BMW and M Power Owners

Kingy said:
lol?

£100 to fit two wheels? No chance I'd roll over on that, the dealer is chancing his luck
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I too have had my rear alloy authorised for replacement FOC today - obviously very happy until i find out the dealer wants £67 to fit a tyre to the alloy. I know i should be happy i have the alloy replaced FOC, but after paying £36 for a run out test, and then £67 to fit a tyre - i just find it all exasperating.

£67 to fit ONE tyre that will take all of 15 minutes - where the hell do they get their prices from? Do they just pluck numbers out of thin air?! BMW UK said they'll pay the dealer for the alloy and I told BMW UK i'd happily take the alloy from the dealer and organise the fitting of the tyre myself - they said i'd have to ask the dealer if this is ok - i'm guessing it won't be as the dealer want me to pay £67 to fit a tyre. It's almost like they give you something with one hand, and take it away with another.
 
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Kingy said:
lol?

£100 to fit two wheels? No chance I'd roll over on that, the dealer is chancing his luck
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BMW have replaced nearly £1000 of wheels under goodwill, I thought I'd show a bit of goodwill in return tbh.

Sometimes it's just best to quit while your ahead ;)

I did ask if I could just have the wheels and fit them myself but they declined, I just couldn't be bothered to argue about it
 
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I got the price wrong.

They wanted to charge £73 to fit the tyre. £73. That means nearly £300 for a set of four tyres. She said they normally charge 30-40 minutes labour PER WHEEL, even for non runflats. She then reduced it to £48.95 as she put it down 20 minutes labour. When i told her i had, not 1 week ago had 4 tyres fitted for £50, and told her it was crazy to spend almost £50 for one tyre to be fitted, she had a word with her manager and got that put down to £36 inc VAT.

I said £36 inc VAT would be acceptable, so i'm getting it fitted on Monday.
 
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HEADRAT said:
BMW have replaced nearly £1000 of wheels under goodwill, I thought I'd show a bit of goodwill in return tbh.
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£1000 retail. It costs them no where near as much to manufacturer. And they give out this goodwill to stop themselves being taken to court, to stop people complaining to higher powers (government departments) and to protect their brand image. I don't mind paying money for something in return - ie. i'm happy to pay a bit more to have my car serviced at BMW, but when they have adverts that say "Think we're expensive? Think again." then tell you they want £73 to fit a tyre, it does become quite grating.

HEADRAT said:
Sometimes it's just best to quit while your ahead ;)
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When it comes to BMW, you're never ahead, but you can just ensure that you're not quite as behind as you may have been.

HEADRAT said:
I did ask if I could just have the wheels and fit them myself but they declined, I just couldn't be bothered to argue about it
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I too asked this. They declined. I wonder why... (HINT: It's so they could charge you £100 to fit two tyres that will take no more than 30 minutes for both)
 
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E46 Alignment

Hi all,

I've taken my 3 series in to two garages now to get the tracking done, the first one said they couldn't do it as the suspension was too low:confused:, fair enough, old machine or something. So I take it to another garage, I've been back to the second place twice now, the first time the steering wheel was a bit to the left, and now it's a bit to the right.

So I phoned up the dealer, and they say they only do a full 4 wheel alignment using a hunter machine, but it's £160?!

Am I just having bad luck with garages, or is there something special about the E46 suspension that requires a full alignment as opposed to a £15 alignment?

Slightly annoying.
 
£160 is steep, but yes you will need to get a full alignment, and only certain places can do this. Look on alignmycar.co.uk for your nearest place that can carry this out.

A £15 alignment is a waste of money - this is meant for Ford Fiesta's and stuff.

Not sure what a p bush is, but the weak bushes on the E46 are the Front Control Arm Bushes (FCAB) or Rear Trailing Arm Bushes (RTAB) - ask if that's what they mean. The Anti Rollbar Bushes (ARB) do weaken over time too, but this is just because the rubber loses is elasticity and become brittle.
 
Cheers for that, I was one of the front bushes he pointed to, they both been changed reasonably recently, although for some reason one is more recent than the other. :o

I can't find a local place on that website, I guess I'll just find someone who has one of those hunter machines and some decent reviews.

What's a good price for a full alignment? All I wanted was a straight steering wheel and the tyres not to be scrubbing themselves to bits. Sigh.
 
there are probably a selection of worn bushes under the car which effect the alignment.

there should be three variables that can be adjustst. rear toe and camber and front toe.

to get those set on my E36 it cost £110 at Elite in Rainham. sadly its completely pie in the sky whether a place can do the job properly, you have to rely on reputation to an extent, but in my experience Elite are brilliant
 
I'll have a local search, I guess it'd be worth doing, but hopefully it's not something that needs adjusting too often...

There's only one bush left that I was advised of by BMW when it went in for its Inpsection 2, but the local garage said that it was hardly worn, so I left it for now, I'll get the pair changed at some point in the near future. No other bushes are particularly worn, so I guess I'll do them as I go along. Changing the ARB drops and bushes made a massive difference to cornering, it feels much tighter and doesn't roll/dive on corners with dips in them, I'd love to do a full refresh but can't really afford to do the lot in one go. :(

Is the front toe adjusted via the trackrod ends? I suppose the best course of action is to ensure all worn bushes are changed and then take it in for full alignment, it'll be a waste of money and time otherwise.
 
with the front, the geometry will be determined by the condition of the top mounts, ball joints and lollypop bush. it is adjusted with the track rods, which themselves can wear.

so if a combination of those arnt right then the alignment wont be "right"

when i rebuilt mine i didnt touch the front drop links but theyre different on the M3 so i dont think it would make a huge different to me.

its all good fun though. even if you dont replace the whole lot youll have that nagging voice in your head wondering if xyz component could have done with being changed.
 
HEADRAT said:
Going to replace my Bridgestone Potenza Run Flats

225/35/r19 88Y (FRONT)
255/30/r19 91Y (REAR)

with:-

Contisport Contact 5

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m55b1700s...rtcontact_5P_-_R19_inch_-_225_35_19_225_35R19
http://www.camskill.co.uk/m55b1700s...rtcontact_5P_-_R19_inch_-_255_30_19_255_30R19

I'm super paranoid that I'm going to order than wrong thing so can somebody just confirm they are right?

HEADRAT
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If you're prepared to look at something different and are prepared to upsize to 235 and 265's, Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta will be a fair bit cheaper and they work very well on BMW's IMO.

In fact, a lot of good tyres will be cheaper if you upsize. Speedo will be out but only by a very small %'age.

Just a suggestion to consider.
 
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