Spot the problem
I've never had suspension go both sides at the same time before. That's a new one.
My money is the subframe failed
I was really looking forward to going for a drive today too 

Hard to think through the solution to this.

In the event it is the subframe, to get it fixed would probably mean a long time paying it off.
I can't just scrap it and get a banger because I need adaptions to legally drive, which would probably be about the same if not more than the subframe for what I need.
Scrapping it and being without a car means a total loss of independence since I can't navigate transport most days.

Basically 'welp, I'm fucked' in all directions

A few things that are making it a bit wtf:
someone I know who works almost exclusively on beamers has never seen a subframe fail on this model without something catastrophic happening
It's a /bit/ higher on one side, so could just look low from taking all the weight? Idk
There's still some bounce in it.

I'm not going to actually get any answers until we can jack it up and have a look or get it to a garage since I don't think our trolley jack fits under this car anyway ๐Ÿ™ƒ

Alright, mind put more at ease that it's not a catastrophic issue and may even be something that can be fixed without having to try and move the car
@babe I donโ€™t doubt you for a second but I am scratchy head about how a subframe gives up first without being made of chocolate or chewed through by robot mice. Did someone saw through it to steal your cats or sutin?!

@cat It just seems like the obvious answer give *waves arms in the direction of it*
But it's that or an unlikely dual failure, or just /looks/ like a dual failure.

But it's had work done in the past year where the kind of wear or corrosion necessary to cause any major failure should have been caught that'd be bad enough it'd fail while stationary

@babe just so. I mean Iโ€™m working on the back of my truck and itโ€™s jacked up on two failed sills and the back axle seems rusty but *fine* and itโ€™s a 1997 thing driven in Scotland ffs. How can a modern bm just collapse in 6 months?!
@babe maybe there's a recall that covers it?
@babe did that fail _in place_, when it was parked?
@babe Gah, that's horrible.
@babe *cries in oil filter housing gasket*

@babe

I am really sorry. ๐Ÿ˜ž

@babe Whoa. Both sides going at onceโ€ฆI think Iโ€™ve only seen that when someone has air suspension or with a catastrophic event like hitting an absolute crater of a pothole at high speed. Was it noisy on turns for a long time?
@monkeyninja Nope, drove like a dream about 2 weeks ago. No bumps, no groans, no suggestion anything was wrong

@babe Damn, only thing I can think is that there was major corrosion. Weโ€™d sometimes see that when I lived where salting the road in the winter was common and the salt corroded the metal.

Not having air suspension, corrosion is the only thing I can think of that would make sense. So likely one gave way and that canted the suspension on the other side forcing it to give way as well. You may have the right of it with it being subframe but Iโ€™m hoping itโ€™s corroded springs as thatโ€™s at least more fixable.

At least it happened while it was parked instead of on the move? That could have been terrifying.

@monkeyninja yeah hear that about e36s the rear struts giving out but on a newish 6? series id be surprised
@sangu Right, exactly. You know...it's also possible that only one collapsed and the other is just compressed heavily. I could certainly see a possibility where if the suspension already has a lot of play and one goes catastrophically that the other might compress under load and make it look like it had failed at the same time. I mean...I'm taking guesses here obviously. Getting the car on a lift to see what's going on is really the only way to know for sure. But hopefully for the sake of @babe it's something reparable.

@monkeyninja @sangu That's looking more like the case.
There's just under an inch difference each side, so looked like dual failure, but there's only a few inches off what it looks like normally anyway, so it's probably one failed/one compressed.

Someone's kindly had a look at the model and spring seems the most likely point of failure. Will find out soon enough I guess!

@babe @sangu Damn, but hey at least that's ideal right? It happened at rest so the likelihood it did frame damage is lower a bit. It's a shitty thing to have to deal with but hopefully if it's just the one and there's no subframe damage, it'll just be a quick trip to the shop for repair and you'll be back to driving again in no time.
@babe since it's technically a car with adaptations, would health insurance or whatever help cover the costs of repair?
@infernusgoatus Nope. It's a private rather than motability so it's entirely my responsibility
@babe that there's some shit. :(
@babe
yikes. this sounds terrible. sounds like next steps is to get it towed somewhere that they can inspect it and tell you the damage?
@babe
I have seen some unhunged trans girl mechanics on youtube recently, perhaps your community has acces to something like that available?

@babe

This is a horrible problem to be facing. My youngest daughter uses hand controls to drive ams i constantly worry about the same thing. If her vehicle craps out it would take months to get a new vehicle properly equipped for her snd there are no rentals available that meet her needs.

@babe
Cheaper to keep her
@paulgatling Aye. Damn near whatever happens that's going to be the case I think
@babe
Just about! Besides what a fine automobile!
@paulgatling ngl I'm a bit besotted with it
@babe
I experience the same with a German auto that I drive.. Despite the quirks and rattles that are building up, it is the most incredible driving experience to me!

@paulgatling I went from a 1.4 civic to this.

I always thought I was a bad driver, turned out a lot of it was the car was just very hard to drive. Having a car go in the direction I'm steering in, and as I told it to, was a revelation

@babe
Yes! It is amazing isn't it! The steering wheel does what it is supposed to, as does the brake and the accelerator and rather enthusiastically!

That is a big jump from the civic, especially if it had a bunch of miles/km on the clock

@paulgatling It was a 2000 one, so the old model. The accelerator took about 30 seconds to actually do anything and the brakes worked on willpower alone, I'm quite sure of it.
I did love that car, but I definite like being able to get round corners more
@babe
The one thing you can always say about a Honda, they are tough as nails! I was once the proud owner of an '89. I drove the wheels off of that thing!
@paulgatling My dad got a honda estate to about 450k before it crapped out
@babe
 in miles or km? Either way that thing served its sentence on this planet!
@babe even your cars butt was too much for it ๐Ÿ˜‚
@babe you need a redundant array of independent BMWs to handle device failure
@babe mouse loves that pensive butt is spreading. it has no idea where it came from but the best communities it is part of have adopted it
@babe :pensive_butt: is the best emote I have seen on here.
@babe that does not sound fun to fix
@babe hopefully not the mounts rusting out...
@babe ouch โ€ฆ not familiar with that generation, but both together might imply subframe failure, not directly the suspension โ€ฆ best of luck and fingers crossed for a good outcome ;)

@babe yikes. Both sides at the same time could be dual shock absorber failure but it could also be the rear subframe.

It's not unknown for two components to fail at the same time, especially if they are from the same batch.

It's not got some form of ride height adjustment, has it?

@babe suspension broken?
@babe ๐Ÿ˜ฌ both sides at once? did the subframe crack or something? or did both shock mounts just die at the same time
@babe Looks expensive ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
@babe
I see two possible problems:
1. it might be overloaded, or badly configured as the wheels are too far in the wheel case
2. since it is a BMW it is probably supposed to be stuck on a bollard.