Help Please - Evidence of an Accident?

[MItrackfan]

Hi all,

Looking to buy an E85 Z4 3.0i and I came across a really clean one that supposedly hasn’t been in an accident, but the engine bay picture makes me think otherwise. Take a look at both strut towers. Can anyone tell me for certain if this is evidence that the car has been in an accident?

Thanks in advance!

Craig

[Piper1]

The sloppy goo looking brush stroke type stuff? That's normal is on both my 03 and 07, though doesn't look as bad with the dark grey engine bay that are with black Z4's as they didn't paint match under the hood of grey/black/ and silver I believe.
The fenders though look rough in those spots as if they’ve been removed. From the resolution of the pic it’s bit hard to tell if that’s rust and witness marks from being off and on.

[Huz-Z]

You can get a paint thickness meter to check if the car has been repainted. As I understand it, the paint will be thicker in the repainted areas. I’m no expert so you should research and confirm.

The towers look normal to me.

[MItrackfan]

Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate it. It's an 11-hr drive from me, so I'll see if I can't get a PPI from a third-party mechanic (and some additional hi-res pics).

[pungo]

Welcome to the forum...
With the poor quality of those pics, I can't tell much, you really need to go see it in person or at least ask for higher quality pics
What exactly in the pics makes you think it was in an accident?

[MItrackfan]

Originally Posted by pungo

Welcome to the forum...
With the poor quality of those pics, I can't tell much, you really need to go see it in person or at least ask for higher quality pics
What exactly in the pics makes you think it was in an accident?

I thought the strut towers look like they have dents in them. Perhaps it's the reflection of the hood? I've seen a couple other pictures online that look similar. But the majority of pictures didn't look like that to me. I'll try to get some better pictures when the dealer is open again on Monday.

[Piper1]

Originally Posted by MItrackfan

Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate it. It's an 11-hr drive from me, so I'll see if I can't get a PPI from a third-party mechanic (and some additional hi-res pics).

Outta curiosity where in MI ya from?

[MItrackfan]

Originally Posted by Piper1

Outta curiosity where in MI ya from?

Close to Ann Arbor. Are you in the area?

[Piper1]

Originally Posted by MItrackfan

Close to Ann Arbor. Are you in the area?

We get out that way from time to time, in Shelby Township, visit friends often enough in Canton. Was part of the St Andrew’s pipe band and trying to get time to rejoin, being the host band for the Livonia games so get kind of out that way a bit.

[MItrackfan]

Originally Posted by Piper1

We get out that way from time to time, in Shelby Township, visit friends often enough in Canton. Was part of the St Andrew’s pipe band and trying to get time to rejoin, being the host band for the Livonia games so get kind of out that way a bit.

Ah! Hence your username. Haha

[wdb]

The goo on the strut towers is factory but I think I see signs of overspray. Particularly on the driver side, on the wiring loom in front of the strut tower.

It's not uncommon, or necessarily bad, to have the front of a car resprayed after a number of years of it being pelted with all kinds of whatnot from cars/trucks ahead of it. It can also be a sign of a car having seen track time, and of course accident repair. From the information shown it's impossible to know, and all we're really doing is tossing out guesses.

[spielnicht]

I don't see anything here to suggest previous strut tower damage/repair. Usually (and commonly) the strut brace attachments to the tower would be broken if there was an impact. They look perfectly intact and while photo res is poor, I can't see any repair to them.

As others mentioned, the excess seam sealer/caulking is perfectly normal.

[jwolf]

Before I did the PPI, I would ask for more detailed images of those suspect areas. Save that money.