X3 Roof Rails Rusting !!
 

All,
Has anyone else experienced problems with rust / corrosion on the roof rails ?
The rear two curved roof rail supports (curved piece that ataches to the roof) have bubbled under the black protective coating and one has flaked off exposing the metal beneath. - basically rusting from inside out.
The 2004 X3 is out of warranty and the roof rails are not covered under the bodywork corrosion guarantee.
BMW UK customer service basically say tough luck - out of warrantly and it would cost over £ 300 just in parts excluding labour to replace them,

In my view it must be a manufacturing defect with a batch of that part, however, dealership says not qualified to make that judgement, just take photo and forward to BMW UK who say no problem. They refuse to actually have anyone properly inspect it.

Thinking about trying to get media involved.

I had the same problem, but I just took a picture sent it away and about a month later was 'approved' to recieve new rails

No big deal

my wifes 2004 model has done the same awaiting reply from bmw dealer

but i think bmw usa would look at this type of problem more than bmw uk


Bmw uk will more than likely say "tough"


quickly learned that bmw are not as good as they claim

I had the same problem. Rails were replaced by the dealer.

Yup - one of my rails has a 'bulge' under the coating. I had the "cosmetic parts and trim are not covered under AUC warranty" statement from the dealer. Was going to leave it for a while to see if it got worse.

But then, I have had a lot of either "can't replicate the problem" to "not covered under warranty" comments from the UK dealer in Bristol.

I have a climate control panel that the temp display will blank out for a second or so intermittently. Some kind of lump (feels like a wire) sarting to poke through the seat pad on the passenger front seat and an issue with the auto transmission when its cold outside makes a dreadful noise and the car won't 'creep' when selecting R or D and to get it to move seems to need a bootful of accelerator. All of these are either 'no fault found' or 'not covered under the AUC warranty'. I seriously regret buying BMW this time :(

same problem
 

Yup have a 04 x3 as well and just noticed the other day bubbling under the roof rail. Haven't made any attempts as of yet but I will be taking it into BMW Canada and will keep you posted on the outcome...

My findings
 

Hi,

I did my fall waxing last weekend and to my surprise I also found something bubbling under passenger side rail. I passed by my dealer (unfortunately with our other car) and stopped by to ask what is the story going to be.

My car is Canadian model but I exported it to Europe so from factory perspective they treat it as European sold vehicle. That means 2 year std warranty instead of 4 years in NA. So I am out of warranty (Nov 2005 registered) and these will not fall under 12 year paint and rust category.

It's not bad yet and only the front piece may be needed to replace (if they are available in pieces). In that case it may not be too expensive.

The only alternative so far for me is to get it fixed and apply for goodwill warranty from the factory. I will ask for preliminary response and outcome for goodwill and if they deny, then I might have them sandblowed and painted on top. That might be cheaper than replacing the parts which I assume will cost lots of €€€€€€ knowing the price level where I live.

Anyway, it seems that you hear these stories about rusting rails. To me this seems a manufacturing defect. In the US you might want to consider submitting NHTSA a case since this might be safety issue if you have premature rusty rails and load stuff on the roof. Just a thought, maybe overly optimistic...

Attached a pic.

-p

Same here. The passenger side back rail on my '04 looks identical to what is shown in the pic phuksi posted. (saw that 5 times fast...):p:

Figured I was SOL so I've not done anything with it. So some of you have gotten the dealer to fix it out of warranty?

Who did you send the picture to?

I had the same issue with my X3 2004 2 years ago.

It was replaced under warranty at that time;

this was in Belgium

Mine is now in at the dealer having the work done. Originally I was going to have to stump up a huge amount of cash (about £350 to £400) but after some 'negotiation' with BMW UK, they agreed to pay all but £100 as goodwill.

I'll give some credit to the Service Manager at my dealer who fully understood my annoyance and also spoke with BMW UK.

BMW UK do consider the roof rails to be 'trim' though, and not covered under either the bodywork corrosion guarantee or any AUC/extended warranty, but I think they realise this must be a manufacturing defect as why do they all go in the same place?

I feel a partial result, and just hope the dealer doesn't cause more problems by having to rip the headlining out!

Same problem on my '06 X3, dealer replaced the roof rail.

My roof rail is now all sorted. Dealer did a good job even though I did have to pay 20% of the labour cost which ended up at £97. Am relieved it's been done and now just have to get the transmission and climate control panel issues resolved that the workshop can't diagnose (been in 6 times for these!).

Interestingly, after a chat with the SA, he tells me that this problem with the rails is common on both the 3 series touring, and the X5! He claims it IS a manufacturing defect that BMW know about and that it's a failure between the joints allowing water to get between the bits of the rail, rotting them from the inside out.

As I got absolutely nowhere with BMW UK finally took the plunge and got one of the local smart repair centres who do scratch repairs to sand them down and paint them in a matching paint finish - looks brand new - only cost me £ 70 so very pleased