This isn't right, is it?

[chips]

I bought my 318is on Sunday, all ready to start my track project. About half way back home with I stopped at the fuel station and the sun hit the roof and revealed some slightly worrying paint. I started stripping the car becoming quite worried I was going to find something I didn't want to...






I obviously put too much faith in the HPI check, which came back completely clean. I did check for damage but because of the clean report I wasn't overly thorough. Theres no damage in the boot floor, but on close inspection to the front crossmember and surrounding panels, there could be replacements. The car drives fine by the way. I thought it handled very well.

At the moment I'm thinking that I'll probably break the car because I don't have the conscience to sell on a car that I know has unrecorded accident damage. I probably won't lose out financially because it has brand new tyres on 15" TSW alloys which would be fine as a spare track set. It also has recent spax shocks and springs and a few other bits and bobs worth keeping.

Anyway, bummer. Let me know what you think.

[316eyes]

Looks like the car has been rear ended and rebuilt.

[beardymat]

i wouldnt go off in a panic and bust it just yet as they just look like ordinary pressing marks to me which is what you get when you try and make complicated shapes from a flat sheet of steel. in an area like this which is unseen its quite common to find this sort of thing as it costs money to make perfectly flat pressings. when i visited the vw golf plant they pressed then trimmed the bodyside of the car three times over to get i to look perfect.

must admit ive been caught out by that sort of thing when i was younger, spent hours beating things like that flat only to find later that that was the way they made them

[bobgil67]

PZero. I have a 318iS shell available, it's black with no running gear, ideal if you want to reshell yours.

[Brianmoooore]

The two sides look like mirror images of each other, and the paint looks like the typically thin colour coat you find in places like this from the factory.
I'll agree with Beardymat - nothing wrong with it!

[snoops]

unless the car was hit by somehting that was 100% parallel with your car, i'd say the same as beardymat as both sides look exactly the same

[chips]

One of the main reasons I'm worried is that this area is surely a major stress point and also one of the main mounting points for the roll cage.

If the car was in a direct front impact, that would explain my concern about the front end too.

I hope you can understand why I'm worried. Although a roll cage will be strengthening the shell, I don't want to start with a flawed shell in the first place.

I haven't written it off yet! I just want to find out if this shell is a good place to start.

[beardymat]

if youre still concerned about the front end get me some photos up of the areas that are concerning you. i have spent the last 16 years (crikey thats half my life ) repairing cars and trying to get them to look as much factory perfect as i can, as a consequence of this i can usually spot a repaired vehicle and assess the quality of any repairs found. you might find youre panicking about nothing.

the one thing i would be on the lookout for is rust on the inner arches at the rear especially behind the plastic filler neck guard and at the jacking point up front at the outer corner of the front footwells. both popular rot spots although the is are usually better due to better galvanising or so im led to believe.

click the link below the pic of my car for a thread with plenty of photos of where they tend to rust

[anisotropy]

My Is is stripped at the moment, just went out and looked -it looks exactly the same (its even the same colour) so I'd go with Brianmoooore and Beardymat.

[fuzzy]

even if it has been in an unrecorded repair it doesnt mean its been done to a sub standard. im not sure whats worrying you though? is it the slighly rippled effect in the metal? if it is then it looks exactly the same both sides so it probably wouldnt worry me.
where about in edinburgh are you?

[chips]

It was the rippled effect that was worrying me. It just deosn't look clean, but it sounds like it's just a flaw or cost saving in the manufacturing process.

I'm in Polwarth/Fountainbridge area. How about you? I'd love to see the touring sometime

[chips]

My Is is stripped at the moment, just went out and looked -it looks exactly the same (its even the same colour) so I'd go with Brianmoooore and Beardymat.

Thanks for taking a look. I think i can probably forget about it and get on with the work

[m-dtech]

hi mate

im just outside stirling and i have a 318is shell thats mint (minus doors and wings)

if you want it its yours for £50 (real proper straight shell)

ive just started my 2.7 track car too.

[M3GTR]

Sounds like it'd be best to re-shell when you have offers of a nice clean shell you can strip to the bare minimum and then only transfer the bits you really need.

[chips]

Sounds like it'd be best to re-shell when you have offers of a nice clean shell you can strip to the bare minimum and then only transfer the bits you really need.

Thats exactly what I'm going to do. It seems quite a lot of people have the wrinkles, but there is other nastiness on my shell that I don't really want to have to deal with. Since all the running gear was coming off to be refurbished anyway, I may aswell reshell.

I'll be breathing some life back into m-dtechs black IS

[Jamese30]

I wouldn't worry about that it looks completely normal to me.

Initially when I stripped my 318is down I panicked when I saw that (it looks identical to yours, and is even the same colour!), but again, it is identical on the other side and painted original from factory.

It is not unusual to get creasing in metal stampings like that where you have tight radii grouping together - BMW would not have bothered doing anything about it as it is hidden by the carpet.

[Chris-W]

Another vote for completely normal.