Rear-ended.

[mpm345]

I was rear-ended earlier today and when I got home I noticed my bumper was filled with these tiny black pellets. Any idea what they are? You can sorta see them in the picture.

[Vectors2final]

:/

[bozola]

Glad to hear that you are ok.

No ideas on the pellets.

Should buff right out, but sux nonetheless.

[Impervious]

Glad everyone was okay.

[mpm345]

Thanks everyone. It'll be interesting to see how much damage there actually was. I was pushed into another car which then hit another car.

[1speedbike]

Damn, man. That's awful, but I'm glad that you're okay. Hopefully insurance will cover everything, and you can use this opportunity to get some performance parts instead of stock parts

The black pellets are probably gravel from the road (did you go through any construction zones? the gravel from new asphalt tends to be black like that) that your rear tires are kicking up. Normally it would just hit the inside of the wheel well and fall back onto the road, but now that your bumper's kinda falling off, I'm guessing you don't really have much of a wall there. At least that's my guess...

[mpm345]

Insurance is covering it.. How can I use this opportunity to get some performance parts instead of stock parts?

[fancyfl1ght]

Originally Posted by mpm345

Insurance is covering it.. How can I use this opportunity to get some performance parts instead of stock parts?

Get the icarbon rear diffuser. Your stock diffuser looks pretty messed up. Consider a bmw performance front apron to replace the stock wrinkled one along with an icarbon hood.

If the muffler is hosed, get a free flow axle back exhaust. Remus is my favorite but you should go sound out others.

With the weight savings, you might gain a few hp!

Good luck with the repairs.

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by mpm345

Insurance is covering it.. How can I use this opportunity to get some performance parts instead of stock parts?

Well, you'd have to pay for part of the performance parts yourself, but the general idea is that you buy the performance part yourself, and the shop reimburses you for the money they would have spent on the original part, so you're getting a discount off the performance part in the amount of what the original part was worth...

What I did was to have the insurance company take a look at the car and let them tell me exactly everything they're covering. I then went to my body shop (certified BMW so they would order OEM BMW components). I told them to order the performance front bumper instead of the stock bumper. Not a big price difference there, so I ended up not paying all that much for it. I told them I'd order a custom hood and to just reimburse me the money they would have spent on getting a new stock hood for me. I also told them not to paint it so I also got reimbursed the money spent on paint parts and labor. However, the CF hood took more time to install and configure so a bit was also deducted. The money I saved from the difference in labor price and from not getting a stock hood, I used in part to buy the CF hood.

Not sure if this will be worth it for a diffuser since the stock one is like 100 bucks and a carbon one costs much more than that. The stock hood is like 500 bucks and I got my CF hood for a good price, so my "discount" on the CF hood was 500 bucks that it would have cost for stock. For the diffuser your "discount" will only be the 80 bucks or so that the stock diffuser is worth, so it's all-in-all not that worth it.. Your exhaust though... the performance one is about 50 bucks more than the stock axleback. If your exhaust is in any way messed up, definitely spring for the BMW PE.

Hope this helps on making the most out of an unfortunate situation

[bluesunit]

If I remember correctly from installing the trailer hitch, the under number has some black "styrofoam" structural material back there. It's probably broken parts of that you are seeing.

[IDBMW]

That is from the Styrofoam they put in the bumper. I think it is for the USA 5 mph impact rule.

[mpm345]

Thank you everyone for you advice and input. Since I have a 128 would you think it would be possible to replace the broken halogen headlight with the xenons?

[TMR013]

Originally Posted by mpm345

Thank you everyone for you advice and input. Since I have a 128 would you think it would be possible to replace the broken halogen headlight with the xenons?

Anything is possible. For the right price.

Sorry about your ride. Glad you are OK.

[amancuso]

Originally Posted by mpm345

Thank you everyone for you advice and input. Since I have a 128 would you think it would be possible to replace the broken halogen headlight with the xenons?

Not without a lot of headaches and $$$

[DriveHard]

The black "pellets" are the charchol from the charchol canister... the black square on the right side of the picture.

and BTW you will be having fuel vapors around the rear of the car soon... the Check engine light will com on shortly do to the "leak" as in vapors, like if you left the cap loose.

you may not want to drive that to far, or leave it in an enclosed garage..

just my advise

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by mpm345

Thank you everyone for you advice and input. Since I have a 128 would you think it would be possible to replace the broken halogen headlight with the xenons?

The xenon headlights are expensive. Over 800 bucks each, plus the cost of the xenon control unit (another 400ish) and the various parts.

The standard headlights are about 350 bucks each, though, so if you DO upgrade, you can get it for 700 bucks cheaper than normal... so about 1200-1300 dollars. Still, very steep..

You might be better off going with DEPO's/SONAR or some other aftermarket system..

[romak47]

yea pellets are from carbon canister.. same canister that causes fitting issues on quad exhaust upgrades..

[mpm345]

Thank you for your advice and help everyone.. So I assume that means there is damage to my exhaust?

[DriveHard]

If your asking if we think the exhaust is damaged because the fuel odor that you will be getting from the charcol canister, the answer is NO.. one has nothing to do with the other.

canister recirculates fuel vapors from the gas tank, helps deal with expansion etc etc .. nothingto do with exhaust other than it is "back there"

hope that helps..

p.s. You may have damage to exhaust, but we cant tell from pics.. its possible its tweaked, it will have to be looked at closely, espiceally when rear bumper / difusser back in place.

[mpm345]

Just to keep everyone posted I have $6000 of cosmetic damage. I am getting the performance exhaust installed for an extra $1300 I can't wait. Hopefully I get my car back within the next two weeks

[Yvette]

isn't performance exhaust supposed to be under 1000 anyways???

[mpm345]

Woops I meant to say $130..