When will you sell your X5?

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

Well, for one, my E30 M3 cost me (up front) $3,500. I think you can make a guess as to why I bought so many E30 M3 parts. That's where the pallet loads came in.

As for the rest, well, you can see how many cars we have in the signature. Maintenance, engine swaps, etc. I have the bad habit of deciding "this would be better with that engine" a little too much.

To conclude BMW parts quality has declined with any certainty it would be necessary to do a sampling of some number of parts based on the total worldwide sales of that part.

As an example if BMW sells 100,000 of a part, the sampling generally would be 10% or 10,000 of that one part. The percentage can vary based on the reason(s) for the sampling. So if BMW sells 100,000 of the gasket you mentioned, your purchases would need to be 10,000. The gasket would have to be installed and fail. And confirmed that a comparable gasket didn't fail using the same criteria. The number of failures acceptable out of the 10,000 would be a quality control decision. Using 1% that would be 100 documented failures of the gasket you rejected and less than 100 of the gasket you did use.

[Mr.Couch]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

To conclude BMW parts quality has declined with any certainty it would be necessary to do a sampling of some number of parts based on the total worldwide sales of that part.

As an example if BMW sells 100,000 of a part, the sampling generally would be 10% or 10,000 of that one part. The percentage can vary based on the reason(s) for the sampling. So if BMW sells 100,000 of the gasket you mentioned, your purchases would need to be 10,000. The gasket would have to be installed and fail. And confirmed that a comparable gasket didn't fail using the same criteria. The number of failures acceptable out of the 10,000 would be a quality control decision. Using 1% that would be 100 documented failures of the gasket you rejected and less than 100 of the gasket you did use.

While we don't do 100,000 of a specific part per year, I can say that our amount of warranty repairs due to a part failure under the current BMW parts warranty guidelines is less than 1%.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by Mr.Couch

While we don't do 100,000 of a specific part per year, I can say that our amount of warranty repairs due to a part failure under the current BMW parts warranty guidelines is less than 1%.

That's solid input. I feel certain that BMW uses the latest ISO 9000 standards that would be significantly less percentage of failures allowed.

https://manufacturingdigital.com/ai-...l-intelligence.

[Mr.Couch]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

That's solid input. I feel certain that BMW uses the latest ISO 9000 standards that would be significantly less percentage of failures allowed.

https://manufacturingdigital.com/ai-...l-intelligence.

While I don't personally know their QC standards & guidelines I can also say that there's a high probability that a good amount of warranty replacement parts through BMW OEM is due to improper installation as well such as rolled gaskets, incorrectly torqued hardware etc. I can tell you with certainty that If I send a rolled VCG back for warranty repairs 99/100 they won't say it's because it was installed incorrectly. Better to take the loss and send a new gasket.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by Mr.Couch

While I don't personally know their QC standards & guidelines I can also say that there's a high probability that a good amount of warranty replacement parts through BMW OEM is due to improper installation as well such as rolled gaskets, incorrectly torqued hardware etc. I can tell you with certainty that If I send a rolled VCG back for warranty repairs 99/100 they won't say it's because it was installed incorrectly. Better to take the loss and send a new gasket.

My observation has been that the BIG decline in parts quality has been at BMW Classic. Which is very relevant to the E53 as it's soon to be relegated to the Classic catalog.

[Mr.Couch]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

My observation has been that the BIG decline in parts quality has been at BMW Classic. Which is very relevant to the E53 as it's soon to be relegated to the Classic catalog.

I understand based on your previous post for your E30 m3 that you have ordered plenty of BMW Classic parts. E46 & E39 parts are still being produced & are older than the E53. The classic catalog? Are you talking about this list of parts https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en/...oductions.html

BMW Classic is reproducing specific parts that have become high demand through worldwide ordering requests to my understanding of that system. I'm not sure who makes them vs who makes the non classic branded parts but they do state that they are a reproduction or the original part.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by Mr.Couch

I understand based on your previous post for your E30 m3 that you have ordered plenty of BMW Classic parts. E46 & E39 parts are still being produced & are older than the E53. The classic catalog? Are you talking about this list of parts https://www.bmwgroup-classic.com/en/...oductions.html

BMW Classic is reproducing specific parts that have become high demand through worldwide ordering requests to my understanding of that system. I'm not sure who makes them vs who makes the non classic branded parts but they do state that they are a reproduction or the original part.

If you use the ETK or look at, say, RealOEM, you will see which cars have been moved to the Classic catalog. The E39 has actually been moved to Classic. (RealOEM can be slow to update this, but that will show up.) Weirdly, the E38 doesn't appear to have been moved yet. But I would expect that the E53, E46, and E38 will all moved to the Classic catalog relatively soon.

And what I'm trying to convey is that BMW Classic used to be very different and much better. Somewhere a little over 10 years ago, BMW issued a press release declaring that they would reorient Classic around increased profit vs. preserving heritage, and everything went downhill.

Edit: It used to be called BMW Mobile Tradition. It was the replacement of Mobile Tradition with Classic that marked both a decline in quality and a dramatic increase in prices.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

To conclude BMW parts quality has declined with any certainty it would be necessary to do a sampling of some number of parts based on the total worldwide sales of that part.

As an example if BMW sells 100,000 of a part, the sampling generally would be 10% or 10,000 of that one part. The percentage can vary based on the reason(s) for the sampling. So if BMW sells 100,000 of the gasket you mentioned, your purchases would need to be 10,000. The gasket would have to be installed and fail. And confirmed that a comparable gasket didn't fail using the same criteria. The number of failures acceptable out of the 10,000 would be a quality control decision. Using 1% that would be 100 documented failures of the gasket you rejected and less than 100 of the gasket you did use.

How would you regard BMW completely changing the way that the make a part and substituting one made totally differently and obviously more cheaply?

Edit: For example, they changed the E30 rear console from a laminated soft vinyl adhered to a plastic base to a hard plastic stamped piece that neither matched in color, texture, or sheen to the originals. Or, hell, even to the new center console or new dash available at the same time.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

How would you regard BMW completely changing the way that the make a part and substituting one made totally differently and obviously more cheaply?

Edit: For example, they changed the E30 rear console from a laminated soft vinyl adhered to a plastic base to a hard plastic stamped piece that neither matched in color, texture, or sheen to the originals. Or, hell, even to the new center console or new dash available at the same time.

It really doesn't matter if a part is more cheaply made. What does matter is that the part still meets specifications, performance and quality standards of BMW. I assume you bought one which again does not indicate all of that part sold are the same as the one you purchased. That is your experience and it is worthwhile to hear but should not be used as a generalization of declining quality of BMW parts. This began with your statement that BMW parts in general have declined in quality.