"Help your neighbor" Day...

[billb]

So last Saturday, my next-door neighbor (who drives a Boxster, and his wife drives a 2001 325i) sees a light on the dash of the 325. Knowing I'm a bimmernut, he calls me over. We determine it is the brake wear indicator light, and that we need to look it over soon. Monday, his wife tells my wife she'd like me to take a look. Monday night I got sick, fought a fever all Tuesday and into Wednesday. Yesterday afternoon, I felt well enough to venture out. In the interim, on my sick day, I did a little pricing.

BMA: about $190 plus shipping
Bavauto: about the same, plus shipping? Wow.
BMW dealer: $280 plus tax, plus I had to go get it.

How much did the dealer want for the job? $485. For the front axle.

As the neighbors are traveling out of town this weekend in the bimmer, we FedEx shipped the stuff from BavAuto (sorry Patrick!) in for early am arrival tomorrow, will install everything in the morning, bleed, and bed, and send them on their way, for about $275. Pricy, yes, as my E34 brake job was about $100 less than that if I recall, but still $200 less than the dealer.

Might have turned another bimmer owner into a bimmernut!

I did offer up the E34 in exchange for the Boxster for the weekend, but he didn't quite go for that...

[ScottyWM]

You're too nice Bill...

You know my touring hasn't made that noise we heard since that day a few weeks ago!
Got the gas leak fixed on my E36 - turned out to be the seal for the fuel sending unit.
Down the road nead rear diff seals (leaking), control arms and tie rod ends. Daughter is going to take her driving test tomorrow... man I'm feeling old.

[billb]

1.5 hours from car in to car out. For some reason, the pedal felt funny after bleeding, and we did it again, all four wheels.

New ATE rotors, Pagid pads, and a brake wear sensor (plus shipping) was $275. One can of brake-cleaner, one packet of caliper lube, and they're on their way.

Turning the switch to position 2 for one minute extinguished the brake wear indicator light. Jacking the car up with the engine running, and rotating one wheel makes traction control do weird things; had me stumped for a minute as to why that was setting off.

Now I'm outta here to go tailgate for the Hurricanes home opener!

[billb]

Yesterday I had a friend with a '97 328i down for a lookover. We were going to do filters, plugs, and belts. Ran out of time for an oil change. First off, under the hood was NASTY. Pulled the cam shrouds off, blew out the holes for the plugs, then proceeded to pull out six AUTOLITE PLATINUMS!! Ugh. Back in with the proper NGKs. Pulled out the old air filter, BMW stock, made in 1999, so I'm guessing it hasn't been changed in at least 3-4 years. Then on to the A/C belt, which was making a racket. First, we found the radiator fan shroud, which also holds the coolant expansion tank, was loose and not attached to the radiator on one side. Fixed that, then pulled the old belt off. I've never seen so many cracks in a belt. New one quietened everything right up. Then on to the fuel filter, again with a mfg. date of 1999. Put a new one in no problem (takes a little longer than an E34 or E30 due to the covering on it). Then, for my favorite part, squirting under the hood with some Greased Lightning, then washing it down. His words were "Wow, I didn't know it could look "clean" under the hood".

Mission accomplished. Now, to start working on shortening his oil change intervals to desludge that nasty beast inside...

On another note, the neighbor's 325i has a squeak in the brakes. Guess I've got some warranty work ahead.

[billb]

1.5 hours from car in to car out. For some reason, the pedal felt funny after bleeding, and we did it again, all four wheels.

New ATE rotors, Pagid pads, and a brake wear sensor (plus shipping) was $275. One can of brake-cleaner, one packet of caliper lube, and they're on their way.

Turning the switch to position 2 for one minute extinguished the brake wear indicator light. Jacking the car up with the engine running, and rotating one wheel makes traction control do weird things; had me stumped for a minute as to why that was setting off.

Now I'm outta here to go tailgate for the Hurricanes home opener!

...it was time for some "warranty work" last night. Pulled the wheels, pulled the calipers and pads, added some caliper grease to the pads at contact points, put some disc brake quiet on the backs of the pads, and put it all back together. I've never driven an E46 before until last night. That is one TIGHT little car! It drives very nice, and the brakes are a strong point. Steptronic is a nice touch. I was just tooling around to make sure the brake squeaks were gone for the neighbor, but really enjoyed the 5 miles I put on it!

This afternoon I get to put front brakes on my boss's Ford F150. Fun fun.

[Bill R.]

platinums if you're not going to spend the money on the ngk full size electrode platinums then the second best is probably the autolite platinums.
alot of customers bring them to me for their tuneup and i've actually had pretty good results with them, unlike the bosch platinums...(note, this isn't typically on bmw's though)

Yesterday I had a friend with a '97 328i down for a lookover. We were going to do filters, plugs, and belts. Ran out of time for an oil change. First off, under the hood was NASTY. Pulled the cam shrouds off, blew out the holes for the plugs, then proceeded to pull out six AUTOLITE PLATINUMS!! Ugh. Back in with the proper NGKs. Pulled out the old air filter, BMW stock, made in 1999, so I'm guessing it hasn't been changed in at least 3-4 years. Then on to the A/C belt, which was making a racket. First, we found the radiator fan shroud, which also holds the coolant expansion tank, was loose and not attached to the radiator on one side. Fixed that, then pulled the old belt off. I've never seen so many cracks in a belt. New one quietened everything right up. Then on to the fuel filter, again with a mfg. date of 1999. Put a new one in no problem (takes a little longer than an E34 or E30 due to the covering on it). Then, for my favorite part, squirting under the hood with some Greased Lightning, then washing it down. His words were "Wow, I didn't know it could look "clean" under the hood".

Mission accomplished. Now, to start working on shortening his oil change intervals to desludge that nasty beast inside...

On another note, the neighbor's 325i has a squeak in the brakes. Guess I've got some warranty work ahead.

[billb]

platinums if you're not going to spend the money on the ngk full size electrode platinums then the second best is probably the autolite platinums.
alot of customers bring them to me for their tuneup and i've actually had pretty good results with them, unlike the bosch platinums...(note, this isn't typically on bmw's though)

...and the "customer" has reported better behavior on cold starts, better running, but we just need to isolate his CHECK ENGINE situation, no doubt related to O2 sensors. That's next week.

Thanks for the followup on the Autolites, though! It just shocked me to see them in a German engine.

[Brian C.]

I saw his name mentioned last week on Sportscenter and realized that I can't name 5 players on the Florida Panthers anymore.

Brian C.

[billb]

This afternoon I get to put front brakes on my boss's Ford F150. Fun fun.

They went 80k miles. Didn't have to replace or turn the rotors, they looked good. The wear indicator had just started touching the rotor. New set of Duralast pads from Autozone, lubed up the slides and contact points, and put it all back together. Boss was happy, slid me $40 for my time, and went on his way!