Elms Boot Floor Repair

[billyboysm3]

Elms is a group so Bedford, Stansted or Cambridge

[JBird]

Even if your boot has had a top notch repair, its worth checking all cavities for swarf. I found all sorts of metal dust in the Battery compartment for example. That was not even touched during the repair, but the metal filings/dust gathered there and started to rust. It was just on the surface, so polished out, but I think if it was left there it would have gotten through the paint.

[mistergav]

Even if your boot has had a top notch repair, its worth checking all cavities for swarf. I found all sorts of metal dust in the Battery compartment for example. That was not even touched during the repair, but the metal filings/dust gathered there and started to rust. It was just on the surface, so polished out, but I think if it was left there it would have gotten through the paint.

This is exactly what happened to mine but mine was left unchecked for a longtime.

[JBird]

It does sound really amateurish. Couple of weeks doing a repair, and they don't bother vacuuming out all the crap before painting.

I recall they had a change of staff mid - late 2013, which was why I ended up getting mine done elsewhere. I wonder if this was the reason for this apparent decline in quality.

[mistergav]

It does sound really amateurish. Couple of weeks doing a repair, and they don't bother vacuuming out all the crap before painting.

I recall they had a change of staff mid - late 2013, which was why I ended up getting mine done elsewhere. I wonder if this was the reason for this apparent decline in quality.

This was repaired in late 2011 before i owned the car. It was probably coming to the end of the warranty window so they would have been rushing them through.

[mistergav]

Cambridge doesn't have a body shop so sends everything to Bedford, I was talking to the DP in Cambridge and that’s what he told me. Mine was ‘repaired’ in Bedford.

BMW in Scotland quoted £4,440.05 to put it right, that includes dropping the running gear, cleaning and resealing the entire boot floor inside and out. I have passed that quote to Bedford and await their comments on Tuesday.

The technical manager for BMW Scotland and Ireland is also coming to look at the sub-standard repair.

Its getting fixed regardless, just interested to see if Elms are going to take ownership....

Elms have been very good to deal with and authorized the repair. All surface corrosion will be removed and the boot floor will be painted top and bottom.

Here we go again:

[mistergav]

That's the boot floor repaired inside and out, running gear just needs to go back on now. The quality of the repair looks much better than the job Elms did. :hahaha:

Here are some pictures:

[JBird]

Are the painting it silver or leaving it black? (or is your car black???)

[mistergav]

Are the painting it silver or leaving it black? (or is your car black???)

It's black the areas inside the boot that look a greenish grey is normal apparently. I will upload a few pictures later to prove its black :hahaha:

[Scott]

Looks good, glad you got it sorted :thumbs:

[mistergav]

...

[0-60motorsports]

Nice work and coming along great. Hope this wont cause the cars value to drop too much.

[mistergav]

Nice work and coming along great. Hope this wont cause the cars value to drop too much.

Not really bothered about the value to be entirely honest. But I fail to see why putting the car right would decrease its value, it's a BMW panel going on and being fitted by BMW.

Does replacing the boot floor decrease the value?

[0-60motorsports]

Not really bothered about the value to be entirely honest. But I fail to see why putting the car right would decrease its value, it's a BMW panel going on and being fitted by BMW.

Does replacing the boot floor decrease the value?

Replacing the boot, No, because its a known failure point on E46 M3's.

As far as your rear fender panel removal and replacement and a previous unknown accident, Yes it would decrease the value of the car to me and to many others. Then again there are also many many others who wouldnt care. 50/50 point of view i guess.

It IS coming along wonderfully though. Looking forward to the finished job and some nice pics.:beer:

[glendog74]

Does replacing the boot floor decrease the value?

If anything it will most probably add value in the eyes of most future CSL buyers as they are more wary of ones which haven't been done IMHO.