Hi

Yesterday I put on my summer wheels. As I was working with changing the front wheels I noticed a plastic thingy in my suspension protection tube, see picture. The piece was loose and was clearly not supposed to be there?

As expected the same plastic pieces were found both left and right front suspension. As I have a touring the suspension set up is different in the rear, so I guess that explains why I did not find the same plastic pieces in the rear suspension.

However, what the h... is this?

I assume these plastic pieces are used for transportation purposes, does anybody know?

I must say it is a little bit embarrassing to not have noticed this, but on the other hand, the pieces where crushed into the top part pf the suspension. I therefore don't think that the plastic pieces have obstructed the suspension in any way, at least not at normal driving. I bought the car at 6000km and had it delivered, maybe the BMW dealer put these pieces in prior to delivery, or do you think these pieces have been in there since day one?

Who can I blame (besides my self for not noticing earlier)?

A visual inspection shows some damage to the protection tube, and some other wear on the sporty suspension absorber (yellow plastic guide).

Is there anything that needs to be replaced?

any thoughts?

To me it seems like there has been made a mistake at first delivery, and hence this should be a warranty issue?

 

Isn't that a part of the transport protection?!! The dealer forgot to uninstall it, before you got the car! Just bring it in to your dealer again, and show them your suspension..

 

Those parts seem not the be where they should be.

But why would they be there, to support the suspension?
What would the idea be with that?

 

When I want to see my car pre-delivery, there were still some parts installed in the suspension which made it sit much higher than normal. I actualy got a fright initially, and asked the dealer what was up.

They did not go into detail about the parts, except that they were there for and during transportation.

Did your car look a bit high?

 

I think those are shipping blocks... the dealer was suppose to remove that after delivery!

 

Yup those are the shipping suspension blocks.. just bring it back to the dealer they should replace everything that was damaged from it.

 

i don't like the crack boot.
i'll be mad if this happens to me.

 

I agree, poor dealer prep, the car should never be driven with those parts installed still. If so only rolled around the parking lot. I agree with the previous posters, make sure to bring it into the dealer and make them replace the boots, as well as any damaged struts.

 

What a lousy dealer and dangerous too I'd clean him

 

No, it did not look a bit high. As you can see of the picture the pieces are out of position, not sentered so to speak. It seems like it is only the protection tube that have kept the pieces in place. I cannot say I notice any difference after removing them either, so I'm pretty sure they have not obstructed the movement of the suspension. I will try to figure out where they come from in the first place, and how long they have been there.

Can anybody confirm that these plastic pieces / Shipping blocks are original BMW items?