This 2004 BMW E46 M3 Manual Coupe with just 80k miles came to us at Redish Motorsport for the Rear Axle Carrier Panel (RACP) Repair & Reinforcement Process.
Here we document the journey by recording key stages and offering help and tips and examples to other owners and repairs who may be requiring help when carrying out this repair, or installing our very own Redish Motorsport E46 V2 RACP Reinforcement Plate Kits (available here):
This E46 M3 had some hairline cracks inside the car in the hidden cavities of the RACP which are only found during borescope camera inspections and drilling access holes for the camera.
We had 3 spot welds and a small hairlines crack inside the rear Internal left cavity which we repaired.
Also 2 hairline cracks in each of the front Internal cavities which we also repaired and then finished by stitch welding the Rear Seat Panel to the Chassis Legs, stitch welding the RACP to the chassis legs, and stitch welding the RACP to the Rear Boot Panel, as well as replacing 4 broken spot welds in this area underneath the car.
Obviously all the spot welds and hairline cracks around the mounting points were also attended to and repaired before we installed our Redish V2 Reinforcement Plates.
This customer also specified the additional labour time to treat the corrosion on these areas we were in.
So that meant removing the redundant Battery Tray bracket, as well as temporarily removing the Fuel Tank Strap Brackets, and the Brake Pipe Brackets to get to the corrosion behind them, and blasting the brackets before coating everything in a weld-thru primer and the re-welding them to make them look as factory as possible (just with no corrosion now).
We also found and treated corrosion on the Spring Perches, Shock Turrets, RACP fuel tank contact areas, and Rear Seat Panel (this is typical on mos most E46's - you just can't see it until 1) the car is stripped down and 2) the underside is fully de-greased).
We also applied a stitch weld each side to hold the RTA Pocket to the RACP as it showed early signs or sealer-split / movement.
Then came the POR-15 Metal Prep chemical to neturalise the corrosion.
All was dried with IR lamps, then we applied Etch Primer, then High Build Primer, and then Sprayable Seam Sealer, and the a top coat colouring of our version of factory E-coat.
This came out great!
Super thin, textured, and very original looking.
Once you've watched the painted section, wind back to the start to remind yourself of the corrosion. Big difference isn't it?!
Cavity waxing was also carried out to protect the internal sections where we've carried out welding repairs. A total of 1.5 L of cavity wax is used via a 360' spray nozzle and extended wand.
Then we rebuilt the car (and used a genuine BMW Sound Deadening Pad inside the car), and carried out a full Brake Fluid Bleed, along with a 12 mile road test and a Digital Wheel Alignment.
This car also had new Genuine BMW Metal Brake Pipes front to rear and over axle with all new clips (now heavily waxed too).
Exhaust Rubber Mount & Copper Nuts
Subframe Bush Heatshield and Bolts
Eibach Camber Arms
Rear Trailing Arm Lower Ball Joints
Rear Anti Roll Bar Drop Links
Rear Xenon Drop Link
Front Steering Tie Roads
Purple Tag Refurbished Steering Rack
Then an extensive in house vehicle clean including inside and out using only detailing type products from cleanyourcar.co.uk and carried out by James Redish.
For more info on our work:
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