BMW Z8 owners are up in arms over speculation that the $160,000 sports car’s aluminum undercarriage may be susceptible to warpage. Owners of the exotic roadster are “incredibly angry” over the deforming shock mounts, which are an integrated part of the engine subframe assembly and not easily repaired. BMW has downplayed the concern, saying, “there are no known cases with adverse effects on safety.” But given aluminum’s unique fatigue characteristics, many drivers are concerned. Some owners are also reporting seeing gaps on the hood, a sign of further deformation. Replacing the engine subframe alone would cost around $24,000. Photos of the damage can be seen on the BMW Z8 discussion forum. In October, we reported that new aluminum frame rails on the front of many new BMWs mean that a minor accident could mean the entire front end would have to be replaced. If the front end of one of these new Bimmers gets tweaked by more than a millimeter (1/25th of an inch), the entire front structure could be compromised.
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01/19, 9:12 AM
posted by:
John Capozzi
It cost Steve Dinan 3 or 4 complete Z8 body shells to fix the damage his techs inflicted when they had to remove some material from the frame to give clearance for M5 headers, and at that time (two years ago) there were only a dozen or so “spare” frames left at BMW.
And I haven’t checked used Z8 prices lately, but even the most expensive version, the Alpina Z8, had a sticker under $110k when new.