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      10-18-2009, 02:36 PM   #65
F31-340i
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Drives: BMW 340i Touring
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MIKEYBMW1 View Post
thats it trailing arm and yes I did just about sh*t myself at the time ,just don't know how I kept the thing on the road.

if it has had previous damage why has it just bent downwards I just don't understand this?
The damage is not, as I previously hinted, most likely to have been caused by impact from below (though not ruling that out). It is likely to have been caused by forces transmitted through the part - i.e through the bush. Hence it has failed in compression, and due to its design it will nearly always fail the same way - in this case by the top parts of the U-web creasing. This will always lead to it bending down. Indeed, even if it was caused by damage from below - it could still ultimately deform in the same way - the damage would just weaken the part leading to failure, not necessarily change its failure mode.
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