What is this weld?

[M3PO]

OMG it must have been in an accident!





lol

[VCMpower]

Oh no! With those welds comes a rod bearing tick :

[schnell325]

Originally Posted by VCMpower

Oh no! With those welds comes a rod bearing tick :

Ah shit, I better go look at mine.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by Atombyte

Looked all over my driver's side under the hood. Can't find anything that looks like that. It looks like it is just under the air intake. I've owned this thing since brand new. Whatever you have a picture of, the welding looks sloppy and not at all factory. Best I can tell, that weld is pretty deep in the car and my best guess is it's been in a wreck. Beyond that, I've got nothing.

Originally Posted by Atombyte

My M3 isn't in yet, but looking at my E92 328, I don't see anything that looks anything like that. When you say "on the right side", do you mean passenger or driver side? BTW, those pictures are HUGE and a bit out of focus. It's hard to tell where to look.

Originally Posted by Atombyte

Looked all over my driver's side under the hood. Can't find anything that looks like that. It looks like it is just under the air intake. I've owned this thing since brand new. Whatever you have a picture of, the welding looks sloppy and not at all factory. Best I can tell, that weld is pretty deep in the car and my best guess is it's been in a wreck. Beyond that, I've got nothing.

The aluminum subframe is unique to the M3. Aluminum is quite tricky to weld and does not make as "clean" seams as steel.

[Atombyte]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

The aluminum subframe is unique to the M3. Aluminum is quite tricky to weld and does not make as "clean" seams as steel.

That makes sense, especially considering I couldn't find anything that looked remotely like that. I knew these cars were a lot different, I just didn't realize how much different they really are!

[Atombyte]

Originally Posted by OC ///M

The factory weld is one of a few on the aluminum subframe. The subframe is important; it supports the engine, connects to the frame, needs to be strong-but not heavy, and the front suspension connects to it.

Despite what Atombyte says, the welds are actually pretty clean. The roll-out is contiguous and fluid save for one "pause point" in the middle. You can tell they were performed by a robot.

Thanks for the explanation! I might have also freaked if I saw that when mine comes in. I'm used to seeing cars in all kinds of bad dis-repair, with some really crappy welds holding things together, but I'm admittedly ignorant when it comes to aluminum welds.