Big BMW Bill! Advice guys?

[sunnydays]

Hi All,
My 35is has just been in for a service and the battery recall and a few other bits. How ever BMW have spotted some other areas that need attention.

Price break down
Service - £276 - Fine
Recall - Free - Fine
Window adjustment - £297
Door Pin - £60.24 - Fine
Front Shock Absorber - £825 (weak not leaking)
2 Rear Cracked Alloys - £1300

Total: £2758

I have only had the service, recall and window adjustment at this point

Service price I am fine with along with Window adjustment (all though I am skeptical that a window can be so far mis aligned that its 1inch out with a massive gap just from an alignment issue). Door pin is also fine.

Shock Absorber: firstly I fitted Eibach lowering springs 7 days ago, so the rep said my warranty for suspension is void. Despite a conversation 1 week pre fitting stating that warranty would not be voided, they would have to link the failure to the modification to quote the bmw rep. What is the stance on this as I have now been told 2 different things. If I do not have a hope of going through warranty how much should I expect to pay at non main dealer?

What are my options with the alloys. Could these be welded and refurbed? Would hate to buy more for this to happen again.

Appreciate all the help and advice guys.
Thanks!

[Chris_D]

ur throwing money away if going via bmw for most of those items imo! esp the alloys! a decent indy will charge u half for the same work and u wont be ableto tell difference.
if u have previous advice re warranty void/non-void issue in writing or email then u have solid case for misinformation. otherwise they will just deny it and u wont have a leg to stand on sadly.
good luck.

[swilsco]

If the alloy cracks can easily be welded, you are looking at maybe £25 per crack ... £1300 is really high, is that them suggesting two brand new alloys? At £1300 you could replace the whole set with aftermarket alloys. Window adjustment at £297 is also really high but this is probably just due to BMW hourly rate stinging you. Front shock absorber £825 Excessive! ECP shock absorber looks like £150 ... you will get be able to get better prices at your local indy.

[Busterboo]

Price breakdown
Service - £276 - Fine - Good.
Recall - Free - Fine - Good.
Window adjustment - £297 - Go to indy.
Door Pin - £60.24 - Fine Good
Front Shock Absorber - £825 (weak not leaking) Go to indy now and never mess with suspension again.
2 Rear Cracked Alloys - £1300 Bite the bullet. 18" wheels and decent tyres all round.

[SonnyA85]

get yourself a set of second hand alloys for £500-£600 off the forum classifieds. keep one of the fronts as a spare in case of emergency. sell the other if you can otherwise scrap metal.

[Busterboo]

... scrap metal.

An accurate definition of cracked 19" alloys.

[R.E92]

I had the same issue with Eibach springs. I asked the dealership and they stated it wouldn't void warranty on shocks so I went and purchased a set of new springs. I phoned BMW warranty directly and they then informed me it would invalidate the warranty so I had to take a small hit and sell them on.

A couple of months later I had a weeping shock replaced under warranty so I saved myself a £400 bill.

[Smartbear]

... scrap metal.

An accurate definition of cracked 19" alloys.

That's an ignorant comment Tim, more than likely to be an easy & cheap welded repair and changing to non runflats would see it unlikely to reoccur
Rob

[ibroker]

I have a set of 326 alloys taken from my 35is with tyres if your interested. £750.

[Busterboo]

... scrap metal.

An accurate definition of cracked 19" alloys.

That's an ignorant comment Tim, more than likely to be an easy & cheap welded repair and changing to non runflats would see it unlikely to reoccur
Rob

For your sake, Rob, I hope you're right.

But it's not a choice I'd make, nor advice I'd give. Cracked wheels are not MoT fails because inspectors don't like welders.

[philip27]

If you have the adaptive suspension the price seems about correct for a front shock absorber I am afraid.

[csquire4]

19" alloys combined with sport suspension, runflat tyres and pot-holed UK roads is not a good combination hence the large number of people complaining about cracked BMW alloys.

Lots of other manufacturers have cars with 19" alloys and sport suspension but very few use runflats so my theory is that the addition of runflat tyres is literally the straw that breaks the camels back and adds to the stiffness to the point that the wheels can't cope and will eventually crack if you hit a few pot holes.

In summary - dump the runflats !! It's a not a guarantee you won't get a cracked alloy but it will reduce the odds. You will also have cheaper tyres, better ride and better feel.

All the other work is straightforward for a competent mechanic so I'd be finding a good indy/specialist. Where are you based, someone might have a recommendation.

[sunnydays]

Thanks for the advice everyone much appreciated.

So i went to the BMW garage and got a further breakdown of the jobs.

Window - £297 all labour going to have this done at an indy
Door Pin, 50p parts. £60 labour, indy again

He stated the front shock is "worn" but not unsafe or below a set threshold. Simply that it gave alittle more bounce than the other corners. So going to have this looked at by an indy specialist to further assess

Alloys - Welding and a new set of non runflats is my preference but need a specialist in this area to reccomend the options.

Location is Leeds West Yorkshire if anyone has any reccomendations

Thank you everyone will update

[Busterboo]

You're going to run a 335bhp rear-wheel-drive car on cracked-&-welded rear wheels?

Make sure you tell your insurer.

[Wrs]

You're going to run a 335bhp rear-wheel-drive car on cracked-&-welded rear wheels?

Make sure you tell your insurer.

340bhp