Titanic Rust on BMW E46 M3

This was meant to be a straightforward 'RACP Repair & Reinforcement Process' but we were shocked when we saw how much corrosion had been eating this 2005 74k BMW E46 M3 alive!
Even with its desirable Manual Transmission and Coupe body, it had suffered a particularly hard life and corrosion has been taking hold over the 16 years it's been on the road.
Once the owner watched our 33-minute Intro video (what you're about to watch) he was horrified and a lot of the underside corrosion came as a shock.
He took a few days to think about his options and then decided to cut his losses with the vehicle and move on to something newer.
He offered the vehicle to us and we purchased it for its running gear.
Watch until the end of the video to see what's happening to this vehicle!
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Thanks for watching!

[@SandyOC100]

I had similar level of rust on a 320cd e46. Took over 250 hours of work to remedy the mid to back underbody where rear floor panels, battery box, inner rear arch panels, rear subframe cradles had to be replaced along with fabrication of new brake pipe brackets. I wouldn't advise anyone to attempt this themselves unless they are interested in learning appropriate restoration techniques...Thanks to this channel for providing me with great advise and direction through all of their restoration videos on the E46 chassis. You guys are awesome for sharing your knowledge with the E46 community 👍

[@hoonaticbloggs5402]

Sadly doing it on a diesel was a waste of money, now ULEZ is coming

[@royfontaine5526]

@@hoonaticbloggs5402 what, like that affects the whole of the UK or world? 🙄

[@465painkiller465]

That’s interesting to read. I have a 320i also with really bad corrosion that I’ve started a restoration project on. Feels good to know that I’m not the only one putting my sole into a car that financially isn’t really worth it.

[@user-ue6iv2rd1n]

You in the UK, they're not expensive cars? You'd have to be masochist to do that.

[@SandyOC100]

@@465painkiller465 To me it wasn't about how much the cars value was, I saw an opportunity to learn a new craft and acquire the equipment that would allow me to work on more valuable cars in the future. If I botched the job it wasn't the end of the world, but thankfully it worked out amazingly so it was a really big win overall. There's another KZbin channel "Fitzee's Fabrications" that really helped me learn about panel fabrication using basic tools (if BMW dealership panels are too expensive). I wish you the best of luck with your 320i mate. Nothing is impossible to achieve if you have the patience and dedication✌

[@DannysGarage]

Seeing this kind of stuff makes me grateful to live in Arizona, because I almost never see any rust on any of the vehicles I work on at my shop. Even going back to older stuff like the E28, totally rust-free.

[@Tokyodrift5000]

Alright no need to rub it in 🤣

[@hoonaticbloggs5402]

I’m glad we can grow crops and drink.

[@DannysGarage]

@@hoonaticbloggs5402 Touché, but Arizona actually grows a lot of crops. Which is admittedly rather stupid given our limited water supply, along with the seemingly endless golf courses.

[@TheRoverspeed]

​@@DannysGarage didn't someone build a water park in the middle of the desert in AR too? 😂 Florida etc gotta be the sweet spot? Though, then you'd have to live in Florida 😢

[@adogmcdizzle]

Absolute nightmare. I'm not totally shocked it got this state though - you will be lucky to find a rust free one at this point - nearly all of them must have had arch or sill repairs by now. Modern cars are quite good at hiding their rust with plastic sill protectors and the like. Glad to see the touring project will get running gear out of it. Car probably still worth 7k or so, but it might have been bought for 18k or so with those miles... Hopefully it wasn't too painful for the owner.

[@andrewthompsonuk1]

My solution to trapped corrosion is as follows. I remove as much corrosion as possible, spray it down with rust killer then coat the seams with large amounts of copper grease followed by wax-type rust-proofing. Then I will inspect and repeat if necessary every year... It does not look good but it will stop the rust. As you say cleaning up and painting is not going to work.

[@mohammadbenattia9102]

Looking forward to see the M3 Touring project, good luck,

[@laurencefalconer5242]

Wow as an avid E46 guy myself, it's the worst I've seen and I've repaired some bad ones for myself in my time. Love the videos and your attitude as always 👍

[@465painkiller465]

Really looking forward to the next part of the m3 touring project!

[@robvermeulen4043]

Remarkable that this isn't a regular upload, it's great. Well that must be a very disappointed owner of a low Mileage M3. Actually, it's not worth much more than the engine/transmission, what will it be 6 to 7 thousand? However, it would be a pity that it is not being restored. A nice challenge especially as the aren't any replacement or repair parts available.

[@RuperScooper]

Great video - well produced - detailed - no waffle and for anyone buying a used vehicle let alone an e46 compulsory viewing I’d say. Thanks for sharing this insight 👍👌

[@momoghal3711]

I got rid of my 2003 E46 330d last year - it had half the corrosion this M3 did but the rear arches were worse. They were poorly "repaired" by the local BMW dealer under warranty and then they wouldn't touch it again when the rust came back 12 months later. This M3 is shocking!! But same outcome as mine, cut my losses and sold it as a donor car. The drivetrain now lives on in a technoviolet coupe.

[@James-jf2cl]

Getting rid of my 330d bc of rust now. Looking for another or to get a nice shell. Will keep almost all of it for spares.

[@JonDingle]

As a Jaguar owner and welder of many and various things, I get somewhat fed up of people slagging off Jaguar cars for corrosion. I have a 2001 Jaguar XJ8 with 119K on the clock with nowherenear as much corrosion as the BMW in this video. It makes a refreshing change to see a BMW rotting away rather badly and needing saving from the scrapyard. A lot of cars rust away mainly because of bad maintenance by the owners from new.

[@wadehampton4499]

Another great video James but, wow, what a mess ! I can only guess that this car must have been kept in a salty environment, perhaps near the sea and could hardly ever have had the salt washed off the underside (surely there must be a less damaging way to deal with frost and ice on our roads?) Anyway, keep up the good work.

[@lauramildon-clews7850]

Hi ,my name is Laurajane and I'm from New Zealand. I bought my E46 M3 new in Germany in 1999. I have significantly modified it and tarmac rally and tarmac hill climb it around where I live in Lake Taupo. I have owned and worked on a lot of BMWs The one shown in the video looks like it is really past redemption. As you said, when corrosion gets between spotwelded panels and flanges that is really the end I have eight BMWs of various models plus a BMW G1250 adventure bike. I feel for the owner of that E46 but I think that you have to be realistic too. Best of luck with that one Laurajane

[@richlee509]

Kia Ora. I got my 330ci from Jerry Clayton Hamilton

[@ash20500]

Was it “preserved” in brine?

[@patrickwilliment2462]

My childhood dream car...I will now never look at them the same 😩

[@royfontaine5526]

Yeah never meet your heroes. Steer well clear of these!!

[@lees5618]

Where did the customer live? The north sea😂

[@richlee509]

Lived in North Utsire and South Utsire with occasional trips to Dogger, Tyne, Humber and German Bight

[@DanniV8]

Living in the world's northernmost capital, this video feels like home

[@PGS_Building_Contractors_LTD]

Feel sad for the owner. My 2005 M3 with 120k is far from perfect underneath.... got tough decisions ahead... hate to see E46's go this way... 😪

[@stevensumner3146]

Amazing how many areas are corroded, really surprised as I remember cars in the 1970’s rotting away but today the outer skins don’t show rust like they used to. Scary stuff 😊

[@garethwilding2067]

How are the e90,e92 holding up for rust?

[@GopNet]

After watching this one I'm kinda scared to have a look underneath mine now 🤣 too bad it's not even an M3 😥 I'm planning on doing subframe bushes and stuff around it but I'm concerned once I'll take off the subframe I won't be able to get it back on in place 🤣🤣🤣

[@andrei3720]

at this point, would it be a good idea to buy a rust free E46 coupe diesel from Spain or Italy and just swap all M3 components onto it? would this be a resonable good idea?

[@welshgoblin8861]

I have an interesting 330ci coupe for you guys to look at once I can get hold of you to book a bit of time hopefully the phone lines are sorted soon as I've not been able to get hold anyone.

[@keyo525]

Amazing orange peril, my Mk2 golf 16 v has none of these issues- my car when its 30 degrees still gets factory wax oozing out the sills. I would certainly not invest in an e46 if its seen winters and salt.

[@andy530i]

I owned 3x E34 5 series over a 10 year period, the same thing happened to all of them - scrapped because the sills/ jacking points were consumed by rust

[@Bavarian_M]

So sad that a M3 is gone. It it will help make a great wagon!!!

[@topproff2558]

Reminds me of mine. I gave up in the end and got rid. Life’s too short

[@YootubeUK]

Bah! I was hoping for a weekly resto update on that poor thing! Must have been driven on gritted roads and/or lived by a sea front.

[@michaelsmedley7519]

Was it's daily commute through the North Sea?

[@vukiam]

This has to be S plate car from Scotland

[@KiloRomeoOscar]

The rot on the diff case is biblical and throughout. Its a shame that's another one gone, atleast it's spirit will live on in touring project.

[@tocsa120ls]

14:00 the lesser-known "superleggera" differential

[@stevedavey82]

Are these not galvanised?

[@nathanstupple3848]

An old submarine I think Been in water I would say that’s rough what chance does a 2001 have the later ones are normally better could be dead. Just considering getting back into an e46 Very interesting video. Cheers

[@pietervanderhoek8571]

This one is not a normal corroded e46,i don't know what they have done wit this bmw but this one have sitting in water and salt outherwise is impossible for a car wit that kind of corrosion.I have repaired more than 100 e46 m3's and never but never ever seen this.

[@bunabuna9287]

Wow 🤯 scary to see just how bad some of these m3 are underneath

[@DaveTony206]

How obvious was the corrosion when the car was on the ground? A 2005 with 74k miles… I have friends looking for E46 M3s that would have nearly bought the car sight unseen if it seemed like a “deal” - which is difficult to assess these days… But excuse me now, I need to go disassemble my E46 in the parking garage and check for any corrosion.. 😳🫣🧐

[@hoonaticbloggs5402]

Corrosion doesn’t care about mileage

[@royfontaine5526]

I wouldn’t bother getting one, they’re all rot boxes and the floors crack where the subframe mounts. Disgusting effort by BMW in terms of corrosion resistance. Such a shame 😢

[@DaveTony206]

👀The reference to mileage relates to the premium lesser driven examples command in the market… Did you get one? One of the best cars of all time in my opinion. Hopefully you get a chance to spend time in one some day.. 👍

[@hoonaticbloggs5402]

@@DaveTony206 No, I have a 2000 HoldenHSV

[@mehrzahl2219]

I consider myself lucky with my 1999 Volvo C70 with 220k miles...almost rust free, while used through salty winters.

[@user-ue6iv2rd1n]

Yeah they're well built, I've had a couple of v70s form that era and was surprised how clean they were.

[@richlee509]

Volvo good cars and trucks very well built

[@seanpaul3050]

Looks like this car was driven through deep water every single day of it's life.

[@ralphmillais5237]

So no new bodyshells available?

[@andycoker3833]

Can't believe that someone would neglect one of these so much, such a shame.

[@tanaseav]

Spraying stuff over the corrosion stop it, if there is no puncture on the other side. If I spray some wax over a rusty plate, the rust will still be there, but it will not rust anymore...soo yeah....you're right...but not quite... 🙂

[@MotorcycleFettlers]

Your videos are putting me off buying an E46 M3 😞 On this one, it would have been nice if you'd done a tour of the car...was it a lovely looking car that was hiding a horrible brown secret underneath...

[@mikibajrektarevic2543]

This is due to poor ownership and not caring for the car with regular washes and second it should have been undercoated while the car was still free of rust

[@TheLeeattwood]

Wow crazy

[@JordanRocksWell]

did it live in the ocean ?

[@roadmantop3769]

What a totally depressing video… 2005 and it’s pretty much toast. Makes me cry inside for my 1980’s BMW’s

[@garrydiggins3181]

Jesus Christ, I’ve just done the underside of my E 36 M3 Evo, and I found about 2% of what you are looking at on the e46 so I think I’ve got away very lightly

[@newtechgs7471]

An 05 plate M3 with that mileage will be on sale currently for 14 to 15 grand or more, with this horror going on underneath.

[@JorisV1983]

Feel bad for the owner. So much rust.

[@gordwesty6299]

Think its been parked in the Sea worst I have seen for a 46 Just serviced a 2003 with 170 K on the clock very clean underside even the jacking points

[@chrisg4rr377]

I would imagine this car will be stolen very shortly and burnt out. Collecting 20k insurance and forgetting about it

[@holsteiner99]

Is GB a salt country (on the streets)? My 323i is about 25 years old and no rust Greets from Germany.

[@philpullan8595]

Yep. Salt is spread a lot, what's used in Germany to stop ice build up on the roads?

[@Mikescze]

@@philpullan8595 in germany they also use salt. A lot of e46's from germany are rusted like this one and i have seen a lot worse

[@holsteiner99]

@@Mikescze On country roads they use granules and sand. Only on the autobahn they use limited salt.Nowadays the winter here in northern-germany are very mild.

[@blackbully11able]

We had a lot of E46`s ins Switzerland. Daily driven in snow with a lot of salt! But I have never seen something like this! Wtf is wrong with the streets in the UK?

[@hoonaticbloggs5402]

Salt all year round if you live near the oceans, and the constant damp

[@royfontaine5526]

Constant salted roads in the winter at the merest sign of frost. It’s certainly got worse in recent years, cars rusting in the UK. I think it’s a combination of cars not being built as well (crappy e-coat on the underbodies instead of proper protection) and the salt we use seems to stick more to the cars. Maybe mixed with molasses etc to help adhesion to the road surface? I’ve heard this is sometimes used.

[@brittoschristozachariah7280]

The drive train parts of that car wil be good to make a m3 wagon

[@richlee509]

My e46 330ci has got zero corrosion. It doesn't go out in the winter or wet. Imported from NZ.

[@royfontaine5526]

That’s the only way. It’s disgusting how these so-called premium cars rot.

[@KiloRomeoOscar]

Yeah, importing from a dry climate Is the way go now it would seem, unless you can pry one from a mint collection, most of the UK cars that weren't garage queen's from spanking new are plagued with corrosion issues now its such a shame.

[@royfontaine5526]

@@KiloRomeoOscar it probably doesn’t apply to these; but importing domestic Japanese cars you need to be careful, as they’re often not rust proofed at all!

[@amigachris]

@@royfontaine5526 this is pretty exceptional and nearly 20 years old....jap cars are way worse...

[@richlee509]

Best way to get your right. Not many going to be in top condition nowadays.

[@lewispommells234]

Why do the E36 & E46 suffer from so much rust when the E90's and onwards don't? Never seen an E90 OR F30 car with heavy corrosion.

[@adogmcdizzle]

They just aren't old enough yet to have suffered.

[@malcolmlee3285]

@@adogmcdizzle Not buying that, when the E90 came out BMW went from a 6 year corrosion warranty to 12, they changed the way the steel was treated for corrosion. You've got E90's coming up to 17 years old now, I've not seen any that are rusted out, E36's and E46's were always prone to a bit of corrosion, often times much sooner than 17 years which is where the oldest E90's are at.

[@adogmcdizzle]

@@malcolmlee3285 The 12-year warranty applied to the later e46 as well. I know because it applied to my own e46 M3. My 2005 car looks better underneath than the majority of e9x cars I would wager, and it's not low miles, just been cleaned reguarly underneath and rust protected at intervals. The useage profile of the vehicle makes the most difference to the bodywork condition rather than design or material, you can see this in US cars depending on where they live in the country. Given enough time you absolutely will see e9x looking like this too. Certain areas will fare better, due to improved design, but most of the same flaws still exist.

[@royfontaine5526]

Corrosion resistance did indeed improve massively with the e90 and e61 generation, but they’re not immune. Subframes rot on them too!

[@berwhaletheavenger]

E90's were galvanised, as were E65's, E60's etc. The E39 is a rust bucket as well.

[@mikeb9820]

2006 Z4M owner here, who lives by the coast, feeling slightly sick on a Sunday evening 😂😢

[@--LZ---]

You shouldnt be if your car isnt rusty, if it is then take care of it before something serious like this develops.

[@mikeb9820]

@@--LZ--- she's a beaut up top, but who knows what is lurking under the various covers and side skirts.... 😨

[@--LZ---]

@@mikeb9820 have a look or pay someone who can use their eyes, that simple.

[@TheCounty90]

Yes not worthwhile repairing this one. Unless the car would be stripped and put on a rotisserie, it is no fun cutting every nut and bolt off and having all of that rust raining down on you. Life is too short.

[@k.b1596]

This car has been kept in very agressive enviroment. Diff case is pretty thick and made from cast iron and in normal condition cant get rust like this.

[@royfontaine5526]

This is standard fare for a UK car, especially a BMW 😢

[@douglasmurdoch]

If kept outside in uk

[@royfontaine5526]

@@douglasmurdoch or driven / stored when wet.

[@douglasmurdoch]

@@royfontaine5526 😂 true , I keep my e39 stored away for winter 🥶 it the best colour for keeping clean black

[@amigachris]

@@royfontaine5526 mine has nothing like that, i think thats one of the worst ive seen...

[@yamahattr6006]

Got to wash the salt off after winter you don't expect this on a bmw it looks like its been in the sea my 08 Vauxhall is like new no rust anywhere underneath i think they're galvanized through shame bmw didn't do that

[@douglasmurdoch]

How to scare bmw owners the 🌎 over 😱😢🤬

[@TheJoesmoe1987]

Wow😐

[@TheNorthernmunky]

Will there be a video on the fixing too?

[@onkelmicke9670]

Yeah that's depressing.

[@jameslawrie3082]

😳

[@richardmesser1091]

Did this car hit an iceberg

[@arts6535]

You don't need to do this . Take it for an Mot and you will get a full report of the rust ....

[@stubbk3]

starting to think i should sell mine while i still can

[@darrend2035]

I’ve never seen one this bad before

[@bentremy]

Looks like my car

[@E39V8BMWM5]

all this could be prevented by rustproofing the car each year sad

[@royfontaine5526]

Every nook and cranny, on such a complex car? Good luck! It would have helped if BMW had built them properly. The French know how to make cars that don’t rot readily, why not the Germans? 😬

[@HunterOfHalfLife]

average estonian e46. even better than average, actually.

[@dollc2495]

This is painful to watch!!!

[@laurataylor9454]

MOT right off

[@markflyer]

Low mileage cars sat about doing nothing but rusting. Drive your cars people!

[@keithoftheshire2805]

Looks terminal.

[@Ben-in6qh]

Sill, not seal

[@royfontaine5526]

The music sounds dreadful 😟

[@irondome7334]

This car is scrap as far as I'm concerned. Like the video said, trapped corrosion is a whole different ballgame compared to surface corrosion. There's so much trapped corrosion underneath. Absolutely neglected.

[@johnrutherford1953]

Wow, a 17 year old UK based car with rust ? Cars rust, even BMW's, can anyone tell me why does he sound surprised ?

[@berwhaletheavenger]

This is why you swerve E46's in any shape or form and have an E90. Most of them are just rusty old shit.

[@davyboy888]

Yes the corrosion is bad here but a 2005 74K M3 is already very valuable and probably worth investing in getting this done. How much did you pay them for it ? Such a shame you're going to cannibalise it to create an abomination M3 Estate. In 10 years time - when E46 M3's are worth double or probably triple what they are now - people will look at this vid and weep.

[@richlee509]

Too far gone I think

[@ivanfilipovic3296]

@@richlee509 too far gone in western world where man hours are expensive, in eastern europe this car would live on some e46 coupe chassis with changed strut tower with vin number + e46 m3 quater pannels for rear arches, and inner arches would still have to be made by hand - only prob without return lip on them. Just thing that matters is ship of theseus paradox, what makes an m3, and how much of original car can you change or replace untill it's identity is lost, if you see an m3 as just wide booty arches and s54 then you don't really care :)

[@--LZ---]

This is total loss repair man, if you only look at sentimental value then you dont care, but in reality people dont have unlimited money and spending however much money this would require is just pointless really. Much cheaper to buy another car in a much better condition. How much would this repair cost, 25k dollars? 30k? just the parts and panels themselves without work would probably cost as much as another e46 m3.

[@davyboy888]

@@--LZ--- Hhhmmm... the more people that think and do that, the more these will appreciate in value. Would you also scrap an E30 M3 Evo with this level of corrosion ?

[@--LZ---]

@@davyboy888 depends on the sentimental value and amount of money you have... usually restorations like this are done by professionals which it is their hobby as well, so they take it as an interesting project for fun on the side, and they dont have to pay themselves for the hundreds of hours needed. Or some rich guy can just pay them the 50k dollars or whatever needed and get a top notch restoration.

[@ALPINA527]

This is what happens when you dont look after and cherish your £40k car.

[@royfontaine5526]

Bullshit, this happens to any e46 or BMW of this vintage used in normal UK conditions. It’s completely unacceptable.

[@jamesbaggaley1460]

@@royfontaine5526 Not if people washed their cars properly, or just washed the underside once a year… If you drive it in salt, and don’t wash it afterwards, this will happen to any steel bodied car. These were galvanised body shells.

[@royfontaine5526]

@@jamesbaggaley1460 Absolute rubbish. I wash our e46 thoroughly and in time it’s rotted just like they all do. And no, they were not galvanised.

[@vxlgsi]

Maybe the owner went through a Ford every morning or flood damage?

[@greengrass9572]

'Decent' amount of rust? Decent ? Hope your welding is better than your grammar.

[@mecredex205]

Absolutely nothing here that would suggest to scrap a low mileage car. I've seen 5 year old land rovers with worse. The new civic look like this underneath within a year in some cases. A capable garage with a reasonable hourly rate would have this solved easy enough.

[@arealsourapple]

You have not seen one year old Civics with this level of rust.

[@jamesbaggaley1460]

It has a hole in the sill….

[@lazycatplays6701]

i've repaired worse cars

[@putinisgod6814]

Hello Guys, Im currently making a list of scrapped m3 chassis. Do you think you could send me the VIN number so I can add it to the list

[@wojtek1500]

It looks worse, than my e39 528i from 1998🫡