Is this crash damage?

[P Zero]

Hi guys. This is my first post, but unfortunately it might not be a good start

I bought a 318is the other day with a view to stripping it out and rebuilding it as a track car. When I was on the way home after collecting it, I stopped for petrol. When I got out the sun hit the roof in a way which showed up some odd paintwork. I put it to the back of my brain and got on with the journey.

A couple of days later I started stripping out the interior, worrying I was going to find something I didn't want to...






I found these wrinkles and decided I needed to investigate further. I also found evidence that there may have been work done at the front of the car, perhaps a new crossmember and slam panel, etc.

Does this look like crash damage to you guys?

Thanks.

[christophbmw]

possibly, both E30's ive owned didnt look like that. maybe a slightly twisted chassis, or someone might have overloaded it at one point in time.

[ak96ss]

I would definitely cast my vote for crash damage. That's on both sides?  Not easy to crumple the metal there...

[D. Clay]

The car is put together by welding the panels, applying a white seam sealer, and then painting. When the body is crunched the seam sealer splits and shows white inside. After the panels are straightened and realigned the seam sealer is still split and only the best shops replace it if it's covered by trim. Pull the carpet and look for welded seams where the car may have been "clipped". An unwrecked rear tail section consisting of the rear quarters and any necessary inner structure is called a rear clip by the rebuilders. I'm guessing a hit from the rear as the damage is the same on each side. Just look real close at all the seams including those on the outside. There may be spray can undercoating somewhere underneath. It's possible and even more likely the car was jacked up with a floor jack right underneath the wrinkles or raised on a lift with the lift arms inside the rockers. There's some real clueless people in cheapy muffler shops, etc.

[vitesse]

It does look a bit like crash damage...im surprised it is on both sides of the vehicle, I bet that was a hard hit if it is indeed from an accident.  Did you run a carfax before purchasing it?

[P Zero]

I'm based in the UK so I ran what I'm guessing is our equivalent of carfax, HPI. It came back totally clean.

I've posted a similar thread over on e30zone.net (http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=81259). Most of the members who replied are saying its more likely to be a manufacturing flaw due to the difficulty of the shape in that area and the fact it's usually hidden from view.

I've had a look around but I can't say I noticed any cracked seam sealer. I'll have a better look in the light again tomorrow.

I'm going to see a rolling shell on Saturday so I may use that as the basis for my track car and use the current car as a parts donor. We'll see how it goes.

[sheepdog]

I'm guessing a hit from the rear as the damage is the same on each side.

My thoughts exactly. Definite damage.

They did a good job repairing it from the looks of it.

Get a Carfax on it, I am betting this happened very early in the cars life otherwise it would have been totaled, being as such, it was probably dealer repaired back to near new condition.

[gearheadE30]

I would say crash damage, as my car doesn't have that. What is wierd is that the damage is roughly symmetrical.

[ducatipaso]

I'll pitch in for crash damage from the rear too

[D. Clay]

Before you do anything hasty, check it out for being jacked up in those spots. I had a car once that was jacked up with a big hydraulic floor jack and it was similar damage. If that's the case the unibody is still sound. Hard to believe that there are still people that don't know what the reinforced areas of the rocker panels are for.

[P Zero]

I went to see the other IS shell today and it has the same 'wrinkled' effect in the same area, so it must be something to do with the manufacturing process. It looks almost exactly the same.

Either way, I took the shell because its much cleaner than the one I have. I found a couple of hidden rust patches on my existing one, so I'm going to transfer the mechanicals and bin the old shell.

Thanks for all your help though. I'm guessing the US E30's were manufactured in the US and perhaps that production line didn't produce the wrinkles.

[christophbmw]

I went to see the other IS shell today and it has the same 'wrinkled' effect in the same area, so it must be something to do with the manufacturing process. It looks almost exactly the same.

Either way, I took the shell because its much cleaner than the one I have. I found a couple of hidden rust patches on my existing one, so I'm going to transfer the mechanicals and bin the old shell.

Thanks for all your help though. I'm guessing the US E30's were manufactured in the US and perhaps that production line didn't produce the wrinkles.

you had me wondering so i went and took a look at my car. it looks the same! its not as bad as P zero's but there is slight wrinkling, which makes me wonder if it was indeed caused from manufacturing (i only checked on side). Anybody else have this?

mine is wrinkled on the second step vertical part.

[romkasponka]

http://romkasponka.blogspot.com/2007/09/skutam.html

[318iSdaniel]

Thanks for all your help though. I'm guessing the US E30's were manufactured in the US and perhaps that production line didn't produce the wrinkles.

weren't all E30's made in Germany?

[P Zero]

weren't all E30's made in Germany?

No idea mate. If they were maybe it was something that only affected some cars.