[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by M2siast

We need myth busters to test these small rocks scenarios.
My estimate is that small rocks do not bounce up and damage the cooler. Only bigger chunks.
Especially when the cooler is hit in 2 spots, I can’t fathom the small rock bouncing so fast and hitting the cooler many times. It’s bigger chunks/concrete blocks/plastic bumper pieces/shredded tires…

I would agree it's probably those other items and not rocks (depending on where you drive). But sometimes you're not expecting it, nor can prepare for it. There's a nice curvy country road out by me that my son & I like to drive in my Z06. My Z06 with aero sits 3.25" off the ground. One day we're out on this road and come around a curve at about 70 mph when the road turns from paved to gravel. No construction sign warning, nothing. I had to slow the car down gradually and just listen to the rocks ping off the underside, side skirts, rear skirt flaps, etc. If my Z had an exposed oil cooler like the M2, I guarantee I'd be looking at a new engine like the poster in the other thread.

Another scenario is I drive from Dallas to Austin & back every weekend. The only reasonable route is I35, which is basically a junk yard of road debris. My 330e was hit by tire tread that caused $4k in damage. I also went through 3 front splitters over the course of 15 months due to being hit by or running over road debris.

So while some will scoff at the possibility of anything happening to their vehicle and the cost or practicality of these guards/screens, a little protection could go a long way for others.

[akumachu]

I am just thinking that based on physics, if you drop something that bounce, at the most with perfect elasticity and no air friction, it could only bounce back up to the same spot at the most.

The more elastic the object is, the less damage it could do to the cooler.

That means to hit the oil cooler, the starting drop has to be higher than bottom of the cooler.

Only scenario I could think of is something hard dropped from real high and then the M2 quickly drive over it at the exact window for the object to be able to make it under the car and bounce it to hit the cooler. So I think to reduce the chance of that, we can drive real slow (consider this damage can't happen to a stopped car).

But again, I am no physics phD. (I am gonna ask people at my work since a lot of them have their phD in physics).

[akumachu]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

I would agree it's probably those other items and not rocks (depending on where you drive). But sometimes you're not expecting it, nor can prepare for it. There's a nice curvy country road out by me that my son & I like to drive in my Z06. My Z06 with aero sits 3.25" off the ground. One day we're out on this road and come around a curve at about 70 mph when the road turns from paved to gravel. No construction sign warning, nothing. I had to slow the car down gradually and just listen to the rocks ping off the underside, side skirts, rear skirt flaps, etc. If my Z had an exposed oil cooler like the M2, I guarantee I'd be looking at a new engine like the poster in the other thread.

Another scenario is I drive from Dallas to Austin & back every weekend. The only reasonable route is I35, which is basically a junk yard of road debris. My 330e was hit by tire tread that caused $4k in damage. I also went through 3 front splitters over the course of 15 months due to being hit by or running over road debris.

So while some will scoff at the possibility of anything happening to their vehicle and the cost or practicality of these guards/screens, a little protection could go a long way for others.

I think we can replace our front splitter with a plow to ensure no debris can get under our cars.

[Tag]

Originally Posted by akumachu

I am just thinking that based on physics, if you drop something that bounce, at the most with perfect elasticity and no air friction, it could only bounce back up to the same spot at the most.

The more elastic the object is, the less damage it could do to the cooler.

That means to hit the oil cooler, the starting drop has to be higher than bottom of the cooler.

Only scenario I could think of is something hard dropped from real high and then the M2 quickly drive over it at the exact window for the object to be able to make it under the car and bounce it to hit the cooler. So I think to reduce the chance of that, we can drive real slow (consider this damage can't happen to a stopped car).

But again, I am no physics phD. (I am gonna ask people at my work since a lot of them have their phD in physics).

There's a lot of air turbulence under a car which kicks up debris all the time. For instance, a car doing 65mph goes over a small pebble that was motionless on the ground which then gets kicked up into your oil cooler. Bang, it just had a ~65mph collision with your flimsy thin oil cooler.

[akumachu]

Originally Posted by Tag

There's a lot of air turbulence under a car which kicks up debris all the time. For instance, a car doing 65mph goes over a small pebble that was motionless on the ground which then gets kicked up into your oil cooler. Bang, it just had a ~65mph collision with your flimsy thin oil cooler.

I actually couldn't figure out you are joking about that or not...
Did you mean the turbulence from the car in front or your own car?

Guess I never drive fast enough to create suction under my car

[Tag]

Originally Posted by akumachu

I actually couldn't figure out you are joking about that or not...
Did you mean the turbulence from the car in front or your own car?

Guess I never drive fast enough to create suction under my car

A sport car creates low pressure underneath it which results in the air moving much faster under the car while the air above is moving slower and has higher pressure. That's how a sport car generates downforce. For example, a front splitter helps direct the air underneath the car, conversely the rear diffuser expands the fast moving air from under the car to help it evacuate. It's called the Bernoulli effect.

[c1pher]

Originally Posted by Tag

Here's the breakdown with the current tally of 69 votes.

• 72% (50 members) have some type of oil cooler protection
  
• Mishimoto and ZunSport are the most popular options, making up 62% of the total votes at the time of this writing.
  
• Of those that opted to get Mishimoto or ZunSport it's nearly a 50/50 split with ZunSport ever so slightly edging out a few percentage points.

Didn't expect so many would end up getting something to protect their oil coolers. I would have guessed around ~30%. Too bad there weren't any group buys.

Over 90 votes now so the protection percentile is diluted.

[c1pher]

I have the adaptive cruise module installed of it blocks a fair amount of the middle. I figure if it’s a problem, enough people will end up doing a class action lawsuit.

[akumachu]

Originally Posted by Tag

A sport car creates low pressure underneath it which results in the air moving much faster under the car while the air above is moving slower and has higher pressure. That's how a sport car generates downforce. For example, a front splitter helps direct the air underneath the car, conversely the rear diffuser expands the fast moving air from under the car to help it evacuate. It's called the Bernoulli effect.

I didn't consider that being a possibility since the location of the cooler is way in the front, not the back. The car has to be real fast to generate enough force from the Bernoulli effect to suck up the object and the force needs to be large enough to accelerate the object to give it enough time to hit the cooler.

The part that I don't think it is possible because the faster the car goes to generate that force, the cooler will be moving faster (since it's part of the car), thus leaving the object less time to accelerate.

This is the diff eq math that I haven't done for a long while since college but it just seemed to me the going faster ain't going to make that scenario more possible.

[Tag]

Originally Posted by c1pher

Over 90 votes now so the protection percentile is diluted.

There are now 71% who voted that have some sort of oil cooler protection compared to 72% when there were less votes. Not a substantial swing.

[MG20i]

I am of the opinion that debris ALREADY TUMBLING from a vehicle in front could quite possibly bounce high enough to smack the oil cooler.

BUT....no matter the reason, several owners have had damage of some sort wipe out the oil cooler, and then axing the motor.

It sucks.

[akumachu]

Originally Posted by MG20i

I am of the opinion that debris ALREADY TUMBLING from a vehicle in front could quite possibly bounce high enough to smack the oil cooler.

BUT....no matter the reason, several owners have had damage of some sort wipe out the oil cooler, and then axing the motor.

It sucks.

It certainly sucks, no argument on that.

I only saw two threads about cooler/radiator being hit.
the $1600 rock was the front, which totally imaginable.
the other one was driving a long trip and then notice low oil pressure and found the bottom cooler damaged.
To me it wasn't conclusive enough that it was for sure from a bouncing rock.
And it was that thread that got me thinking lot about this. I am just very interested in the math and physics of this since I am bit of a nerd lol

A plate certainly provide some protection from curbing regardless.

[M_Power Rob]

Originally Posted by akumachu

It certainly sucks, no argument on that.

I only saw two threads about cooler/radiator being hit.
the $1600 rock was the front, which totally imaginable.
the other one was driving a long trip and then notice low oil pressure and found the bottom cooler damaged.
To me it wasn't conclusive enough that it was for sure from a bouncing rock.
And it was that thread that got me thinking lot about this. I am just very interested in the math and physics of this since I am bit of a nerd lol

A plate certainly provide some protection from curbing regardless.

*You missed a post (in a thread) from BMW CA wherein he stated he knows of two that came into his dealership.



Edit: *evidently I cannot find it now...

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by MG20i

I am of the opinion that debris ALREADY TUMBLING from a vehicle in front could quite possibly bounce high enough to smack the oil cooler.

BUT....no matter the reason, several owners have had damage of some sort wipe out the oil cooler, and then axing the motor.

It sucks.

While different heights, the oil cooler on my wife's X3MC, located in the same location, has several impact marks and damaged fins. Currently nobody makes a screen/guard for it, so I may have to make something myself.

[MG20i]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

While different heights, the oil cooler on my wife's X3MC, located in the same location, has several impact marks and damaged fins. Currently nobody makes a screen/guard for it, so I may have to make something myself.

Yeah, this coupled with probably half the ride height on the M2 seems more likely to get potentially damaging impacts. My car will have both a Mishimoto or similar plate, AND screens for the front except for the brake ducting. Unless I get the MP Carbon Intakes....I do like the look of those and would hate to cover it with a screen......Hmmmm.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by MG20i

Yeah, this coupled with probably half the ride height on the M2 seems more likely to get potentially damaging impacts. My car will have both a Mishimoto or similar plate, AND screens for the front except for the brake ducting. Unless I get the MP Carbon Intakes....I do like the look of those and would hate to cover it with a screen......Hmmmm.

With the ZunSport screens you'd still see the majority of the cf intake trim.

[Tag]

Poll just reached 100 votes. Current tally breakdown is as follows.

• 68% have some type of oil cooler protection, down from the previous tally of 72%.
• Mishimoto and ZunSport are the most popular options, making up 55% of the total votes. That's down from the previous tally of 62%.
• Of those that opted to get Mishimoto or ZunSport it's still nearly a 50/50 split with ZunSport ever so slightly edging out a few percentage points.
• Third most popular option is DIY, more than Turner Motorsport Skid Plate.

[DSTR]

Originally Posted by Tag

Poll just reached 100 votes. Current tally breakdown is as follows.

• 68% have some type of oil cooler protection, down from the previous tally of 72%.
• Mishimoto and ZunSport are the most popular options, making up 55% of the total votes. That's down from the previous tally of 62%.
• Of those that opted to get Mishimoto or ZunSport it's still nearly a 50/50 split with ZunSport ever so slightly edging out a few percentage points.
• Third most popular option is DIY, more than Turner Motorsport Skid Plate.

Save the Radiators!! Save the Oil Coolers!!

[Legit]

Originally Posted by Tag

Here's the breakdown with the current tally of 69 votes.

• 72% (50 members) have some type of oil cooler protection
  
• Mishimoto and ZunSport are the most popular options, making up 62% of the total votes at the time of this writing.
  
• Of those that opted to get Mishimoto or ZunSport it's nearly a 50/50 split with ZunSport ever so slightly edging out a few percentage points.

Didn't expect so many would end up getting something to protect their oil coolers. I would have guessed around ~30%. Too bad there weren't any group buys.

You are on a forum of enthusiasts. I guarantee the real number of M2 owners who have an oil cooler plate is something like 10% max. Not to mention this only takes into account members who see this post and feel the need to click it and vote. Plenty of lurkers on this forum

[TT0997]

For those who have done it (especially the Zunsport) :
1) did you installed it before break in service
2) if yes dis you remove it for service ?
3) does this cause an issue removing it and installing it back (self tapping screws) ?

Thanks !!

[clydefrog]

Originally Posted by TT0997

For those who have done it (especially the Zunsport) :
1) did you installed it before break in service
2) if yes dis you remove it for service ?
3) does this cause an issue removing it and installing it back (self tapping screws) ?

Thanks !!

I had it installed during my break in service, so there shouldn't be any reason to remove it during service.

I couldn't get the 'self tapping' screws to tap and I was so close to bringing it in I just said 'fuck it' and got them to do it for me lol.

[Tag]

I was told long ago by the shop foreman whom I was good friends with at my dealership that they don't even remove the drain plug when performing oil changes. They just use a suction tube to remove the old oil before refilling. This helps avoid cross threading the oil pan, forgetting to install the drain plug etc. Basically, a quick and dirty way for them to make sure they are not liable for any improper oil changes.

Can't say that's done at every dealership, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was SOP. YMMV