Thanks for sharing! Wow, reminds me of the early E36 M3 days (that used the same designed waterpumps). The early composite waterpumps were prone to grenading just like yours. The composites got better but the E36 m3 guys were already swapping over to aftermarket metal impellar waterpumps, aluminum thermostat housings and all aluminum radiators.
When I replaced my waterpump in the 06 X3 a couple of years ago it had done over 180k miles on the original composite waterpump. ( I checked the time stamp) The bearing failed, not the impeller. I went with a Saleri jus because the original had lasted so long and I'm now at 225K miles. No issues. I recently picked up a Hepu (metal impeller) waterpump just for back up (it was on sale for $25 and too good of a deal to pass up) but honestly I don't know if I'll ever need to use it.
When I replaced my waterpump in the 06 X3 a couple of years ago it had done over 180k miles on the original composite waterpump. ( I checked the time stamp) The bearing failed, not the impeller. I went with a Saleri jus because the original had lasted so long and I'm now at 225K miles. No issues. I recently picked up a Hepu (metal impeller) waterpump just for back up (it was on sale for $25 and too good of a deal to pass up) but honestly I don't know if I'll ever need to use it.
