, breaking a wheel, etc.



Maybe someone stole it, Duke's of Hazard'ed it, and returned it.

Mystery to me...

Will update as more news comes in.

Perhaps that's exactly what happened. Or it was in some sort of accident involving the under carriage and repaired off-insurance to keep the clean title. And the motor mounts have now gotten bad enough to the point that they allow the motor to drop onto the sway bar. Maybe the big pot-hole was the nail in the coffin for failing motor mounts?

[ard]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Perhaps that's exactly what happened. Or it was in some sort of accident involving the under carriage and repaired off-insurance to keep the clean title. And the motor mounts have now gotten bad enough to the point that they allow the motor to drop onto the sway bar. Maybe the big pot-hole was the nail in the coffin for failing motor mounts?

You may be onto something here....


Of course Statefarm would decline this, since you cannot say 'the damage all occurred when SF was the insurer'. OP dont lie, but dont give SF an excuse not to cover....

[Spokane2017]

Finally have the answer after six weeks at my indy shop (no more dealers for me). Two big parts were changed and it is better (for now).
First they found the sub-frame was bent (steel not aluminum). It was pushed up in the middle from a center impact (not our pothole experience). The bend pushed the sway-bar up almost an inch as it mounts onto the subframe. It is a bit hard to see in the angle of the photo, but it was bent. The shop first tried a junkyard one and it was bent too! Then my insurance OK'd new.

Second was a broken motor mount support. It is cast aluminum and bolts to the motor on the pass. side. One bold held and tore the ear off and the others sheared and dropped the pass. side of the motor down an inch or so. I may have misunderstood, but I think the shop said they were aluminum bolts that hold the support to the block?.?.? They are called out on the invoice as special order bolts, so maybe...

The mount itself wound up being a 'from Germany only' part that was months out and the shop had to do a bit of calling to finally locate a good used one in California and get it shipped.

So, our best guess is that there was a center impact before we bought the car and fractured the motor-mount support and like Crystalworks said, the pothole was the nail in the coffin and it let go.

Got it back Monday all aligned and ready to go.

Can't wait to see what breaks next...