Tinuva's facelifted Alpine White E46 330i

[Tinuva]

Thank you for the advice everyone.

First option for me would be to have it repaired. After receiving advice from a member through PM, my first route will be to try and negotiate with the insurance company as much as I can to get it repaired and left on my name.

Only if that doesn't happen, will I see what options they leave me with.

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Some photos after looking at it at home today. I took out the headlight casing and bits and threw it into a box which will go into the boot to see if anything like the bulbs can be re-used.


The one tear I found. This is the one part that I am unsure about what will happen, but looks like a job for a professional welder or panel beater if not replacing the whole thing (if that is even possible):

Close up of the tear.

Zoom out a bit.

The only cable that is damaged, looks like it connects to something for the aircon, which would explain why the aircon is not working. Not sure if this will also cause the electric fan to go to 100% so will have to figure that out later.

Top view, showing ever so slight bending (black metal) and the metal for the bumper on which the spots sits taken most of the hit being bent much more.

Closing the bonnet. Both rings on the spots popped out on the scene, 1 in the car and 1 in the box now. Also I think the headlight washer system pulled on the left front washer, as that also popped out on the scene.

 

[Gizmo]

Frame rail still straight, that car is 100% fixable. More replacing parts than actual panel beating.

 

[osiris]

The headlights are over 25k each although those don't look like oem xenons the projector lens is too small so you could get a normal halogen light from the scrap yard and retrofit a projector as was done before. Also these are not facelift headlights so they may be slightly cheaper but i doubt it. I wanted to buy a set of oem xenons for my old 330d and BMW quoted me 55k for the set.

The panel beater however will look at the headlight and it will be added to the bill of replacement parts and that along with the bumper is what is going to cause this to be a write off. Just being real with you.

Start sourcing headlights now from scrap yards or gumtree etc. There are plenty. If you can find one before the quote you can remove it from the quote which might make it repairable under insurance.

 

[Tinuva]

The headlights are over 25k each although those don't look like oem xenons the projector lens is too small so you could get a normal halogen light from the scrap yard and retrofit a projector as was done before. Also these are not facelift headlights so they may be slightly cheaper but i doubt it. I wanted to buy a set of oem xenons for my old 330d and BMW quoted me 55k for the set.

The panel beater however will look at the headlight and it will be added to the bill of replacement parts and that along with the bumper is what is going to cause this to be a write off. Just being real with you.

Start sourcing headlights now from scrap yards or gumtree etc. There are plenty. If you can find one before the quote you can remove it from the quote which might make it repairable under insurance.

I get what you say about the price for the xenons, and that is going to be the problem I think.

As for them being original, the VIN decoder shows the car came with Xenon and headlight washing system from the factory. I do however know, they are the ones before the bi-xenons, which only came out later with the facelift models. The projects look normal to me, at the very least similar to others I have seen that are also not bi-xenon.

If it is up to me, I will chuck out the Xenons and the headlight washing system. The headlight washing system really annoyed me going off and I was about to code it out anyways. The Xenons are really nice, I will miss them, but I believe it might be easier and cheaper to get normal projectors. And only reason I can live with that, is that this car was almost always driver during the day only. Been using the 318 with projectors mostly at the dark early hours.

I really dread choosing this single day to drive the 330, but it happened and will try my best. The insurer did take note when opening the case for me that I would prefer to keep it from written off.

 

[Tris]

Hey bud, strongs once again, as per my discussion with you, please Let me know if you need any other assistance:thumbs:

 

[AdiS]

Some aftermarket options to consider
http://euroautoparts.co.za/shop/bmw...5/330i-00-05/bmw-e46-sedan-330i-bodywork.html

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Also, if headlights are pushing up the cost a lot, it's a lot easier to find set of used OEM pre-facelift headlights in the UK. Just stick new lenses on them.

e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-200...en:E46&hash=item41db32328e:g:HrYAAOSwqbxaDwYO

 

[Tinuva]

Some aftermarket options to consider
http://euroautoparts.co.za/shop/bmw...5/330i-00-05/bmw-e46-sedan-330i-bodywork.html

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Also, if headlights are pushing up the cost a lot, it's a lot easier to find set of used OEM pre-facelift headlights in the UK. Just stick new lenses on them.

e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-200...en:E46&hash=item41db32328e:g:HrYAAOSwqbxaDwYO

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Thank you. :ty:

The euroautoparts prices are decent when compared to the quotes I got from second hand parts dealers so far.

Those lights are actually a very good price, surprised they that low. Thats literally less than I would pay for only the plastic without the bulbs/ballast/igniter for a single headlight. Also its the exact part number that is on mine!

 

[AshleyCyster]

Hey does anyone perhaps know where I can fix this in Cape Town?

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[AdiS]

Hey does anyone perhaps know where I can fix this in Cape Town?

Please don’t hijack other people’s threads, rather start your own.


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[Tinuva]

Hey does anyone perhaps know where I can fix this in Cape Town?

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Very easy DIY. Take of the strip, replace clips with new ones, make sure the strip is bent back inwards gently, clip back on. If you really must, buy both clips and a new strip. Takes all of 5 minutes to do, if that much.

Took me even less time on the 318 and it looks like normal as if it was never like that.

 

[SubLoaded]

Hey does anyone perhaps know where I can fix this in Cape Town?

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What u want here? :roflol:

 

[zippy320]

Looked at the pic and wondered , now how did the back bumper get messed up , eventually saw that it was a totally different car :hammerhead:

 

[Tinuva]

:blueCry:

Another 330i prefacelift dead. Was mtech1
https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-car-acc...o-stripn-for-spares/1002234313840910200301109

If it burned on the other side I could have had parts /sigh

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or hmm use parts of this https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-cars-bakkies/arcadia/bmw-330i-lost-papers/1002233730020911340146609 then throw it away

 

[Tinuva]

Small update, and then some photos of what it has been before the accident.

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Went for quotes, experience taught me how some panel beaters have the worst services, specifically Tiger panel beaters accross SMG ARC Tygervally (in Parrow). Should have checked they only have 1 star reviews on Google.

Then the assessor came through last week, his story on the day and in the reports were different...which I found interesting. Good on the day, opposite in the reports.

That said, the insurance agreed to pay out a % of the value for me to use to repair, with the warning they will not pay any extra cents, and I need a technical (full) Dekra report after the vehicle is repaired before they will insure it again.

With the amount they are paying out, I am going to have to work very smart to cut my losses to a minimum, which includes doing a lot of the work myself.

I found a facelift donor vehicle that I will be buying, which is actually in a very decent condition, feel very sad about it but its a 318 and I want my 330 fixed. I will miss out on the mtech1 bumper, but that is something I will work on at a very later stage. Also not scrapping my own 318, it is in great condition with lots of preventative maintenance done.

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Anyways, photos of the 330 earlier this year.


Washing the car in January with my new waterless cleaning product source from within the BMW Car Club Cape Town:

Next day the club joined the SA Torque run through Franschoek, over the mountain pass and over the very empty dam:

One of my favorite photos taken of it on the next BMW Club run to Velddrif:

 

[SubLoaded]

Good luck buddy

 

[Jeremy.d]

This car was so clean:blueCry:

 

[danieltau]

Glad you fixing

 

[Nobz330i]

I’m loving your car, The Mtec 1 bumpers are perfect.

 

[Tinuva]

Glad you fixing

I was 50/50 on whether to fix or let go, pondering about this for the past few weeks. Make no mistake, I am going to spend some time on this myself, except the painting and some panel beating. But my wife convinced me to repair, which is pretty cool that I have her vote for it.

 

[Tinuva]

Small update.

Insurance paid out in the last week of March. This meant that the donor vehicle I wanted was sold by the time (I found it early March).

I did a second round of requesting quotes/prices on parts from Bruce, SMG Tygervalley and SMG Canal walk and also few places parting out cars ect.

One thing that made me a bit sad, one of the members on here went out of his way to get me a bumper that needed some work to look new, but it was not broken in 2 pieces like mine. What made me sad was, then to get it repaired up, the guys add so much labour cost to it, that I could only shake my head. :dunnoanymore: Unfortunately, even looking at youtube videos at other guys online fixing these things up, I don't think I have those skills.

Eventually decided to go with parts from SMG Canal walk, who already added in discount and also delivered to my home (this was last week in March).

Also received a set of Xenon lights. Was R3000 for the set, which is not the cheapest, another guy was selling a set for R2400 in Durbs. This set looks great though.

On a side note, I am currently away from home, so apart from delivering parts, I haven't done anything on this car. Currently 1800km away from home, where I picked up another car for the wife, only to find that, while the car was clean cosmetically, papers good ect, a previous mechanic left me in a tough spot. While driving the car here for like 200km, the alternator stopped working, or rather its working intermittently. Problem is, when it was taken out now, the one screw was stripped previously, and this caused it to break on the oil filter housing. :blueCry: Hopefully I will be on the road on the way home in the coming week.

Body parts delivered:

Xenon set, checking it out:

Interesting, it had led lights for the park lights.

The broken part on the oil filter housing: (different car, not this one in this thread)