ice/snow bad for my e34

[Russell]

It finally happened. My never damaged 12 year old BMW got it's first damage. Icy road on way to work. I was driving about 35 mph on a two lane Rd. and a 4x4 blew by me at about 60. Then the car started sliding into the opposite lane with cars coming. Tried to correct, no luck. It slide into the ditch fairly slowly hitting dirt and rocks head on but mostly on the right flont.

Lost all my front bumper cover and fogs. Fenders, hood, grill and headlights all ok. Grill may be pushed a little. Door and fender gaps look geneally fine. everything seems to open and close as it should.

Underneath, the Lower radiator supportcross member has a dent on the right aand may have twisted. AC etc. looks and seems to operate normally, no radiator leaks and no air bag deployment. Car drives Ok. Too early to tell if suspension was damaged. I drove it home and to shops for first estimates. On the positive side, looks like my cracked fog lamp wil be replaced.

I was lucky as it could have been head on. I think my tires were a bit more worn than I thought. I have around 5/32s tread left. However, it makes very little difference on ice.

Estimates range from $1700-$2,200 for new OE parts. The shop I am using specializes in restoration and the like. They had an old Toyota Landcruiser they rebuilt which looks brand new. Couple of Porsches, Cobra repicia and an e30 they were rebuilding.

No pictures as I am sure we have all seen this type of damage enough. :)

Just wanted to share.

[Jon K]

Russell - do you want a new rad support? I just picked up a E34 M5 one (nothing diff, just was what my friend had) and am powdercoating it - that means my original upper rad support is not in use. I can give you it for shipping if you'd like.


**** just remembered there are 2 ~3/8" holes drilled in it for supporting my old intercooler. If you can't find one let me know this one could be welded/filled. **** I could do it for ya if ya wanted.

[Jehu]

It finally happened. My never damaged 12 year old BMW got it's first damage. Icy road on way to work. I was driving about 35 mph on a two lane Rd. and a 4x4 blew by me at about 60. Then the car started sliding into the oposite lane with cars coming. Tried to correct, no luck, it slide into the ditch fairly slowly hitting dirt and rocks head on but mostly on the right flont.

Lost all my front bumper cover and fogs. Fenders, hood, grill and headlights all ok. Door and fender gaps look fine. everything seems to open and close as it should.

Underneath, the radiator support has a dent on the right. AC etc looks and seems to operate normally, no radiator leaks and no air bag deployment. Car drives Ok, Too early to tell if suspension was damaged. I drove it home and to shops for estimates.

I was lucky as it could have been head on. I think my tires were a bit more worn than I thought. I have around 5/32s tread left. However, it makes very little difference on ice.

Estimates range from $1700-$2,200 for new OE parts. The shop I am using specializes in restoration and the like. They had an Old Landcruiser they rebulit which looks brand new. Couple of Porsches, Cobra repicia and an e30 they were rebuilding. Looks like my cracked fog lamp wil be replaced.

No pictures as I am sure we have all seen this type of damage enough. :)

Just wanted to share.

Aww that's a bummer.. damage while pricey isn't fatal.

I recent;y had a similar scare. I was sleep deprived and had just eaten so my reaction responses were sub par at best. I was on a four lane+ break down lane Interstate. Road was mostly dry except for the Ice debris which thoughtless motorists shed. That was to be the cause of what could have been a much worse loss of control for me. It was dark and I was driving at about 70 mph in the first from the left lane or the left center travel lane if you will . There was an 18 wheeler at least 100 feet ahead of me like ten or more car lenghts. I hadn't really even taken it into connsideration as it looked well enough ahead when several large sheets of Ice/Compressed refrozen snow came flying up off the trailer roof. At 70 mph i was going to hit them within four seconds. I'm not 100% certain what i did first ,i think i started to turn right then assesed the Ice was going that way so I cut it hard to the left. at that speed i was aimed at the Forrested median with just one lane between me and doom so though I barely avoided the Ice which I knew could smash thru my Windsheild I had to cut it hard back right to avoid going into the median and i may have crossed over some of the Ice and combined with my bald rear tires I spun around and was sliding across the 4 travel lanes backwards now toward the brakedown lane. I stomped on the brakes , smoke billowing from burning rubber and went assbackwards over the hill sliding down on the snow covered grass stopping about ten feet from the Trees. I needed a $90 tow to winch me up but thanfully suffered damage only to my Ego.

[Jon K]

That wasn't $90 damage to your ego it was $90 worth of respect you gained for your car and driving difficulty. Close call!

[Russell]

Thank. But I am talking about the lower radiator support. I think that is what it is.

[Jehu]

That wasn't $90 damage to your ego it was $90 worth of respect you gained for your car and driving difficulty. Close call!

It was a weird occurance for cure. I drive for a living basically. I have been for 12 years putting roughly 60K miles a year . I;ve danced around some very tight hairy spots you;d never think would come out well and kept going. This caught me by surprise as I was half asleep basically and had kind of put my mind in auto pilot. I had days before this seen a TV news report of this very kind of ice going thru a guy;s windshield and i know that when i started thinking about that i lost my connection with the road/car/ice long enough to miss the moment of opportunity and clear the hazard . There was some traffic . I was very lucky. The thing I'd hoped i would have been able to do was bring the car 360 and keep going. Instinct and fear of getting creamed by oncoming traffic forced me to try stopping the car when I needed to keep it spinning 180 degrees more and I may have been able to keep it goin before sliding off the highway but wityh the bald rear tires that may have been impossible even if i had let go of the brake in time tobring the nose around again and may have lead to my hitting those trees i narrowly missed. I did bite the bullt and buy new tires the next day though . Just proctrastinating while i considred buying new wheels too. I wonder if i had new tires if i might not have rolled the car instead of sliding. Is it possible to roll one of these lowered like mine?

[BMWCCA1]

I am very impressed with my '95 525i so far this winter, but then I'm running 17" M5 wheels with Pirelli Winter 210's all around and AST. Had to cross a mountain road on fresh snow to avoid traffic jam of stuck 4x4s on the U.S. highway only to get to the Interstate and find four jack-knifed trucks causing a several-mile backup. The E34 barely even tripped the AST light climbing over the mountain. Good tires make all the difference in winter driving.

[Tiger]

Snow tires makes all the difference in the world. If you think Pirelli Winter 210 is great... you really really should try the Nokian Hakka RSi... or even the Hakka 1 to 4... any of those to suit your requirement.

[BMWCCA1]

I've used Haks before, and Blizzaks; both great winter tires. The Pirelli is designed for high-speed driving in winter where you still have to cover a lot of ground even when it's not snowing out. So far this winter I've driven over 4,000 on mostly dry roads without giving up any handling from the all-season Avon pieces of crap I took off, except the snow tires are quieter! If we had a lot of snow I'd use something more aggressive but I had the Pirellis and I'll be putting another thousand highway miles on them this weekend, headed to NY.

[Ross]

Sorry to hear this. I think your insurance will be wanting to write it off.

[Russell]

Sorry to hear this. I think your insurance will be wanting to write it off.
Body shop selected and insurance has authorized repairs. Hope to get it done in a week or so. Car is drivable.

[Ross]

Good news, unless you were looking for an excuse for a change.
Would you mind sharing pics of the damage if you have some and what the cost of the damage is?
Our old cars are treading on thin ice regarding repair cost versus a write off and I'm curious to see where the line is being drawn..

[Russell]

Ross,
Actual cost ended up around $2,000 pending unseen damage. Parts on order include, lower front body crossmember, bumper cover, fog lamps, bumper shock, and a multitude of trim pieces. It should be in the shop on January 28th or 29th. They are also repainting the front grill surround as they found a nick or two on it. I am also having my rear bumper removed and repainting the top where the clear coat is dying. This at my expense for about $150. It looks like I get several things repainted, no rock chips, or fading, and my cracked fog light rplaced.

My photos do not reveal much. Just looks like everything under the bumper is gone. Hope the photos are ok. This is my first try to attach files.

BTW, the blue tape is covering jumpers on the fog lamp switches to prevent the fog light out indicator on the dash from coming on.

[Ross]

I was picturing more damage. Hopefully everything is still in proper alignment.
Don't let them forget the undertray.

[Russell]

FYI, mine did not have a plastic undertray when I purchased it. Bit confused which models did not. Been told the later e34s with the M50 engines did not. Any thoughts on this?

[Russell]

I think I know what you mean, but the answer is no.

[Ross]

They all had it, or should. You lost yours in the accident, right?