MacSid

**I've edited the header of this thread 30-Nov-2007 due to developmenst laid out in Post #7**

Driving home from work this evening, I felt an odd resistance and noise at some steering inputs when going dead slow. Felt as if I had driven over a twig and it had got caught in the wheels. It went away, I carried on. 8km (5 miles) from home, I get off the motorway and stop at the lights and there is a grind and clunk. Grind and clunk again as I get moving at the lights, so I pull right over, fish out the Maglite and take a good look under the hood and around the front wheels. Nothing to be seen.

I continue on my way home, and now I start feeling a pulsing resistance to my forward motion, almost as if the brakes are being applied. I'm in a tunnel, so can't really pull over. I exit the tunnel and need to turn right, at which point there is a huge clunk from the front end as I turn right, and a lot of resistance to forward motion as I head for the lay-by. I decide to proceed no further and call BMW-Assist. Their service partners show up half an hour later and can't see anything physically wrong, but that sound and resistance is still there. The decision is made to put the car on the back of a truck immediately and have it taken to BMW Amsterdam tomorrow morning. Strangely, as the car is driven onto the truck, there are no noises or resistance. Typical.




I got a ride to the service center (outsourced, of course) in the truck, and my replacement car was waiting .. a Fiat Punto

Somewhat disappointed, but at least I'm mobile and it's not costing me anything. I'll be heading to BMW Amsterdam tomorrow morning to see what they have to say about my baby (and the Punto )

timewa

Sorry to hear about that...

It may be a stuck brake disc or something like that. Let's hope so, because that would be relatively easy to fix.

By the way: How come that you have a car with Dutch license plates, and that you get a German car as replacement?

Good luck, I hope it's nothing serious.

MacSid

The picture of the replacement is just a generic shot from the web

I hope it's something simple too, but will know for sure only tomorrow, I guess.

MacSid

Update: Just back from the dealership (it's 1pm here now) - they received the car from the rescue guys just an hour ago, and will not be able to look at it until tomorrow morning

Also got a call from BMW Assist, which went like this:
BMW-A: Good morning sir, you have a replacement car from us?
Me: Good morning. Yes.
BMW-A: We just wanted to let you know how that works.
Me: Okay
BMW-A: You will return the car after 3 working days to the point at which you collected it. It must be full of gas and it must be cleaned before you return it. Have a nice day.
Me: errr.....

That's almost verbatim how it went. Nice warm, friendly lot, them

Meanwhile, 1 of my 3 working days will be gone before BMW Amsterdam even look at my car. Lovely... NOT!!!!!

Will keep you guys posted on this.

DynaSpy

Funny thing is that when I went to the dealership to test drive a 535 the thing had the exact same symptoms that you are describing. It would rev up a bit and apply the brakes and continue rhythmically as though you kept applying the brake every second. The car was brand new and still had the plastic on the seats. This normally wouldn't make a good impression on a prospective buyer but once I drove a functional one it didn't really matter I understand that sh*t happens so I can't hold it against them. Although, when I went to test drive the XLR the one they had got stuck when he tried putting the convertible top down. I should have taken that as a sign not to buy one but then again I haven't had any trouble with my top - the one thing that works fine I'm hoping the problem with the 535 wasn't a sign not to buy a BMW Good luck with the car!

aruba530i

Hope everything goes alright. Keep us up to date.

Groetjes!!!

MacSid

Right, now I'm losing it big time, and welcome any and all suggestions on how to deal with this. I'm at the end of my tether. Here's the sequence of events:

Wednesday 6:45pm: I pull over and call BMW Assist as described above.
Wednesday 7:40pm: Assist rescue service partners have arrived, checked the car, trucked it to their facility and sent me on my way in a replacement car. I've been told that I have the use of the replacement for 3 working days, and that my car will be taken to BMW Amsterdam (the nearest dealer) the following morning. My preferred dealer (Jan de Jong Hilversum) is too far (20 miles) away. All sounds and feels reasonable so far. They even apologised that the replacement is a Fiat Punto rather than a BMW.
Thursday 10:00am: I get the call from BMW Assist telling me that they expect me to return the replacement car Monday evening to the same facility where I collected it (opposite end of town from the dealership). I ask what happens if the repairs take more than 3 working days, and they tell me that I will need to organise my own replacement car with the dealership if and when the time comes.
Thursday 11:35am: I go to BMW Amsterdam and find that my car has not reached them yet. I explain that I have a service appointment at my own dealer on Monday, so need a reasonably quick understanding of what the problem is and how long it will take to fix. SA's response is "You say your car was collected last night, but I know it is not here. It's not my problem." He tells me to call BMW Assist
Thursday 11:45am: I call BMW Assist to ask what about the delivery of the car to the dealership. They have no idea other than the fact that the rescue service truck the cars as soon as the morning traffic has died down. They suggest I call the rescue center, and I'm given their phone number. I explain the car is due in my own dealer on Monday, where it is already booked into a service time slot, what will it cost to truck it to them (20 miles away). EUR 300 or so, apparently and the guy kept dodging my questions about who would pick up the tab for it. All he would say is "under the warranty, we truck it to the closest dealer"
Thursday 11:50am: I call the rescue center, who confirm that the car is on its way to the dealership.
Thursday 12noon: Car arrives at BMW Amsterdam and, after a 10-minute wait, I am told that it will be looked at only the next morning due to a shortage of mechanics.
Friday 12noon: I am back at BMW Amsterdam, and my car is still in the same spot where it was 24 hours ago. The SA confirms that they "have not been able to look at it yet, but have a slot this afternoon". I explain that I need to know the status by 4pm as I have a service appointment at my own dealership on Monday morning and I need to know if I have to call them to cancel it. The SA gives me his card and tells me to call him at 4pm (whatever happened to "we'll call you as soon as we've seen your car, sir"?????). I ask about arrangements for a replacement/courtesy car if this runs into Monday and I have to return the one I'm in now, and all I get is a shrug. At this point, I just picked up this guy's card, wished him a good day and strolled out of the building - that's how close I was to boiling over.

So here we are. I am promptly rescued and put into a courtesy car (very good). I am then told that I have the use of the courtesy car only for 3 working days, after which I'm on my own. 1.5 days into the 3 working days that I will be mobile in the courtesy car, BMW Amsterdam have not even looked at my car. Chances of it being back on the road by close of business today are, I guess, nil (it's 2pm as I write this, they close for the day in 4 hours, and I'm not sure they've even started on my car yet). This means I will not make my scheduled service appointment on Monday. Chances of getting another appointment in the next 2 weeks are slim, so bang goes the plan of using the car to go on our Christmas vacation on Dec 15th.

///Marco.it

At least you've gotten the Grande Punto and not the small one.

MacSid

Final update. The guys finally started looking at my car at 4pm Friday and, fortunately, found nothing amiss. Base plate and front wheels were removed, revealing no damage whatsoever, confirmed by a number of test drives. The final theory is that something must have gotten into the base plate and/or front wheels and got stuck, and it fell out on its own.

Fortunately this also means that I got to pick the car up on Friday evening, release the courtesy car to the providers (who were a lot more accommodating than BMW Assist were), and I'll be able to keep my service appointment Monday.

HotLap

Odd, but typical, that the issue goes away...keep an eye on it just in case - it sure sounded as if something was amiss...