BMW Z3's are well known for having issues with their rear subframe/trunkfloor. The issue is specifically with the differential ear mount and it's attachment to the the chassis - the diff mount ear attaches to the chassis at the rear trunkfloor where it is not strong enough to handle the forces exerted on it from the torque generated by the powerful engines put in the Z3's. This subframe design dates back to the '70s and earlier, but the Z3 arrangement has proven to be one of the most troublesome. Many of the previous designs mounted the diff to the chassis in a different way, preventing this problem altogether. So to understand this issue a little deeper, lets first look at a Z3 rear subframe and understand what we are dealing with. Below is a sketch of a Z3 rear subframe, as viewed from below (as you may see it when looking at the car from below and behind the car)
Below are the mounting points labelled
And here from another view - as if the subframe was sitting on the ground and with a differential and trailing arms installed
Below is everything labelled
And below we have just the critical mounts labelled - these are the ONLY points which attach the rear subframe assembly to the chassis itself. The two outer mounts (blue) hold the subframe cradle to the chassis via two studs through the rubber mounts and a nut on the bottom. The differential to chassis is a single rubber mount, with a through-bolt and nut
So, now to understand the actual issue a little bit... lets look at the subframe from the profile view, as the trouble occurs in this plane of movement
Above is just the bare rear subframe, with the outer bushings in blue and the diff to subframe mounts in red. Below I added the differential to the diagram and colored the differential to chassis mount bolt in red to again help show where the only mounts to the chassis are. The trunkfloor is scribbled along the top, above the differential
The below diagram shows a cross-section of the rear subframe bushings and the differential mount, with the differential mount bushing rubber in orange and the rear subframe bushing rubber in blue. This diagram shows the rear subframe setup during a static, unloaded situation
Below we see the subframe during acceleration when load is applied. The torque from the driveshaft into the diff causes a rotational force at the differential itself, causing the differential to rotate downwards, illustrated below with Arrow A
This rotational torque exerts force on the subframe bushings, causing a rotational force at Arrow B
The movement at Arrow C is a result of the subframe rotating due to deflection in the subframe bushing, resulting in a downwards force being exerted on the diff mount bushing
The final diagram below shows the forces being exerted inside of the bushings themselves. The critical movement here is in the orange bushing, namely the force at the red arrow, which is located at the differential ear mount
The problem is simply that the trunkfloor, where the rear differential ear mount attaches, is not strong enough to withstand these forces. The ear mount can be checked in two places - from underneath the car, looking for cracks on the ear itself (usually cracks form from the outside edge and propagate inwards) or from the spotwelds in the trunk, which get pulled out from below, due to the forces exerted
I spent a little time after writing this initial post making a .gif to illustrate what is happening
If a picture says a thousand words, then that 7 frame .gif says 7,000, don't ya think? I think it pretty clearly illustrates the concept!
This is also why you never want to install a stiff differential mount bushing - you want the bushing to absorb as much of the force as possible, to minimize the load transferred into the diff ear mount and trunkfloor
Conversely though, this is why very stiff rear subframe mounts are a good idea and have been proven to lower the chances of damaging the diff ear mount in the first place. Stiffening the subframe mounts limits the deflection which prevents the forces at the diff mount. Lets look again at this diagram
The issue is at Arrow C, but there is no easy solution to solving the problem at this location - a softer bushing may help, but may lead to other undesirable characteristics and you may find yourself replacing that bushing very often. So lets look upstream from there. The only way to limit the force at Arrow A would be to limit engine power and that's no fun. So we look to the bushing at Arrow B, the subframe bushings. The stiffer these bushings are, the less deflection we get of the subframe and less force gets applied to the differential bushing
"What about a solid mount?" you may be asking yourself. Well there is a bit of a catch there... lets pull up one more diagram from earlier
The differential mounts to the subframe with bolts, therefore it is solidly mounted to the subframe. BMW likes to isolate all driveline components from the chassis for comfort reasons - which is why there is rubber between the differential at the diff ear mount and the subframe mounts. The stiffer you make the subframe mounts, the more NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) is transferred to the chassis. As such, it becomes a bit of a balancing act finding a stiffer mount without sacrificing too much comfort. A soft or medium grade poly mount is generally recommended for a street car and should be adequate enough to protect the diff mount for the way most people drive their cars on the street. For a track car, a hard poly mount is generally recommended. For a drift car, I would consider solid mounts because drift cars experience a lot more forces in the rear subframe than even most track cars and NVH is not much of a concern for drift cars. Drift cars will also experience a lot more lateral force at the rear subframe, which is something I haven't even touched on in this article
I hope this article helps some people understand the Z3 subframe issue in a little more detail.
Please also consider checking out my History of the BMW Z3 post if you are a fan of Z3's