Fried_Chicken
02-24-2014, 09:14 PM
A little bit of background:
So about a year ago I hit a pole while driving backwards out of a long street (San Francisco).
The pole impacted my rear wheel with enough force to destroy the alignment on the car (the ESP and DSC both shut themselves off), and bend the wheel itself.
Since then I've had it aligned in a shop, and tried to do an alignment myself. Even still, the alignment is so far off that the car has eaten 2 tires, and the 2 new ones are already pushing the limit.
So I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and have the car properly aligned. I don't have the time or tools to replace the rear trailing arm and do a proper alignment, but I'm still weary about going to a shop to have it fixed (and have my wallet gouged).
I found a shop called "Coast Motor Werk BMW & MINI Cooper Specialists".
I talked to the guy on the phone, he made a good impression, but having never been there, I'm still weary.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/coast-motor-werk-bmw-and-mini-cooper-specialists-irvine#query:bmw%20repair
The price quoted for just an alignment is $200. He says that he aligns the car from the hubs rather than the wheels, and claims this is how BMW does it. Does this bear any truth?
This excludes any parts/labor costs (new trailing arm) that I might accrue, and the repair could take up to 2 alignments to be done right.
Anyway, is there anything in particular I should look out for?
ecstuning (http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330i-M54_3.0L/Search/SiteSearch/Trailing_Arm/ES57754/) lists the part at $580. This repair shop doesn't install customer supplied parts. If they are as good as they say they are, what kind of markup can I expect from them?
I'm sorry if this isn't the appropriate place to ask this, but before I lay down $1.5k I wanted to check with the family first.
So about a year ago I hit a pole while driving backwards out of a long street (San Francisco).
The pole impacted my rear wheel with enough force to destroy the alignment on the car (the ESP and DSC both shut themselves off), and bend the wheel itself.
Since then I've had it aligned in a shop, and tried to do an alignment myself. Even still, the alignment is so far off that the car has eaten 2 tires, and the 2 new ones are already pushing the limit.
So I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and have the car properly aligned. I don't have the time or tools to replace the rear trailing arm and do a proper alignment, but I'm still weary about going to a shop to have it fixed (and have my wallet gouged).
I found a shop called "Coast Motor Werk BMW & MINI Cooper Specialists".
I talked to the guy on the phone, he made a good impression, but having never been there, I'm still weary.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/coast-motor-werk-bmw-and-mini-cooper-specialists-irvine#query:bmw%20repair
The price quoted for just an alignment is $200. He says that he aligns the car from the hubs rather than the wheels, and claims this is how BMW does it. Does this bear any truth?
This excludes any parts/labor costs (new trailing arm) that I might accrue, and the repair could take up to 2 alignments to be done right.
Anyway, is there anything in particular I should look out for?
ecstuning (http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330i-M54_3.0L/Search/SiteSearch/Trailing_Arm/ES57754/) lists the part at $580. This repair shop doesn't install customer supplied parts. If they are as good as they say they are, what kind of markup can I expect from them?
I'm sorry if this isn't the appropriate place to ask this, but before I lay down $1.5k I wanted to check with the family first.