[GregW / Oregon]

Off to the dealer.

[T_U_D]

Facepalm re that tow truck. No roll back, aka flat bed via BMW Roadside?

[T_U_D]

Originally Posted by M2siast

It's fine though. Tires won't wear much especially if the dealer is close by.

Not worried about the tires as much as the drivetrain. Generally that is considered the improper way to tow a RWD vehicle. Fine for FWD.

[T_U_D]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Only improper for automatics. OP's is a manual.

Regardless, BMW recommends flat bedding. I cannot tell you the last time I have seen a regular tow truck. It has been a good while as one has not been through the service department in ages.

[T_U_D]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Here you go:

Again… In our region the last time I have seen a regular tow truck come through the lot has been several years ago. Most of the tow companies locally have heavily invested in roll backs. It is the preference of choice by most import owners.

[T_U_D]

Originally Posted by M2siast

That's fine, but neither here nor there...

We agree to disagree… I personally would never let my manual transmission vehicles be towed that way per the advice of our BMW shop foreman.

[T_U_D]

Originally Posted by M2siast

It's your shop foreman versus the company that built the car. If you even asked him the question, that is.

Feel free to disagree with BMW. Doesn't make OP wrong, and his car is safe. That's what matters.

FYI, Corporate pencil pushers and the legal department write the owners manual while factory-trained technicians have real world experience.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by T_U_D

Facepalm re that tow truck. No roll back, aka flat bed via BMW Roadside?

I didn’t think the BMW service would cover an accident. Tow was fine; guy was very careful and dealer is only 9 miles away. The dealer’s site is constricted so this is an easier delivery.

[Ctothej]

Originally Posted by T_U_D

FYI, Corporate pencil pushers and the legal department write the owners manual while factory-trained technicians have real world experience.

Having a go at the corporate and legal department? The legal department's job is to ensure minimal risk/exposure, so if there was any risk with towing it that way, they wouldn't have included it in the most official document of the car. And legal would have sought expertise before doing so - from the engineers. The BMW engineers. So, I say we're fine.

[M_Power Rob]

Originally Posted by T_U_D

Again… In our region the last time I have seen a regular tow truck come through the lot has been several years ago. Most of the tow companies locally have heavily invested in roll backs. It is the preference of choice by most import owners.

Agreed...almost all commercial tow companies here use flatbeds.

[sl0m0]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

I didn’t think the BMW service would cover an accident. Tow was fine; guy was very careful and dealer is only 9 miles away. The dealer’s site is constricted so this is an easier delivery.

Wow, 9 miles is nothing, could have pushed it there. My nearest dealership is 130 miles.

[sl0m0]

Originally Posted by T_U_D

We agree to disagree… I personally would never let my manual transmission vehicles be towed that way per the advice of our BMW shop foreman.

I agree here, I would have requested a flat bed, even if the paperwork says it's "ok", it still would make me uncomfortable.

Agreeing to disagree on what each is comfortable with is practical.

[menikmati]

What people are comfortable with (usually from a biased perspective or limited number of samples where n = 1) usually trumps anything evidence-based, unfortunately.

[sl0m0]

Originally Posted by M2siast

If that were the case, no sense in commenting on OP’s tow, since he was comfortable with it. Agreeing to disagree with that tow would mean no comment

Comfort level was one strawman. The initial comment was that it was damaging. Agree to disagree on something that isn’t true is not what we should do.

I have had more than one occasion that a tow has damaged something on my vehicle, so my comfort level is based on real world experience that is true, so this is not a straw man. I would be concerned about damage.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by sl0m0

Wow, 9 miles is nothing, could have pushed it there. My nearest dealership is 130 miles.

Getting off subject but after an encounter with a mule deer just west of Ely NV I ended up having to have my Porsche 996 Turbo towed (flat bedded) around 540 miles from Ely NV to Livermore CA. Yes, there was a Porsche dealer in Las Vegas and in the Lake Tahoe area but I wanted the car at a local to me dealer/repair shop. Much easier to keep tabs on the repairs.

[Squidget]

Originally Posted by M2siast

My point is: if a flatbed doesn’t exist, doing what OP did is fine. It doesn’t automatically damage the car (albeit the drive will be riskier for other factors as I mentioned).

Ignoring all the other weird drama, this is correct. I just asked a mechanic buddy of mine to confirm. Assuming nothing weird, it's generally ok to front-tow a MT. Not like, cross country or anything, but short hops are fine.

[aerobod]

Long distance towing of manual transmission cars is generally not a problem. Unless the transmission has an internal oil pump (usually not the case), any distance at highway speeds is OK. My son buys pickup trucks for a living and drives a work manual transmission car with a front towing ‘A’-frame that can be hooked up to the purchased truck tow ball to flat tow the car. He generally puts 100,000km per year on the car of which almost half of that is flat towing distance. Often the car will be towed 600km in a day at around 110km/h. The cars typically will do 400,000km or so before scrapping.

[GregW / Oregon]

Dealer inspected it today and the initial estimate is almost $13k! Of course they are being conservative without having disassembled it yet. They are saying wheel, tire, tie rod, strut, wheel bearing, steering rack, etc. As long as it's going to insurance now I want it fixed right.

[Bumpinjeep]

Daaaaaaamn, didn't expect that.

[sl0m0]

Ouch, I think the curb won this round.

[JustinHEMI]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

Dealer inspected it today and the initial estimate is almost $13k! Of course they are being conservative without having disassembled it yet. They are saying wheel, tire, tie rod, strut, wheel bearing, steering rack, etc. As long as it's going to insurance now I want it fixed right.

Now yinz will understand why mine ballooned to 32K

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Man I hope they have the parts ready to go…

I'm hoping since most, if not all the parts (excepting the wheel) are shared with the M3/4 they will be readily available. But now have to wait on the insurance process. We'll see how good Amica is. First claim own claim in probably 30 years.