Oil Cooler Busted/under carriage issue **Update: Another member with similar damage**

[Wah]

Originally Posted by ForTehNguyen

dont see why insurance would be against it, the risk of the cooler being damaged is reduced by adding this protection, thus the insurances chances of having a claim is reduced. If there are owners that do not intend to track the car, hence not worried about reduced air flow if there is any, then it sounds like a worthwhile piece of protection.

If the insurance company is handed a $40,000 bill and an easy reason to deny the claim, you don't think they would use it? Unless this part is approved by BMW, then I can't see them writing the check. Just playing Devil's advocate here.

[JoeFromPA]

Originally Posted by adc

JT Designs makes an undercover tray replacement for the E36 M3. I've had it on mine and it is very well engineered and reasonably solid, far better than the OEM plastic stuff which gets ripped off from the car easily.

http://jtdesigns.stores.yahoo.net/alunpan.html

Perhaps you folks should contact them, see if they will make one for the F8x? As you can see, their prices are reasonable. It wouldn't be able to offer full protection of course, but perhaps help on occasion.

That is a killer price for an aluminum belly pan if it's of any sort of quality. Wow.

I've realized that the belly pan design can be very air flow friendly because right now it's pushing air DOWN and AWAY from the oil cooler's underside (possibly drawing air from above down through it?) so all a belly pan cover would need to do is mimic the leading edge design and maybe create a "honeycomb" or similar under-side to the oil cooler.

It would be super simple to test oil temperatures before and after too - we already have access to real-time oil temp digital readings in the dash.

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by Wah

My concern with aftermarket "protection" would be that if there were damage anyway from road debris (or a steel f'ing pipe), the insurance could blame the damage on the modification and deny the claim.

That is why it should be changed by BMW.

[JoeyBananas]

Is this the type of thing (the oil cooler) that is going to get ripped off if the wife drives up an inclined driveway too fast?, WTF

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by JoeyBananas

Is this the type of thing (the oil cooler) that is going to get ripped off if the wife drives up an inclined driveway too fast?, WTF

Maybe, also:

* The bumper might be banged up if she backs into concrete parking pillar
* The door might get dented if she hits it with a shopping cart
* The wheels might get scraped if she parks too close to a curb

Good News, though! There are alternative vehicles with different trade-offs:

[Wah]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

Maybe, also:

* The bumper might be banged up if she backs into concrete parking pillar
* The door might get dented if she hits it with a shopping cart
* The wheels might get scraped if she parks too close to a curb

Good News, though! There are alternative vehicles with different trade-offs:

No LEDs, no buy. Sorry.

[ASBSECU E93]

[QUOTE=GrussGott;17461869]Maybe, also:

* The bumper might be banged up if she backs into concrete parking pillar
* The door might get dented if she hits it with a shopping cart
* The wheels might get scraped if she parks too close to a curb

Good News, though! There are alternative vehicles with different trade-offs:

^Thats funny😄

Seriously though, not really the same point (IMO). You can still drive the car with a little curb rash on a rim or a large fender dent - and both are fairly painless to replace/fix.

The oil cooler is a little more vital, and should have better protection from freak risk of damage due to road debris.

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by Wah

No LEDs, no buy. Sorry.

But its got double headlights?!

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

Maybe, also:

* The bumper might be banged up if she backs into concrete parking pillar
* The door might get dented if she hits it with a shopping cart
* The wheels might get scraped if she parks too close to a curb

Good News, though! There are alternative vehicles with different trade-offs:

oohhhhh - the family truckster!!!!

[991brothers]

my car will be ready tomorrow

[Jim B]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

Maybe, also:

* The bumper might be banged up if she backs into concrete parking pillar
* The door might get dented if she hits it with a shopping cart
* The wheels might get scraped if she parks too close to a curb

Good News, though! There are alternative vehicles with different trade-offs:

Is this thing real or is it Photoshop?

[vonmayr]

Originally Posted by Jim B

Is this thing real or is it Photoshop?

REAL - MOVIE

This is the Family Truckster from the National Lampoon movie series

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by vonmayr

REAL - MOVIE

This is the Family Truckster from the National Lampoon movie series

Yeah, The M4 is much too small. Nothing can take road debris like the wagon queen family truckster. You may think you hate it now ... but wait until you drive it!

[991brothers]

If this happens to anyone in San Diego, take it to bmw of vista!!!

[F87_LCI]

Originally Posted by M4TW

One of the hazards of winter driving are those frozen blocks of shit ice that cars leave on the road. I will BOLO for them more vigilantly to avoid this sort of damage, since the radiator looks like it's in a vulnerable spot. Good luck OP on your repairs and getting back on the road.

Not an M car, but an F30...good way to protect that rad is to just make sure that "stuff" can't fit under the front!! Can't even fit my phone underneath...btw, lip is much cheaper to replace than a new engine!!

[pikkagtr]

Won't help if the piece of steel rebar is the same thickness as your phone.....it will still fit then gets rolling over under the front and end up tumbling into the cooler 😭. Shit happens just have good insurance

[M3 Geezer]

I should be simple to make a CF replacement for the plastic 'protection' device.

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by M3 Geezer

I should be simple to make a CF replacement for the plastic 'protection' device.

BMW should do that with the CRFP

[secretariat]

Because of this thread and the other one from Olivvy I believe my car was spared today. We have been getting an incredible amount of snow and freezing weather here in the rotten apple. This morning 6 degrees I decided to kick off the filthy slush that loves to get wedged between the wheels and wheel well on the front drivers side. It came off and went right under the car. I had no idea how big and solid it was until I reached under and pulled it out. For those that are sitting at there desk and drinking a large DD coffee, multiply the cup by 3 and that's how big it was. A complete brick of ice. Anyway when it went under the car it went back behind the oil cooler and I had to back up to get out. I reached under fiddled with it to remove and was shocked. Thanks for the thread, or I would of just run over it.

My point is I wouldn't of even bothered to check what went under the car if I didn't read this post. I have common sense but I had no idea of the size of the piece that came off the car because I kicked it and it immediately went under the car.

[Padfan9]

Just got my car back today! After over 2 months in the shop for the undercarriage damage. Shop did an amazing job and the car looks and feels better than new!

[LDSM]

I don't get why people are being so hard on the OP, there's no denying the oil cooler is in a vulnerable position.

Even when driving carefully there are times that running over something is completely unavoidable, for example, there may be cars to the left and right preventing you from swerving around it.

[Diesel power]

To everyone who wants to rip BMW for poor design, it's important to remember how much energy things get when you are at speed. A chunk of foam less than 2 pounds was enough to shatter the reinforced Carbon Carbon leading edge of the Shuttle Columbia. When you look at the deformation of the oil cooler itself it's clear that whatever hit it had a lot of energy and would likely have pierced/deformed the cover unless it was made out of 1/4" sheet. CFRP tends to shatter and if the object was heavy enough/speed high enough it would shatter anyway. I think the better design solution is make sure the oil gets filtered on the way back from the oil cooler.