OCUK detectives - help needed

TomO · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:11

What caused this!?!?!?

Not happy!

Was down at Brands Hatch today and when coming back to my car for the second session and noticed this! Had to do a double take as it looked so weird!

Must have happened between yesterday and second session at Brands as car was fine yesterday. I can only assume a trolley jack or something similar as there is no damage to the rest of the car, the pipe right next to it is recessed by about 1cm, potentially why it didnt get hit.

Got the exhaust and new set of tyres fitted just over 2 weeks ago and already had to go back to get one of the tyres replaced due to a screw in the shoulder, now this. Not a good month!

On the plus side, first time I have done the GP circuit at Brands and its much more interesting that the Indy circuit, plus some really juicy machinery today as well.

Firestar_3x · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:15

Looks towbar ball shaped to me.

Very bad luck matey

On the plus side a proper milltek dealer should have no problem getting hold of the tail pipe section and sorting that out.

antijoke · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:18

OMG! That looks terrible.

Does look like something squished it.

Overlag · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:20

you did the GP circuit at Brands! cooooooool aint that £399? What was it like, any vids?

on the exhaust.... i have no idea how the hell that happend, other than maybe poor quality tips warping with heat? but that makes no sense at all because its bent a sharp angles....

Siliconslave · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:21

thats very weird - looks like somethings been jammed down the pipe pushing it out - possibly a tow bar / towing eye... but its weird that its not vertical, which would suggest a screw in towing hook.

edit: I'd get the full exhast checked btw - something hitting it hard enough to do that kind of damage could well have done damage further up in the joints

Django x2 · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:21

It melted

merlin · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:24

TomO said:
What caused this!?!?!?

An Audi RS4 owner jealous of a working exhaust system?

TomO · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:24

towing eye makes perfect sense, some useless **** at Brands probably did it as loads of cars on trailers etc. and therefore towing eyes, cant see how else it would have happened as it has been parked with the back to my garage since yesterday as well.

its about the right height as well..

GGRRRRRR :mad:

daveydave · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:25

Very weird the tow bar ball shape is there, but its been pinched if that makes sense. Vandalism? or accident?

TomO · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:27

Overlag said:
you did the GP circuit at Brands! cooooooool aint that £399? What was it like, any vids?

on the exhaust.... i have no idea how the hell that happend, other than maybe poor quality tips warping with heat? but that makes no sense at all because its bent a sharp angles....

just did the morning session and it was £169 for 4 x 20 min sessions. which was much better than the 3 x 20 mins in the afternoon for £179!

some really nice cambered corners on it and I have done the indy circuit 5 times, so getting a bit bored of it.

Brakes are knackered though, might need some upgrade, trying to avoid going the full AP / BBK route from a financial point of view. Its due a fluid change so might do uprated fluid and hoses, and see if there is ducting / a way of getting air to the brakes.

Firestar_3x · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:29

david.n.c said:
Very weird the tow bar ball shape is there, but its been pinched if that makes sense. Vandalism? or accident?

When the metal has been pushed up its also squeezed in to make the new shape, otherwise the metal would need to stretch, seeing as being parked in brands means loads of trailers / towbars and the such it figures to me, its more likely that the towbar was fitted to quite a low towcar as well, too low that for a 4x4 to have hit it.

Dup · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:50

Looks like it's ready for some man love...

Not the first M3 I've seen with crushed pipes. Saw an E46 a while back with all 4 in a concertina shape. Poor thing.

merlin · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:53

In the first pic is the hose (is it a hose?) behind the grille starting to weather on the right hand side?

TomO · 13 Jul 2009 at 16:34

merlin said:
In the first pic is the hose (is it a hose?) behind the grille starting to weather on the right hand side?

polystyrene in the bumper.

Participant · 13 Jul 2009 at 16:45

Nasty case of vaginal exhaust you've got there

.

Fido McNasty · 13 Jul 2009 at 16:49

Ok thats one of the stranger manifestations of damage I think I've seen.

It looks like someones grabbed the pipe with mole grips or crushed the thing in a vice. I can't believe how crushed that is. If it's been damaged by a tow eye or similar, to do that kind of damage, might be worth looking also up front for any further damage to the support bracket and downpipes too.

That really sucks though.

doofer · 13 Jul 2009 at 16:53

Looks like a big screwdriver has been levered in there to me, see if there's any bulging underneath, not sure why anyone would want to do that, but there's some seriously weird people around

Siliconslave · 13 Jul 2009 at 17:08

as stated before it'll be someones towing eye - probably a screw in one due to the angle - thats somehow managed to ram into the exhaust tip.

Tis the right kind of shape of one:

Dangerous · 13 Jul 2009 at 19:55

Ohhh Unlucky Thomas

R B Customs · 14 Jul 2009 at 00:35

Siliconslave said:
as stated before it'll be someones towing eye - probably a screw in one due to the angle - thats somehow managed to ram into the exhaust tip.

Tis the right kind of shape of one:

that looks like it!

Dangerous said:
Ohhh Unlucky Thomas

one way to look at it - damn lucky it wasn't worse though! what are the chances of that happening again !?!

I hope the rest of the zoost is okay! it may have caused problems further down the chain.