[sinbad4]

Washed car for the first time at about 10 day mark. Found some serious gouges in the rocker panel, seems to be from the rear door. Damage is on both sides of the car, only for rear door. Door seems to clear OK now. A little curious how it could have happened. A little annoyed that I will have to get fixed.

I emailed the dealer. I am hoping they will just order new rocker panels, paint and keep my car for afternoon to install.

Any guesses what BMW / Dealer will want to do?

[Douggie]

Yikes!

[The Dutch Joe]

Had some points too on my new X3...

- Trunklid scratched the inside of the car and scratched the paint
- Rearbumper had a paintchip on the edge, from banging it on the other part when mounting
- Left side of the dashboard (facing inside door) wasn't mounted right. One clip probably not aligned well, so panel didn't close fully


Noticed these things in the first days of driving, and everything got fixed right away.
Trunklid adjusted, paint fixed (spot repair) and dashboard fixed.

So that's fine...
The only problem I have, is how the hell do these things go by the Quality Control?
Not the BMW-finesse I'm used to...

[claykin]

Looks more like dealer lot damage. I highly doubt a car would leave the factory with that level of damage.

[Bimmer100_]

I find it strange that you didn't notice those big defects at pick up. Seems more like it occurred while in your possession.

[nyalpine90]

forget emailing, I would drove back and spoke with salesperson you dealt with.
alot of can happen in 10 days of ownership, they may decline it happen at dealership.

your indicating rear doors were not aligned, and scratch rocker panel?
the doors were fixed and left the damage on rocker panels?

[sinbad4]

Originally Posted by bwsteg

I find it strange that you didn't notice those big defects at pick up. Seems more like it occurred while in your possession.

Wow, you are from New York. No, It didn’t happen in my possession. I’m not trying to scam anyone. What would I possibly gain?

These panels were damaged by the rear doors. Bottom of rear doors scraped the bottom rocker panel. This should not be possible - if the doors were fit properly. Interestingly, bottom of door trim does not show any hint of contact or scraping.

My best guess is this happened at the factory, doors were misaligned and scraped rockers. I am guessing alignment was fixed as was door trim. Somehow rocker panels were not fixed. Perhaps someone meant to fix and forgot. Quality control fail to be sure.

As far as me not seeing right away, you need to realize this is at bottom door. It’s not visible within 3-4 ft from car.. it is 6 ft away, but damage viewed from outside is small. Really mostly visible on inside of rear doors when rear is opened. I only notices when drying car, I open doors and wipe sills. At first I thought was grease smear / smudge. Shocked when I realized what it was.

[Bimmer100_]

Originally Posted by sinbad4

Wow, you are from New York. No, It didn't happen in my possession. I'm not trying to scam anyone. What would I possibly gain?

These panels were damaged by the rear doors. Bottom of rear doors scraped the bottom rocker panel. This should not be possible - if the doors were fit properly. Interestingly, bottom of door trim does not show any hint of contact or scraping.

My best guess is this happened at the factory, doors were misaligned and scraped rockers. I am guessing alignment was fixed as was door trim. Somehow rocker panels were not fixed. Perhaps someone meant to fix and forgot. Quality control fail to be sure.

As far as me not seeing right away, you need to realize this is at bottom door. It's not visible within 3-4 ft from car.. it is 6 ft away, but damage viewed from outside is small. Really mostly visible on inside of rear doors when rear is opened. I only notices when drying car, I open doors and wipe sills. At first I thought was grease smear / smudge. Shocked when I realized what it was.

What does me being from New York have to do with anything? Yes you have a lot to gain, like not having to pay for repair

That damage is not small and would have easily been seen. The reason why you probably didn't see it during pick up is because it probably happened recently. Anything is possible, but I will tell you one thing. If I sold you a car and you came back 10 days late with obvious damage as shown on your pictures to complain, I would tell you to kick rocks.

One more thing, those of us on this forum are OCD about our cars. Not seeing this for 10days if it indeed came from factory is negligence on your part. Unless your going to claim that you took it home and put it away for nearly 2 weeks.

[titomi]

I tend to agree, that not noticing such thing at pick up is not really understandable. But I also do believe, that OP is not trying to fool us nor the dealership. This should be a warning for everyone who is waiting for car pick up, to go through the car thoroughly before signing any papers. Good luck sinbad.

[clivem2]

Originally Posted by titomi

I tend to agree, that not noticing such thing at pick up is not really understandable. But I also do believe, that OP is not trying to fool us nor the dealership. This should be a warning for everyone who is waiting for car pick up, to go through the car thoroughly before signing any papers. Good luck sinbad.

That's a good point. When I pick my car up I'll be most interested in the interior and exterior colour combination as I've not seen an X3 with it. I will have to get over that part quickly and properly check the car in detail.

[MADBMWX5MC]

Am I safe to assume that it appears that the damaged occurred with an open door? In other words, looking at the location of the damage the door must have been opened first.

[adam.b]

check bottom of the door if there is any mark

[GT500R]

Originally Posted by bwsteg

I find it strange that you didn't notice those big defects at pick up. Seems more like it occurred while in your possession.

I agree, these are huge items... but who knows it could have been dark or just a miss

[sinbad4]

Took it to dealer today. They were very surprised. Agreed no way I could have created the damage. They are now going to check other inventory.

Photos taken close up in daylight. Damage is not visible with rear door closed, as door covers it up. Hard to see with read door open, as is very dark there (and dark grey). Really only visible with both doors open with panels clean in bright light. There is slight malformation visible on outside, but low, underside of door and not visible until you step back a ways. This is my 3rd X3 in 18 months. I look them over very carefully, checking finish, panel alignment, finish, wheels, tires, engine components, interior trim and lether, etc.

Nice how many of you are so very sure you'd notice. I'm sure you would have. Sheeze.

Anyway, dealer working with BMW to repair.

[Battin4th]

I'm not even sure what I'm looking at except a total debacle. Someone damaged those rockers by dragging something over them, like a vacuum hose or something? I don't see any corresponding damage on the door bottoms. Cheap plastic rocker panels!

Whatever the cause, I would be pissed!

[nyalpine90]

Originally Posted by sinbad4

Took it to dealer today. They were very surprised. Agreed no way I could have created the damage. They are now going to check other inventory.

Photos taken close up in daylight. Damage is not visible with rear door closed, as door covers it up. Hard to see with read door open, as is very dark there (and dark grey). Really only visible with both doors open with panels clean in bright light. There is slight malformation visible on outside, but low, underside of door and not visible until you step back a ways. This is my 3rd X3 in 18 months. I look them over very carefully, checking finish, panel alignment, finish, wheels, tires, engine components, interior trim and lether, etc.

Nice how many of you are so very sure you'd notice. I'm sure you would have. Sheeze.

Anyway, dealer working with BMW to repair.

well thats good news.

[Tchgrif]

looks to me more like something metal got caught as the door was being closed, bottom of the door is a sharper crease and probably got caught on that and dragged across the rocker panel and sill plate. seems like with almost every post by sinbad I have even more questions. Three X3's in 18 months? are you flipping them or just a really really bad driver?

[sinbad4]

Originally Posted by Battin4th

I'm not even sure what I'm looking at except a total debacle. Someone damaged those rockers by dragging something over them, like a vacuum hose or something? I don't see any corresponding damage on the door bottoms. Cheap plastic rocker panels!

The damage is from the door(s) themselves. bottom corner of door was too low (or rocker panel too high) and metal corner of door cut into plastic rocker panel.

[Bimmer100_]

Originally Posted by GT500R

I agree, these are huge items... but who knows it could have been dark or just a miss

Yes that's fine. It can happen to all of us when we drop off our cars to service and don't notice something the dealership may have done when we get home. But this was 10 days, let me repeat that. 10 days later. That's inexcusable at that point when trying to make a claim or blame it on the dealership.

[Bimmer100_]

Originally Posted by sinbad4

The damage is from the door(s) themselves. bottom corner of door was too low (or rocker panel too high) and metal corner of door cut into plastic rocker panel.

Can you take pictures farther away. The edge of door doesn't even line up exactly to make that mark exactly the way it's shown.

Also the first picture is with door closed correct? How is it that you and the dealer mention that it's no visible unless the doors are opened?