[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

Haha, no offense taken. I'm not hard set on either side of the debate, I'm more in the grey area. Just thankful that my bearings looked clean upon examination. I think there is indeed a bearing issue out there and it's silly to ignore all the evidence we have seen here on this forum and others. However I do feel like it is a bit blown out of proportion, given that there are major metro-area dealers that haven't seen a single issue. These are the places working on the vast majority of M3s out there, not indy shops. I don't think it's a coincidence that the places reporting bearing failures are indy shops that are inherently more likely to see modified cars that are driven hard. Seems like there is some connection there, though we can't be 100% sure.

In my case, I have an extended warranty that is covering the repair my car is currently in for and it would have been in the dealership's best interest to say the bearings are worn because the warranty would've paid to have them replaced alongside everything else they're doing. So despite not having a picture of the bearing that was removed, I am confident that if there was any cause for concern it would have been addressed.

I will continue to do an oil analysis with every oil change just to monitor lead content to help me sleep a little better at night. My oil change interval is somewhere between 5-7k miles because that's all my M3 sees in a year (gets stored for winter) and I like to get fresh oil in there when I take it out in spring. Once I'm out of warranty and into high mileage territory, I'll probably pull the bearings just out of curiosity, but I have a long ways to go before I get there.

I agree. Even if this problem affected 5-10% of all m3's (and it might, who knows, bearing wear is much harder to identify than a blown engine caused by worn bearings) that still leaves the vast majority of cars unaffected. If every dealer had experienced the issue, I'd be very worried to own an m3.

Fyi, I was born and raised in Green Bay, I'd never accuse a fellow sconnie of making anything up. I was just making the point that because some dealers haven't seen the issue, doesn't mean it's not an issue. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.