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The dealer can do it right for a car that fits the factory specs. If you've modified it, the computer doesn't tell them what to do.
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Oct 30, 2023 05:03
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Firestone is fine for just a normal alignment.
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Oct 30, 2023 05:52
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Cojawfee posted:The dealer can do it right for a car that fits the factory specs. If you've modified it, the computer doesn't tell them what to do. In my experience most dealers use the same Hunter alignment racks that everyone else does, so the specifications are definitely available. Tech just doesn’t typically do non factory and didn’t care to find the data and try. I don’t think it’s totally unreasonable for the dealer to not work with modified stuff, but yeah lesson learned for the OP.
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Oct 30, 2023 12:49
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I'm so happy that I got a recommendation for an alignment shop via an owners group on facebook. When I came there, there were super cars, track cars and they were super professional. If people with those kinds of cars go there I'm thinking I'm in pretty safe hands.
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Oct 30, 2023 13:30
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In chatting with my local BMW specialist they told me two things: 1) "Someone else should open up a German car shop so we could just be normal busy rather than this" 2) "All the alignment places closed or suck now" edit: getting a bunch of vibration through the steering wheel and noise from cold start now. power steering pump, probably? Once warm it generally seems fine. the car just came back from the shop.
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Oct 30, 2023 13:45
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So this morning I was driving to a dr’s appointment, and about 5 minutes in the car started shaking hard with acceleration. SERVICE ENGINE SOON came on. I’m having it towed to a shop but am curious if there are any initial thoughts on how hosed I am.KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:In chatting with my local BMW specialist they told me two things:
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Oct 30, 2023 16:16
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:So this morning I was driving to a dr’s appointment, and about 5 minutes in the car started shaking hard with acceleration. SERVICE ENGINE SOON came on. I’m having it towed to a shop but am curious if there are any initial thoughts on how hosed I am. Not enough to go on. Could be cheap (failed coil), could be moderate (failed injector), could be horrific (vanos ate itself).
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Oct 30, 2023 16:51
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SlapActionJackson posted:Not enough to go on. Could be cheap (failed coil), could be moderate (failed injector), could be horrific (vanos ate itself). Yeah, gotta pull codes to get any idea of what it could actually be. On the F80 a while back I had an issue that could have been multiple lovely things but ended up being a plug that had backed out 
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Oct 30, 2023 16:52
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:So this morning I was driving to a dr’s appointment, and about 5 minutes in the car started shaking hard with acceleration. SERVICE ENGINE SOON came on. I’m having it towed to a shop but am curious if there are any initial thoughts on how hosed I am. German Performance in Allston
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Oct 30, 2023 18:18
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How many miles on it, and when was the last time you checked / cleaned the vanos actuating pistons? I had that a couple times where the piston got dirty and sticky, so I started cleaning them whenever I changed the oil. (They're on the front of the engine, super easy to remove once you take the intake snorkel off) I should probably see if the N55/B58 need that like the N52, come to think of it
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Oct 30, 2023 18:39
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Are the E90s like other BMWs where you have to get camber correction bushings or similar for fixing the rear camber when lowered?
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Oct 30, 2023 18:41
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:German Performance in Allston I took my e92 to them for an issue I discussed a bunch upthread, in which my car would veer to the right if I was holding the wheel straight - I had to hold it slightly to the right to get it to go straight. This sounds like an alignment issue, but I had it aligned probably a half dozen times by several different shops and still hosed. I decided to take it to German Performance to see if they could figure it out. They replaced a toe arm (at substantial expense for what it was) while claiming that the other shops just didn't align it correctly "because they don't know how to align BMWs" (???), and I should take it to get yet another alignment. The guy was pretty nasty to me on the phone too, basically claiming it was my fault for not describing the problem correctly to the other shops somehow. So I took it to a different shop (Bavarian Performance Group.) Turns out it was a blown u-joint and I had to replace the steering column. That fixed it, but I was not happy that I blew hundreds at German Performance.
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Oct 30, 2023 18:43
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It's funny because I went to BPG and they failed to find the actual issue and then wanted to charge me 400 dollars for a new undertray.
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Oct 30, 2023 18:55
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Yeah BPG has also “screwed up” with me too…after I recommended them to you (lol!) I took my car in for them to see why it was “chugging” a bit while accelerating on the freeway (much different type of chugging than above.) They told me my transfer case was hosed and my only option was to completely replace it for like 3-4k. After some googling I found out that replacing the fluid in it often fixes the problem. I bought like 50 bucks of the stuff, had my mechanic do it, and…problem solved. Lol. When I asked the BPG guy about why he didn’t suggest doing this he shrugged and was like “great that it worked for you!” The worst part about owning this car isn’t even the expense, it’s dealing with these huffy assholes when I need to get the thing fixed who seem unable or unwilling to get the problem right.
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Oct 30, 2023 19:10
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:So this morning I was driving to a dr’s appointment, and about 5 minutes in the car started shaking hard with acceleration. SERVICE ENGINE SOON came on. I’m having it towed to a shop but am curious if there are any initial thoughts on how hosed I am. I just got my e46 back after the exact set of symptoms. It was coils. New coils and spark plugs = $1200. I think I'm close to $5000 in repairs in my first year of ownership of my $10000 e46, so there's that. No need to guess thanks to this thread: Running Tally on my e46: $1700 replace oil pan gasket $900 replace adaptive xenon control switch unit $900 Accessory belt tensioner, AC belt tensioner, and belts $1200 New Coils and Spark Plugs (NEW ENTRY) Total: $4700 Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Oct 31, 2023 |
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Oct 31, 2023 02:35
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:New coils and spark plugs = $1200. uh, what?
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Oct 31, 2023 03:01
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Don't have the dealership replace your plugs / coils.
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Oct 31, 2023 03:19
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:No need to guess thanks to this thread:
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Oct 31, 2023 04:57
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Dealer quoted me $700 to replace the plugs on my M2, and I was like hrmmmmmmm. So I called up the local BMW small shop and they were $750. Whatever. Turns out these cars are...expensive????
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Oct 31, 2023 11:30
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None of that was done at the dealer. I take it to my local Euro specialty shop. There's usually a collection of exotics there. I figure if it's good enough for the only Aston Martin I've seen in my city, it's good enough for me. I have no doubt they are a little on the pricey side but I've found them to be very honest on what does and doesn't need to be done.
Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 12:41 on Oct 31, 2023 |
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Oct 31, 2023 12:37
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Coils and plugs are pretty straightforward. On the e39 the main difficulty is taking off all the intake bullshit to get to them.
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Oct 31, 2023 13:15
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I'm as big of a chump as it comes to being afraid to work on my car, but yea just go on YouTube and watch a video on how to replace spark plugs / ignition coils. Kyoon's right that the hardest part is just taking off all the stupid plastic cowling and poo poo. And that's not hard, just annoying.
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Oct 31, 2023 13:25
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I do work on my daily car, but I am not working on the M2. That was a major factor in buying it, that I would do all the recommended maintenance, at a local specialty shop. It's just part of the pain of the ultimate driving machine (to me). Also, I only put on like >5k miles a year so it doesn't take much.
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Oct 31, 2023 13:28
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:None of that was done at the dealer. I take it to my local Euro specialty shop. There's usually a collection of exotics there. I figure if it's good enough for the only Aston Martin I've seen in my city, it's good enough for me. I have no doubt they are a little on the pricey side but I've found them to be very honest on what does and doesn't need to be done. For reference I am indeed getting coil packs and plugs done on my e92. They cost $200 at FCP Euro. I expect my mechanic will charge $100 for replacing them. That leaves me $900 to spend on sushi, hookers, and blow, instead of going to your specialty shop so I can tell my friends I go to the garage where overrich dipshits take their Aston Martin SUV after hitting the links.
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Oct 31, 2023 14:11
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that seems absurdly low to me, especially on the E46 where you have to take off the strut tower brace, cowl and CAF.
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Oct 31, 2023 14:14
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I'll be happy to dissect the invoice when I am home this weekend (travelling for business currently). I mentioned the Aston only as "this place works on European luxury cars" not it caters to rich people flex, but I can certainly see how it was taken that way. A few years and cars ago, they talked me out of a ~$4000 repair and told me I should really just sell the car. I've trusted them since then. They are one of two shops in my small rust-belt city that is popular with the enthusiast crowd.
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Oct 31, 2023 15:53
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I mean, a shop can be trustworthy while still also having a high labor rate / potentially marking up parts.
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Oct 31, 2023 16:06
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Fair point.
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Oct 31, 2023 16:07
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Sab669 posted:I mean, a shop can be trustworthy while still also having a high labor rate / potentially marking up parts.
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Oct 31, 2023 17:10
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Are there any autoshops that have a pay scale though? I would assume my local "European Only" specialist charges the same labor regardless of whether I showed up my E91 or my imaginary 997.2 
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Oct 31, 2023 17:39
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the pay scale is basically determined by your decision to take the car to one shop or another.
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Oct 31, 2023 18:50
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I keep a spreadsheet of costs on my 2002 M3 and since I've owned (2017) I've spent $9356 on parts/service. I try to do as much of my own service as I can but some big ticket items I take to a nearby BMW only indie shop that I really like. Some of that cost was just 1 time big ticket items (sub-frame reinforcement, replacing all 4 wheels when I discovered the CSLs I had were some no name knock offs).
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Oct 31, 2023 20:00
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How bad of an idea is it to working in the street when you have street parking? I mean technically I have a driveway, but it's at an angle. I really should start to learn to DIY, I'm around $6K on my E91 that I bought last December 😥 edit; 
Sab669 fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Oct 31, 2023 |
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Oct 31, 2023 20:04
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I’m at around $8k in maintenance(includes tires) on my f80 in just under 4.5 years. I’ve done a lot of things myself that would probably have been at least couple grand in labor on top of that.
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Oct 31, 2023 21:34
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:Paying dealer prices at a specialty shop because they also work on exotics a) hardly qualifies as honesty and b) is tantamount to just going to a dealer. Idk why you are paying multiple times what it would cost for a small local garage to do what is a very simple job on your smelly old BMW. That will be impressive if you manage the job for $300! Since it's a 2.5 hour job, does your mechanic charge $25/hr labor? 
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Nov 1, 2023 01:37
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Genuine BMW coil packs are like 3 times as much as any other brand. At least for the S54.
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Nov 1, 2023 02:44
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There is no reason to not just buy the Bosch version of pretty much anything electrical on a BMW.
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Nov 1, 2023 02:54
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Ether Frenzy posted:That will be impressive if you manage the job for $300! Since it's a 2.5 hour job, does your mechanic charge $25/hr labor? N52 for him not S65. Bosch or Delphi sets of 6 coils are about $135. Labor for $100 seems pretty low but the only real annoying part is removing the cowling stuff
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Nov 1, 2023 02:55
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TheBacon posted:N52 for him not S65. Bosch or Delphi sets of 6 coils are about $135. Labor for $100 seems pretty low but the only real annoying part is removing the cowling stuff Yeah, my point is everyone's parts may cost a different amount than the ones you're imagining being cheaper than a price stated. And taking apart the entire cowling/intake/bracing/etc. crap takes time, no matter if it's hard or not, mechanics bill based on how long it takes.
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Nov 1, 2023 03:19
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Do you replace the coils when doing the spark plugs? I plan on replacing my plugs this winter since its been 70k miles since they were last replaced.
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Nov 1, 2023 08:16
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