BMW E46 M3 RACP Reinforcement - POR15 corrosion treatment

This BMW E46 M3 Coupe was a 2003 with 84,000 miles came to us at Redish Motorsport for it's Rear Axle Carrier Panel (aka subframe panel) repair & reinforcement process.
http://www.redish-motorsport.com/E46M3FloorSubframeCrackRepairReinforcement.html

After checking the Underside of the RACP and then the Internal sections of the RACP we found more cracks & spot weld failures than what most people typical think of an E46 M3 having.
The fact is that now-a-days in 2017 this is a fairly normal occurrence, and many of the E46's which come to us don't just have underside cracks, but also internal cracks too.

We thoroughly degreased the working area and surrounding panels, then set about repairing the crack(s) and spot weld damage(s) to the mounting points on the underside of the RACP.

Then we went inside the vehicle to start the Internal repair & reinforcement work on the RACP after protection (or removing) most of the rear-half of the vehicle's interior.

Back underneath the RACP we reinforced the 4x mounting points with the Redish Motorsport E46 V2 Rear Subframe Reinforcement Plate Kit http://www.redish-motorsport.com/RedishMotorsportE46RearSubframeReinforcementPlateKit.html

This customer also requested our Corrosion Treatment Process (additional cost) to remove the majority of heavy corrosion and loose rust from the RACP and localised working areas.
We removed 3 redundant Battery Box brackets completely.
Then temporarily removed 2x Brake Pipe and 2x Fuel Tank Strap Brackets to treat the corrosion behind those brackets.
Then re-installed (welding & shaping) pre-treated brackets from our exchange programme (additional cost) which means all the corrosion on the RACP, Spring Perch, Shock Turret, Battery Box, Boot Floor, Handbrake Console, and a small section of the Seat Panel has been treated and neutralised with POR-15 Metal Prep.

Then back to the Internal welding (inside the vehicle), we installed customer reinforcement plates to stabilise the rear pair of threaded receivers by removing the inferior stamped 't' piece sheet metal.
We also connected the Rear Cavity 'box section' to the Chassis Legs via reinforcement plates.
Then finished additional strengthening by adding a tube which was also stitch welded to the Rear Cavity 'box section' central area and the RACP itself, whilst spreading the load into the newly created Chassis Leg attachments. (all additional costs)

We then installed the Boot Floor front piece (that we cut out earlier) and aligned it perfectly and fully welded that in, as well as creating 6 new plug weld points for the new tube (internally fitted) to be plug welded to the thin Boot Floor panel.

After drying with infra-red lamps, we protected these corroded areas further by painting them with POR-15 Rust Preventative Paint.

After dusting, vacuuming, and panel-wiping the inside of the vehicle and the underside of the vehicle, we applied our first layer of protection which was Etch Primer.
Once dried, we went onto our 2nd layer which was High Build Primer.
Then we went onto the 3rd layer which was Sprayable Seam Sealer.
Once cured, we applied a 2-tone top colouring which was body-coloured Titan Silver for the inside of the car and the Wheel Arches, and our (Redish) version of OEM E-coat on the underside.

After another 12 or so hours drying time, the sealer & paints were hard enough to move onto our extensive Cavity Waxing process which is done underneath and inside the vehicle to achieve optimum protection.

Then we were able to start the rebuild process inside and underneath.
This BMW E46 M3 had several new components replaced like Subframe Bushes, Rear Trailing Arm Bushes, Metal Brake Pipes, Braided Hoses, Exhaust fixings, Rear Lower arms, Ball Joints, Camber Eccentric adjustment hardware, un-seizing the Front Steering Tie Rods, and so on. (additional costs).

We also supplied and installed a new Heat & Sound Deadening Pad for the RACP inside the vehicle to make it look as OEM as possible.

Once the car was fully rebuilt, we carried out a Brake Fluid change/service and full system bleed through the entire car and changed all 4 bleed valves.

Then the vehicle geometry was set using a Hofmann digital wheel alignment setup.

A 12 miles road test was completed and the car signed off.

Finally and in-house vehicle clean was carried out using detailing products solely from specialist supplier www.cleanyourcar.co.uk
as our web page explains here: http://www.redish-motorsport.com/CarCare.html

This customer also opted for our extended video package (additional cost), and extended picture package (additional cost) so ended up with a 1.5 hour video documentary, and just shy of 200 digital images which will be presented to him in digital format in chronological order.

www.redish-motorsport.com
Bristol, UK
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