Oh my God... Sway bar ripped out of crossmember!!

Post Mon May 22, 2006 1:30 am

had the sway bar rip out of the cross member both sides on my e30. car is 89 320 convertible. anyone know if this is a weak point on the e30 as my mechanich said he had not seen this before in 30+ years as a mechanic - not even on racecars!! mechanic said the metal in the cross member looks very thin.

anyone had this happen to them or am I just lucky? is there an updated thicker part out there in the market or should i just go to the dealer or a scrap yard for a crossmember. the labours gonna be a killer as the motors attached to it, the control arms and possibly the steer rack. bloody old bimmers!!

Please help if anyone knows info about this!

Post Mon May 22, 2006 3:32 am

erm not sure what you mean by cross member.. front or rear arb?

Post Mon May 22, 2006 3:50 am

front crossmember, the one that the front sway bar is bolted and clamped onto

Post Mon May 22, 2006 4:02 am

ah yeah.. sorry being thick as shit.

i can see that it would be a weak point.. they do bend, n if it were to get a bit rusty then it would snap..

not a common failure tho

best to get a new subframe/crossmember tbh

Post Mon May 22, 2006 9:23 am

It's not an unheard of problem, although I've never seen it.
Seems to happen more in the US according to other E30 forums.
Changing the cross member for a second hand one shouldn't be any big deal. Need to get the engine attached to a hoist and lifted a bit, then the rest is just a few bolts and two taper joints.

Post Mon May 22, 2006 1:58 pm

Hiya, being female I am no expert

but when my husband had his first e30 he used to be daft and do handbrake turns and generally drive hard, this caused the engine mountings to wear at a fast rate, and basically the weight of the engine was resting on the cross member.

I doubt you have driven like he did bu could the mountings need replacing?

Post Mon May 22, 2006 2:03 pm

Dobbie... Sssshhhhhhhh! You're a female and you're no expert!

Okay, so I'm assuming that we're on about ARB's here...

When I got my 318iS, one of the front mounting points of the ARB was riped off. I had to weld in a piece so that the U-mounts had somewhere to mount to. Same thing?

I think that this was caused by a police chase when it was used as a getaway vehicle and mounted a few kerbs at awkward angles...!

If we're not on about ARB's and are, in actual fact, on about front lower suspension arms, then please ignore me.

Post Mon May 22, 2006 5:54 pm

i have a cross member in my garage collecting dust, if u want it Ã‚£10 and shes yours!

Post Tue May 23, 2006 12:32 am

thanks for the replys, no I dont drive like an idiot althought the ARB mounting points could have been damaged when I bought the car about 18 months ago.

Its a convertible so may get more stress on that part than other cars.

Brianmoooore, interesting you say US cars, Im in Australia (yes not Austria) and maybe our roads are just worse than others

Simon13, would love to buy your one but once again im in Aust, although to buy a new one it has to come from germany anyway at a cost of $780 AUD or about 260 pounds to you guys!!

will probably try and get a 2nd hand one locally, or get some stronger mounting points welded onto the existing one, although not sure if this would work.

Post Tue May 23, 2006 7:20 am

Another fellow aussie!!

Welcome and G'day dude!!