Corrosion

[Aggy]

I have, sat in my garage, a 1985 Armstrong MT500 ex military motorbike. It is still in the exact condition as it was in when it left the Armed forces in 1997 - brush painted olive drab. I have owned it just over 3 years and it has never been washed. It has been used off road, on road and over winter - it still has salt marks on the frame.

Now your average squaddie does not sit and polish the bike every time he uses it, nor does he jet wash it down if it gets a bit muddy. These bikes were used in some hideous conditions. The ones used in the gulf war regularly had to have sand removed out of their working parts.

So, my 24 year old abused military bike that is brush painted has less rust on it that your '07 beemer.

If I was you I would send them a letter stating that you do not find the condition of your 'bikes frame in an acceptable state for the age of the machine and that if the matter cannot be resolved amicably within a reasonable period of time so that no further damage can occur you will have to seek legal advice with regard to the bike in question not being fit for purpose and the anti corrosion protection provided, at the time of manufacture, has proved inadequate. Furthermore, you take exception to the unfounded allegation of the bike not being maintained and cleaned in accordance to BMW warranty specifications. BMW's own marketing and literature portrays this machine as an all round motorbike capable of both on road and off road useage therefore it is a reasonable assumption by the consumer that this machine will be provided with adequate protection to allow such use.

 

[MattW]

Wasn't one of those 'salvaged off the beach' ones was it?

 

[(RIP) Miff]

Am I the only one who's thinking, rub it down, and paint it with smoothrite???

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Just a thought

You didn't buy it from a bloke on a beach in Devon did you?

 

[Aggy]

Wasn't one of those 'salvaged off the beach' ones was it?

I'd forgotten about them............ ohhhhh cue the jokes about having trouble dipping his lights and if it won't start the engine might be flooded

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Jeez that`s terrible and the worst I`ve seen

I can`t believe the dealer would throw out a claim because you don`t clean it regularly where the feck does it say that you have to clean it every 5 minutes? It sounds like they are just not interested.

I`d be writing good strong letters to Customer services with copies to the dealer and supporting evidence with threats of legal action if nothing is done. They may of course just treat the frame rather than replace it but as long as they covered the cost, I`m guessing that would do. It may be a good idea to get someone to price a repaint of the frame to give them options.

I wouldn`t have thought that it`s a "fit for purpose" claim because the bike is fit for purpose i.e it starts, rides and stops but surely they will find a way to sort that out under warranty.

 

[NorthernBoy]

Why the hell did you let it get to this stage?,there must have been rust bubbles long before it broke through,when was the last dealer service and was any rust noted then?

Quite right, the owner must always be held at least partially to blame no matter what is wrong with a BMW, its the law round here, and someone must always point it out.

Of course, had he posted photographs six months ago, I am sure that you (or one of the other of the sanctimony brigade) would have been happy to get on the same high horse and say "That's not so bad, bikes rust, get over it, it's only minor".

Edmac, don't be put off by posts like the above, you have a very good case, so please keep pushing.

 

[BuGsBuNnY]

Tell you what, the warranty work would be some good £ for your dealer. I am still at a loss as to why they are not pushing your case as hard as they can....


Don't rely on email, although customer services always reply, give them a ring as well, so you can get a dedicated contact.

 

[pathfinder]

I have, sat in my garage, a 1985 Armstrong MT500 ex military motorbike. It is still in the exact condition as it was in when it left the Armed forces in 1997 - brush painted olive drab. I have owned it just over 3 years and it has never been washed. It has been used off road, on road and over winter - it still has salt marks on the frame.

Now your average squaddie does not sit and polish the bike every time he uses it, nor does he jet wash it down if it gets a bit muddy. These bikes were used in some hideous conditions. The ones used in the gulf war regularly had to have sand removed out of their working parts.

So, my 24 year old abused military bike that is brush painted has less rust on it that your '07 beemer.

If I was you I would send them a letter stating that you do not find the condition of your 'bikes frame in an acceptable state for the age of the machine and that if the matter cannot be resolved amicably within a reasonable period of time so that no further damage can occur you will have to seek legal advice with regard to the bike in question not being fit for purpose and the anti corrosion protection provided, at the time of manufacture, has proved inadequate. Furthermore, you take exception to the unfounded allegation of the bike not being maintained and cleaned in accordance to BMW warranty specifications. BMW's own marketing and literature portrays this machine as an all round motorbike capable of both on road and off road useage therefore it is a reasonable assumption by the consumer that this machine will be provided with adequate protection to allow such use.

Well said sir!

 

[elefantmanshawn]

Quite right, the owner must always be held at least partially to blame no matter what is wrong with a BMW, its the law round here, and someone must always point it out.

Of course, had he posted photographs six months ago, I am sure that you (or one of the other of the sanctimony brigade) would have been happy to get on the same high horse and say "That's not so bad, bikes rust, get over it, it's only minor".

Edmac, don't be put off by posts like the above, you have a very good case, so please keep pushing.

Just trying to point out that shit like this does not happen over night,it takes a lot of neglect and to then try to blame poor build quality at the last minute is laughable,they will just **** you off and in 2 years you've lost at least 10k what a genius

 

[JINKY]

Threaten them by contacting the magazines mate if you are getting no joy,
like ----ride or bike---- to do an article on your bike if they dont resolve this.Bad publicity can cost them thousands.

jinky

 

[Fanum]

Quite right, the owner must always be held at least partially to blame no matter what is wrong with a BMW, its the law round here, and someone must always point it out.

Of course, had he posted photographs six months ago, I am sure that you (or one of the other of the sanctimony brigade) would have been happy to get on the same high horse and say "That's not so bad, bikes rust, get over it, it's only minor".

Edmac, don't be put off by posts like the above, you have a very good case, so please keep pushing.

Woah easy tiger!
It's called balance I think

It's not an unreasonable question, particularly as we then found out that the OP had decided, even though he'd seen to start of the rusting, to wait until closer to the end of the warranty to even mention it to his dealer.

Personally I think he was a bit daft not to, at the very least, point out the corrosion to his dealer as soon as it became noticeable, just to 'log' the start of it, even if (quite reasonably , again only in my opinion) he wanted to then wait until close to the end of the warranty to get maximum 'bang for bucks' out of the replacement frame and/or parts

Nothing wrong with asking the question.....it's what discussion is about, and owners (even rabid ones with chips on their shoulders from their own previous experiences*) aren't always totally right just as much as dealers aren't always wrong



* I have no idea if this applies to you and I'm not suggesting it does in this case, it's just that we do see some repeated names slagging off certain aspects of a bike or a dealer or a particular product, based purely on the chips they carry from their own experiences.

 

[bumpy]

The bike has covered 30Km so presumably has been in for several services at the main dealer.

If, as claimed, this rust has been developing over a long period, then the dealer had a resposibility to point it out, and if they felt the bike was not being cleaned and looked after well then they should have had some dialog with the customer to this effect.

This is no different to them spotting an oil leak, or a wonky rear drive, and ignoring it. The guarantee / cost implications are similar.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Threaten them by contacting the magazines mate if you are getting no joy,
like ----ride or bike---- to do an article on your bike if they dont resolve this.Bad publicity can cost them thousands.

jinky

Jinky

The mags will not be interested because BuMW (like all manufacturers) pay £1000`s in advertising. It`s a one way street I`m afraid.

They will very rarely print anything bad about a manufacturer.

 

[cookie]

looks like typical bmw salt corrosion, left unchecked for a long time

i'm pretty sure that bmw would have addressed the issue if it had been brought up earlier (they did mine and others). your bike now just looks neglected, which is what it is.

 

[BBB61]

I couldn't see the rust underneath the 18 months of crud, that was a joke I figured i would just leave it go until nearing the end of the warranty.

I think the problem you will have is that it appears you picked this up many months ago but you didn't notify the dealer as soon as you noticed the problem. I understand the T's and C's of the warranty are that you should notify the dealer as soon as a problem crops up.

Good luck with the claim and I hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction.

 

[BuGsBuNnY]

Do some of you have shares in BMW?

 

[edmac]

Well it seems i sparked a wee little debate, unusual for this site..
I take all your points on board and thanks for taking the time to comment, one thing i should mentioned earlier aswell, i live in the south ireland and we dont have the level of salt on our roads in winter as some of you guys do, we are luck to see a salt truck once or twice a year, and thats only on the main roads.

 

[cookie]

you only need to get salt on it once and then not wash it off for the corrosion to set in.

it would be nice if this was not the case, and i'm not defending bmw, but i wonder if any modern bike, ie. painted with shite water based paints, would fare any better if just left to rot

 

[NorthernBoy]

Woah easy tiger!
It's called balance I think

This is true, but we see the other side on here regularly enough, where someone mentions mild corrosion and are told pretty forcefully that they should not be complaining.

I just don't know of any other marque where owners are willing to keep blaming each other for problems with the bikes. As I've said before, I have a strong suspicion that the bulletproof reliability that BMW are reputed to have is more down to the refusal of owners to ever own up to a real problem than to any actual high build quality.