Gas tank bent, then leaked. 9 months later.....

[Cliff Yankovich]

Coming out of work one day last May I noticed a slight wrinkle or bend in my gas tank. Closer investigation disclosed it on both sides of the tank. I also found the blue paint of the frame under my tank was chipped. What?
When I first noticed my tank I went into the dealership where I bought it. Four people came and looked at the bike: a salesperson, parts manager, and two guys from the service department. No one had a clue or a possible explanation. Someone asked if I had dropped something on the bike. My answer was no.
My theory was that the bike had been vandalized. No one in the group had a better idea. I showed everyone the marks on the frame under the tank. No one even suggested that my tank was bottoming out or that the shock was bad and needed to be looked at or repaired/replaced. The bike handled the same as it always had - I am not a knee dragger or a wheelie popper. At the point I brought the bike in there were very slight crinkles in the tank - more noticable on one side than the other.
Since no one at the BMW dealership where I purchased the bike had any suggestions, I followed up with my vandalism theory. The insurance adjuster inspected my bike, then talked with someone and/or visited the dealership. No one mentioned shock failure. The insurance company sent me a check made out to both of us dated June 20th.
Weeks went by as I waited for a tank. I tried to contact BMW NA, but their website is very protective of anyone in authority and the people who answered my inquiries referred me to my local shop. I asked my dealership for the name of the BMW service manager on more than one occasion. I have never been given a name or contact information. What is the deal - are dealerships instructed to insulate these people? Is BMW above allowing customers to communicate with their service/management people?
I wanted to complain about the failure to get a replacement tank for a STOCK motorcycle. By this time the tank started leaking and I was unable to ride for days at a time while I sought methods to repair it. By now months had gone by with two tanks arriving with unmatching paint. I rode the bike in once with my tank patched so your staff could compare my tank to the one you had. Again, my bike was looked at by a salesperson, parts manager, and someone from the shop. NO ONE at the dealership told me the shock was the possible problem or suggested anything like it. My attempts to get a name or information to contact BMW NA were brushed aside again.
I was pissed at BMW for not having the ability to match their own paint color. For a company with a worldwide reputation for being all of that - I could not for the life of me get my head around the delay. I was told that BMW was suggesting that I had painted the bike. Right, blame it on me.

In late fall, someone from the dealership and retrieved my bike so the regional rep could see it. When it was returned to me I was NOT told that the problem was a failed shock - no one told me to quit riding. The first hint of that was when you suggested on the phone that the shock needed to be replaced and promised me some kind of a deal on the shock. You also told me that a primed tank would be gotten and then custom painted.

Fast forward to when Paul picked up my bike in December. Now the story was that there had been a couple more of the 1150Rs with the same problem. It was all about the shock absorber now. I get a call telling me about additional charges that my insurance company is picking up and the fact that I need to replace the shock to the tune of $800.

Why am I pissed?

1. Why are dealers so protective of BMW regional people? Do they work undercover?

2. Am I to believe you have had 2 or 3 of these in West Michigan and BMW NA doesn't have a clue about the problem on a national or global basis?

3. Why the does my insurance company have to pay HUNDREDS of dollars extra for a "custom" paint job when my bike was painted by the factory with factory stripes? I am surprised the adjuster went along with it. Why can't BMW match its own paint?


Anyone else have a crinkle in your gas tank?

[Cliff Yankovich]

Cannot figure out how to post pictures of the tank here.

The first two are pics of the early version of the crinkle in the tank. The last one is a pic of how the tank looked with JB Weld keeping the gas from leaking!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Y ... directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/m ... directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/R ... directlink

[sweatmark]

This is a new one. Please tell us more.

How many miles on the bike?

Assuming the "shock" issue relates to the rear suspension, what's the ride been like? The OE shocks have a poor reputation for durability, but that's the dampening action, and not the spring... you could bounce the rear end around all day and likely have no effect on the structural integrity of subframe or the tank's rear support, as long the shock action didn't bottom out.

You state that other R1150R's have suffered same tank damage... please elaborate.

[Cliff Yankovich]

Bike has about 46k on it. I am original owner.
When someone from the shop picked it up in December he told me they have had two others where the front shock (the shock inside the spring) has gone bad which allows the gas tank to hit the frame which causes the dents.
The wierd thing is that I never noticed any difference in the ride with the exception that when I would pull into my bank, which has a steep little grade from the road to the parking lot, sometimes I would hear an odd noise. But I never felt anything real jarring in the bars or felt that the suspension was mushy.
My first post was a modified copy of an email I wrote to the owner of my local dealer. I am very upset - this is my third beemer from them and I really feel like I have been given the run around. I find it disturbing that there is no way to complain up the chain of command with BMW North America. Their website offers nothing and when I emailed them, I was referred back to my local dealer.
What a joke - 6 months, two tanks shipped from Germany and they cannot match their own color?

[sweatmark]

When someone from the shop picked it up in December he told me they have had two others where the front shock (the shock inside the spring) has gone bad which allows the gas tank to hit the frame which causes the dents.
...
What a joke - 6 months, two tanks shipped from Germany and they cannot match their own color?

I have a hard time with the front shock explanation. The front pocket-mounts for the fuel tank would take much/most of the force applied via an unsprung/undamped displacement input (like hitting a pot hole without any front suspension travel or bouncing off the shock's travel limits), and the tank's rear mount subframe would be subjected to lesser forces. And if you truly had no front dampening, the bike would push like crazy in every bumpy corner.

I'm sure you've looked carefully at the fuel tank's rear mount subframe, which is welded to the inner tank metal skin near the points where your tank has been tweaked. If excessive force was applied to the rear of the tank - either when removed from bike and resting on flat surface during service, or if someone whacked it hard when reinstalling - it might be possible to twist the tank's rear mount subframe and cause the tank buckling you see.

As far as matching the Edition 80's white paint... it will be nearly impossible, as the Alpinweiss white fades pathetically over time. My Rockster's white tank is now at best a mellow cream color, contrasting embarassingly with the white plastic side trim panels. The Edition 80's combination of the fading white and accent blue (bubbling, flaking) parts is the worst BMW paint quality I've seen, motorcycles and autos included.

[Cliff Yankovich]

It was the front shock. The weird things is that I never really noticed a difference in the ride. Have owned the bike since new and would like to think I am fairly in tune with it after 47k.
My paint never faded - I live in Michigan, we only have 28 minutes of sun a day. I still hold to my contention that it is ridiculous for BMW to not be able to match BMW paint.

ONE BIG THING that honked me off is the way I could not communicate with a representative from BMW. I tried through the BMW NA website and tried to get contact info from the dealership on several occasions.

Is this normal for BMW? I have owned 3 - will not own 4.