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      06-18-2011, 07:44 AM   #1
X3andZ4owner
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Im not impressed with the welding finish on my X3 (bad finish and spikes)

If BMW is using robots, I think the finish should be better, this is poor work..
Sharp spikes in the welding and hole on one side... this is later easy locations for rust.. I live in Norway where they salt the roads heavily .

Otherwise the car is great!










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      06-18-2011, 08:01 AM   #2
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Not unusual with BMW. The parts you don't normally look at don't get much attention. With Audi (at least my Audis of several years ago) they over-engineer the parts you can't see, which the accountants must hate. The spike you have is especially rough. Does your X3 have a clear varnish? If so does it extend into the pictured areas? With metallics they usually only spray the external paint, always seems cheap to me.
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      06-18-2011, 08:02 AM   #3
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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.

BTW, you should be glad BMW does this. Not all brands are as thorough with seam caulking.
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      06-18-2011, 09:00 AM   #4
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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.

BTW, you should be glad BMW does this. Not all brands are as thorough with seam caulking.
Even worse then, they should take time to make an nice finish if its only plastic.. The spikes are terrible. Very difficult to clean for dirt.. and as you can see I have a white car..

Last edited by X3andZ4owner; 06-18-2011 at 09:39 AM..
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      06-18-2011, 11:37 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X3andZ4owner View Post
Even worse then, they should take time to make an nice finish if its only plastic.. The spikes are terrible. Very difficult to clean for dirt.. and as you can see I have a white car..
The sealant are supposed not to be seen from the outside if u shut all the doors, so no need to clean unless u've entered a concours.
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      06-18-2011, 01:08 PM   #6
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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.
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      06-18-2011, 01:26 PM   #7
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Its difficult to clean the area when there are crests like that... on a white car the dirt-lines are extra visible
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      06-18-2011, 01:55 PM   #8
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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.
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      06-18-2011, 02:14 PM   #9
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Most of us are paying a lot of money for these cars, more so outside the US......especially places like Norway. What might be ok for US build standards has not been the norm in Europe or Japan for a long time. That area will see the light of day every day when I get my X3. One area not done well suggests other areas may not be so good. My E93 has had 2 HPFPs and needed the properly designed headlamp washers fitting, I was driving around for 3 months with 2 holes in my bumper (fender) except for when my HPFP failed.

$60k is a lot for a car......
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      06-18-2011, 02:43 PM   #10
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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.
Basic price ( with manual transmission and without any extra options) for a X3 Xdrive35i in norway is 986 000 Norwegian kroner = 178 849.554 U.S. dollars (checked with Google)

You can check price for yourself here http://www.bmw.no/no/no/_teaserpool/...X3_03_2011.pdf


So I expect good quality even if you dont!

Last edited by X3andZ4owner; 06-18-2011 at 02:53 PM..
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      06-18-2011, 03:03 PM   #11
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It's the Government who takes the money not BMW. But if i recall correct the old X3 had better finish in those places you not normally pay attention to. The old one was made in Austria and the new one in USA, who has best reputation to build quality cars???
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      06-18-2011, 03:04 PM   #12
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Talking

Completely agree!!!! Quality from BMW should be perfect. Mercedes still rules!!! I'm getting my X3 in Dec for the family. But for me a 350 E class build perfectly, comfortable and quick. Yes, not as enfaging as the BMW 5 but a much better car. And in 10 years it still looks classic.
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      06-18-2011, 03:16 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perto View Post
It's the Government who takes the money not BMW. But if i recall correct the old X3 had better finish in those places you not normally pay attention to. The old one was made in Austria and the new one in USA, who has best reputation to build quality cars???
In Norway even without government tax the basic X3 Xdrive35i is 440 000 Norwegian kroner = 79 811.16 U.S. dollars...

And yes I have had 2 colleagues with USA built "european" cars, one with a Volvo XC90 and another with an Mercedes ML, both complained over poor building quality and irritating small problems, both changed to German built cars and was then satisfied..
The guy with the ML was so fed up he just dumped the almost new ML at the dealer and said to them that they could buy it back,(long story) he lost approximately 200 000 Norwegian kroner = 36 277.8 U.S. dollars in 6 months, he bought an Porsche Cayenne later.

Seems to me that the american worker don't put their soul in their work the same way as the german worker.

The seam looks like something my 5 year old kid would come up with.... Terrible..

But ok some people put armani stickers on IKEA furniture, but its still IKEA.. Im surprised that some of you guys state that if it looks good on the outside its ok, as long you don't see the bad results its ok.. I state that quality should not only be skin deep.. but also on the places you don't see...

Last edited by X3andZ4owner; 06-18-2011 at 03:33 PM..
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      06-18-2011, 03:34 PM   #14
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To be fair to the US workers, it's down to BMW QC, my South African verts were well built.
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      06-18-2011, 04:20 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X3andZ4owner View Post
Seems to me that the american worker don't put their soul in their work the same way as the german worker.
Maybe you should buy a car manufactured in Norway then.
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      06-18-2011, 04:33 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 509trooper View Post
Maybe you should buy a car manufactured in Norway then.


Or just possibly take a close look at something you are spending significant money on. Especially if you have a pet peeve over details like that. You did look at it before you bought it, right??
Where is that guy that bought one prior to driving it because he was just to busy to be bothered by driving it first???
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      06-18-2011, 04:48 PM   #17
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Well said RxCritical!
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      06-18-2011, 05:04 PM   #18
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C'mon, who looks at that level of detail upfront it's the sort of thing you notice when you have the car. The OP thinks it's a great car BTW. Next we'll need to check how up to date the maps are.,
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      06-18-2011, 05:09 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X3andZ4owner View Post
In Norway even without government tax the basic X3 Xdrive35i is 440 000 Norwegian kroner = 79 811.16 U.S. dollars...

..
Wait, what?? You buy a 440,000 kroner car and YOUR GOVERNMENT taxes you another 546,000 kroner?????
Dang I'm glad we have some common sense here. You could have bought TWO X3's and still had change left!!!!
If our government tried to propose a 124% tax on vehicles, me thinks that particular government would not last very long.
But that's just here in the United States, what do we know about taxes.
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      06-18-2011, 05:18 PM   #20
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I'm not convinced issues like this are down to the country of manufacture. It's still a BMW factory and closely controlled and monitored by BMW. I'm sure Hondas produced in the UK are the same standard as those produced in Japan and the rest of the world

This is just saving money by cutting corners. Blame the management accountants.

And re. pricing, Norway doesn't get charged more for the same product. Aside from FX, it's import duty and tax that you're paying your government that inflates the price
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      06-18-2011, 05:23 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 509trooper View Post
Maybe you should buy a car manufactured in Norway then.
Ask you again the question that someone else asked before: Are american cars know for their good quality?

As I wrote before, otherwise the car is great except for the finish and the details. You guys criticizing don't seem to be used to quality?

Home at your place is it tidy just because you hide the shit under the carpet?

I put a lot in the details , its in the details one can find what the quality of the whole is.
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      06-18-2011, 05:32 PM   #22
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I am amazed how often conversations degrade into an issue with the country of manufacture. If you own enough BMWs over the years, you will realize it doesn't make a real difference. I have seen some real quality flops come out of the German plants as well as the American plants. Same goes for design or parts flaws -- the HPFP was a worldwide issue, and it didn't really matter where the car was assembled. BMWs have never had the greatest quality ratings.

I have a 2011 alpine white Z4 built in Regensburg, and the car has been perfect so far, and amazing. Here's a caulked seam in the gap between the driver's door and front fender:



Pretty ugly looking. I had to go hunting for this, as I never gave it a second thought before. I probably won't give it another thought past this point. It's an awesome car and a privilege to drive. It could shoot caulk out the tailpipes and I wouldn't care.

My advice to the OP: learn how to tell the difference between welds and caulk, be thankful they applied the caulk liberally when you have a solid body decades down the road, and enjoy your awesome new X3.
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