Metal VANOS Cover Failure - MUST READ!

LKN624 wrote

I had them replaced on the E92 at 158.000km. Yeah I hadn’t touched the valve covers before this. Previous owner is a dear friend of mine and was the original owner and he never did anything with the valve covers.

Here are what they looked like. Looked the same on the other side of the bank too.

I looked inside my E90 and they also look perfect.

Honestly, I should have looked at them beforehand on the E92, but the valve covers seals were leaking pretty bad so I had to get the covers off anyways.

Are you changing the vanos covers or are you satisfied with the appearance?


I’m not sure how they look on inspection in that one moment in time is all that meaningful. Certainly if you find a piece has come off that’s an Uber strong reason to proceed with replacement. But mine looked pristine, too, at 125k miles or so. Despite being unbroken, they were very brittle and came apart with a fifty cent pick tool with relative ease as they were incredibly brittle. They should never experience direct trauma in a closed valve case….however they are under a significant amount of rotational force that varies over time, sometimes with abrupt changes in velocity. They will go through hundreds of heat cycles a year. The era the engine was designed includes all sorts of regrettable plastic internal engine parts across many brands whose lifetime promise fell far far short. See Audi’s plastic timing chain guides on the S4. I view this one as a must do for cars with higher miles and cars with lower miles but significant track time (more extreme heat cycles).

LKN624 wrote

I had them replaced on the E92 at 158.000km. Yeah I hadn’t touched the valve covers before this. Previous owner is a dear friend of mine and was the original owner and he never did anything with the valve covers. Here are what they looked like. Looked the same on the other side of the bank too.
I looked inside my E90 and they also look perfect. Honestly, I should have looked at them beforehand on the E92, but the valve covers seals were leaking pretty bad so I had to get the covers off anyways.

Thank you for your reply and this information. Did you find your OEM vanos plastic covers to be brittle at 158,000 Km (98K miles)? CamasM3e93 mentions above he found his OEM plastic covers to be brittle. The brittle condition could be caused by oil acidity, oil oxidation, heat etc. Please let us know when you get a chance (time).

DrFerry wrote

Where are these made?

China, I designed it myself, processed by my friend's factory.

CamasM3e93 wrote

Are you changing the vanos covers or are you satisfied with the appearance?


I’m not sure how they look on inspection in that one moment in time is all that meaningful. Certainly if you find a piece has come off that’s an Uber strong reason to proceed with replacement. But mine looked pristine, too, at 125k miles or so. Despite being unbroken, they were very brittle and came apart with a fifty cent pick tool with relative ease as they were incredibly brittle. They should never experience direct trauma in a closed valve case….however they are under a significant amount of rotational force that varies over time, sometimes with abrupt changes in velocity. They will go through hundreds of heat cycles a year. The era the engine was designed includes all sorts of regrettable plastic internal engine parts across many brands whose lifetime promise fell far far short. See Audi’s plastic timing chain guides on the S4. I view this one as a must do for cars with higher miles and cars with lower miles but significant track time (more extreme heat cycles).

DrFerry wrote

Thank you for your reply and this information. Did you find your OEM vanos plastic covers to be brittle at 158,000 Km (98K miles)? CamasM3e93 mentions above he found his OEM plastic covers to be brittle. The brittle condition could be caused by oil acidity, oil oxidation, heat etc. Please let us know when you get a chance (time).

Yeah, I still did end of changing them since I already had the SLON Covers (Bought them directly from IND). They took a lot of effort to come off actually...I had stuck a plastic trim removal tool underneath the plastic VANOS cover and struck the other blunt end of the tool with my hand. They eventually popped off...I missed a few times and yeah a tiny chunk flew off since its not the thickest of plastics. When they finally were off, I tried to break it half and they were still quite somewhat flexible before snapping in half.

Despite all of this...I will take a peak again on how the clips on the SLON Covers are doing. I did manage put a few thousand Km's already last year but will take a look again before I start driving the my E92 in March.

Zark get a spanner wrote

China, I designed it myself, processed by my friend's factory.

You going to be producing more and selling them?

FazerBoy wrote

You going to be producing more and selling them?

Actually I did, but just in China, because they are cheap, the cost of international shipping may even higher than the value of goods.

Zark get a spanner wrote

Actually I did, but just in China, because they are cheap, the cost of international shipping may even higher than the value of goods.

Maybe - but surely they would still be cheaper than the various alternatives and you’d sell quite a few.

FazerBoy wrote

Maybe - but surely they would still be cheaper than the various alternatives and you’d sell quite a few.

If you need, just PM, I can try.

Zark get a spanner wrote

If you need, just PM, I can try.

Well, probably it would be best to get a quote from your supplier for a quantity (say ten or twenty) and then set up a group buy before ordering them…

I would order a set if the price was right…

I fail to understand why feedback on the design is requested from instagram followers, where majority are likely to be laymen. Shouldn’t the developer be confident in the product design/engineering prior to commencing production/sales?

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3JKpdppSzP/?igsh=ZnE5OTlxY3JsaXU0

Wait, so earlier in this thread Euro Power said that they stood by their design and that there were no issues with their aluminum vanos covers. They also said that some looseness was normal.

Now they come out and say exactly what I have been saying all along. I hope all their customers who purchased the aluminum covers are getting free replacements and claim labor charges from them.

They're asking for feedback cos they want their customers to be the guinea pigs and risk their engines to test their unproven design.

I have a set of the 1st version billet Euro Power covers that are still in the original box as they were never installed and I am being told that I can buy the new version at a discounted price. Hell I want a full replacement if anything!

Mr. C4 wrote

I fail to understand why feedback on the design is requested from instagram followers, where majority are likely to be laymen. Shouldn’t the developer be confident in the product design/engineering prior to commencing production/sales?

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3JKpdppSzP/?igsh=ZnE5OTlxY3JsaXU0

bahahahahhahah because SCIENCE!

0-60Motorsports wrote

bahahahahhahah because SCIENCE!

Science? Care to explain?

Mr. C4 wrote

Science? Care to explain?

I assume he's reacting to the highly scientific description in the screenshot. It literally says "It's science".

I need a bigger eye roll emoji than this site allows. This also continues the rather troubling trend of EPM saying something is THE BEST, and then falling back to "it's my opinion" when pressed.

Those EPM covers look like a copy of the ones Evolve sells. I also have a set of the first version Euro Power covers that I decided not to install. Walking back their initial statement on them is pretty shady.

Mr. C4 wrote

I fail to understand why feedback on the design is requested from instagram followers, where majority are likely to be laymen. Shouldn’t the developer be confident in the product design/engineering prior to commencing production/sales?

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3JKpdppSzP/?igsh=ZnE5OTlxY3JsaXU0

Very simple. I always take feedback from customers for aesthetics. Never for function. The cutouts were just aesthetics and looks and it had nothing to do with the function. People prefer the more OEM look based on the survey and I will go with that.

Just watch this video and post any questions you have here. Payton from Performance Driven Design is the mastermind behind this project. He explains the benefits of these covers vs the other ones on the market, including the original EPM ones that are a copy of SLON's.

This is not a point of contention or argument. Please keep the tone friendly.

My effort is solely to provide a solution to us E9x M3 owners. I have put countless hours into researching this product for our community. Sent every cover (SLON, EPM, VARGAS) in the market to different engineering companies to see if there were any flaws in the design. They all recommended a few changes to the design but most importantly, they all said the same thing. The Vanos Covers should be made from Stainless Steel and not Aluminum. End of Story.

Since the tolerances are so tight on these, every single piece that goes out to a customer will be measured at the metrology lab. Yes, you heard that. Each unit will be measured and approved by a lab. Watch the video below just to appreciate the amount of precision that is going into this product. Each piece is measured at more than 30 different points to ensure a perfect fitment. Once that's done, it will be a Bullet Proof Solution. No other manufacturer will go this far to ensure precision. If after seeing me, they start doing this. I would be super happy.

Don't worry, it sounds like this is going to be expensive since we all know how much these labs charge. It won't be. This is my hobby and passion and not my daily bread. Profit margins don't mean anything to me. Fulfilling my passion by solving a problem means everything.

Here are pictures of every cover that I send to engineering companies.

Mr. C4 wrote

I have a set of the 1st version billet Euro Power covers that are still in the original box as they were never installed and I am being told that I can buy the new version at a discounted price. Hell I want a full replacement if anything!

Same, bought a set cause of the fear mongering on this forum. Never installed it yet. Feel real stupid now for buying early.

Hi Abdul. I hope you're sending out recall emails to all your customers telling them that the original Alu covers have a flaw so that they can get replacements.