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      06-18-2011, 06:45 PM   #38
LEDZEP
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skier219 View Post
Those are not welds. What you're looking at is the bead of body panel caulk used to fill any seams in the spot welded body. Looks perfectly normal to me. It is meant to be applied liberally with only a minimal attempt to neaten it up.

If you touch/tap the caulk, you will find that it's not hard like a weld would be, but rather, has a rubber/plastic/wax feel.
Exactly, I'd be impressed with the person who made finger marks in a fresh weld!

Quote:
Originally Posted by clivem2 View Post
I clean inside the doors on my cars, you do see these areas, it's not a huge deal but it should be better finished. It's not ther finish you expect from a German marque.
Every wash (hand only of course) I dry the inside of all doors and hatches, etc. This keeps them pretty clean and keeps water from dripping for hours after I've towelled the car dry... but I'm not fanatical about it. If the X3 were over $100k U.S. then perhaps this would be a complaint, but you should just get Zen with it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotus7 View Post
First, you get what you pay for.

Any vehicle from a lowly Tata to a Bugatti Veyron is built to a budget and has compromises in how that budget is allocated. Personally, I'd rather see resources spent on high mechanical tolerances on things like camshaft lobe profiles and turbocharger bearings than worrying about the smoothness of sealant caulk lines that are not visible on a closed car.

The X3 is a vehicle that is meant to be driven by people who are interested in something more than just basic transportation to go from one place to another. It is not an art object to be put on a pedestal and polished in places that no one but the owner will ever care about. Of course, that's just my personal opinion and is just that. You may be interested in polishing surfaces that rarely see the light of day. To each his/her own.

Everyone has his/her own priorities when it comes to how to spend your Euros, or Dollars in the case of the US-built X3. Sealant caulk line smoothness is approximately number 927 on my priority list.
True that. I noticed immediately on the first test drive that the new X3 does not have chrome plated door-latch-catcher-thingies... while every other BMW I've owned does. But I still placed an order.... the few dollars they save there adds up, and maybe allows them to hold to the stringent specs elsewhere without raising the cost.

I haven't had the X3 on a lift yet, but used to love looking at the 3 Series from underneath - you'll be amazed how over-engineered they are in "places you don't see".
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