Clive:
I wonder if shaving off weight is starting to reach the breakeven point (nopun intended). This is particularly in reference to the swing arm which, as I recall, BMW say is lighter and "stronger" than previous. They may have been referring to torsional rigidity. It is conceivable that once the designed strength is exceeded it fails more spectacularly.
I agree that they may have come up with the "stronger" claim on some test bench. The new alloy is probably thinner, stronger and more brittle than the old stuff. I like the old stuff.
bump stop in the Wilbers is a firmer one which would cause more stress in the conditions you describe?The bump stop is built into the dampers. Is it at all possible that the
I've never been inside either shock, but I've been in a Bilstien for my M3. When I lowered the suspension with sport springs, the shocks were hitting the front bump stops all the time and throwing the handling off. I took them apart and removed half of the bump stop material. This gave it just enough clearance and the thing works fine now. No problems with bottoming either.
The Wilbers seem to have the opposite problem...not enough bump-stop...maybe no bump-stop? I'm thinking of just sending them in for a rebuild and asking them to look at and replace the bump stops specifically.
I did have the low speed compression set pretty low with the high speed set only a couple clicks higher. It's possible that the high speed setting was too low and allowed the shocks to hit bottom. Without good bump stops in the shocks, a lot of force could be transmitted to the paralever. I have to admit that, even though this should not happen, it may have been enabled by the Wilbers.
Glad your insurer "came to the party".
I included that part because all I seem to hear on these lists is outrage about the insurers if they're mentioned at all. One guy bitches because his rates are $20 a month higher than some one elses. The next guy bitches because a claim was not handled to his satisfaction or his rates went up when he got caught doing twice the limit on a downtown expressway while legally drunk.
These insurance guys never seem to get a break. I thought it would be refreshing to report that the insurance company, in this case, Progressive, came through and treated me fairly and with minimum hassle.
My dealer told me he'd try and "sell" the broken casting to BMW and get my deductable back. It's been 6 months and they don't seem interested. I think I want it for my garage if they're not coming through with money. Shock or no shock, it shouldn't have happened. I mean, they're supposedly using these things in desert racing and such!
-TB