WWUD?
 

I am reaching 50K miles soon. I take my car to an Indy shop, they do great work. (200hr) so they better! They recommened that I have a 50K miles service done on the car.

It was explained to me that it takes 2-3 days, they would replace all filters, spark plugs, etc that the BMW dealership would do. However, they would also clean the entire engine of buildup with a certian solution that the owner has developed. (I know this sounds crazy) He is a engineer who worked for Mercedes/BMW for 40 years and developed this to deal with the carbon buildup that occurs in certian models (can't remember the entire story).

They also said if I didn't need to replace the gaskets it would cost me $3200.00. (:loco:) their pitch was that if I planned on driving the car past 70K miles (and I do) that this service was a must. Also, that I would be able to feel a difference in my car.

I like the owner. He is a good guy and has always been honest and friendly with me. I plan on doing some Dinan work with my car through him, but he thinks the service is more important. I'm going to leave the website for reference, not to bash! http://www.performingimports.com/

Any thoughts?

Wow, that is a big expense every 50K miles.

Seeing you are in the ATL area, if you would like a second opinion give Alan a call over at www.germancarrepair.com. I have been taking mine to them over the past year and have been very happy with their work. Just had them do a tranny rebuild. I have a 136K miles on my X and he has never mentioned anything about a carbon build-up issue. He has told me though if you plan on keeping the X you should do the oil every 5K miles instead of the recommended 15K.

Gotta agree with X5Dawg. That is a ton of money! A service II that is typically done at 60k should not run over $1,000. I would not take my vehicle to that Indy shop ever again if I were you. Also, this service should not take anywhere close to 2-3 days. It should take one day tops. Don't let him put his home remedy fuel cleaner into your car as carbon build-up should not be an issue especially if you are using Top Tier gas with good detergents such as Chevron, Texaco, Shell, etc.

I have no doubt the owner is friendly to you, you are making his house payments! You need to find a different place to service your car, your getting ripped off. As far as replacing the gaskets for $3200, you will feel the difference, your wallet will be much lighter.:rofl: Welcome to this web site, you can learn a lot about what your car really needs.

HAHAHAH, you guys are great. Thanks for the feedback. I just had my oil changed for the low price of...158.99!!! I am going to try both references that were posted. Looks like the $30 to join this forum will be money well spent!

KingCon, tooooooo expensive for an oil change. But what I do agree is his maintainance pics of the 740 engine with 78k miles on it. This is the pic I've been looking for. This is reason I change my oil every 4k to 5k. Whoever thinks changing your oils at 12k or more is ok, think again. Take a look at the pics in the maintainance section of this guy's website. But I agree with every one else, way to expensive and too long.

The photo's of the gunked up engine on the website are pure scare tactic. Those photos are not a typical engine at any mileage. A normal service interval and synthetic oil is adequate for long engine life. I personally have driven BMW's to 250K miles without any problems or excessive oil consumption and there are many engines around over 300K running well with normal synthetic oil maintenence.

^^^ well said!No need to hire a rocket scientist to work on your BMWs.

For the norm, you are probably correct. However, even my mechanic has told me stories about opening up an engine that was supposedly maintained per mfg. recommendations and he said the buildup inside was shaped just like the valve covers when they removed them. He also has a coffee cup on his counter full of the gunk they pulled out of an engine that will not even pour out of the cup.

Again, he just recommends you do your oil changes more frequently just to be safe.

I agree. I change on average every 4k miles. What on average do you pay for an oil change? I think $158 is way too expensive.

I had Global Imports do an in-between oil and filter change change on my 02 4.4 today while it was in for a new expansion tank and they charged $115. That was over $40 dollars cheaper at the stealer than where you go! I wouldn't typically have the oil changed at the stealer, but the X is still under an extended warranty and I don't want anyone to have an excuse to not cover a failure if I can't prove oil changes. Trust me, forget the phone number to that Indy shop like yesterday.

By the way, he wants to change your plugs at 50k? I am not positive, but my service advisor told me that was a 100k thing. I guess doing it early can't hurt...well it can hurt your wallet.

Why can't you people change you own oil???? Why would anyone pay so much money for somebody else to do that???
You can change your own oil for $30 using Mobil 1 and a new filter. If you want to throw away money like that change it yourself and donate the other $128 to charity.
Wow! :loco:

I personally agree with you, but some people simply don't want to do it, some don't mind spending the money on it and others simply do not know how. I only do it to to prevent any warranty issues. I change the oil in my other BMW and when the warranty on the X runs out I will be doing it myself.

:iagree:

I just did my oil change myself on my 3.0...8quarts of Castrol Syntec and Filter from Stealer...total $48....and its so easy to do!

Hell why don't people start farming and growing their own food!?! Why would anyone pay for a burger? When all you have to do is feed a cow, get it fat, kill it and grill it!

Honestly, I'm sure we could go back and forth on many things we could save money on by doing it ourselves. In the end, it's probably not that I don't have the time to do it myself. I would just rather spend it doing other things.

That will be the last time I take my car to that shop. I will use the helpful feedback from this thread and find a reasonable shop to give my money to.

:thumbup:

i wont comment on the owner who has a tripple chin on their website :)

The price quote and work involved is a bit vague and over the top. will replace all filters raises the B.S. flags for me personally.

I buy the oil at BMW and pay my mechanic $65 to change the oil/filter/check tire pressure and check/top up my other fluids if needed. all done in 1.5 hours or less. if anything else needs to be done, we talk before going ahead. i think its just more sensible and practical to do so.

KingCon knows what he has to do. But I have to say. My dealer only charges me 80 bucks for an oil/filter change and a lube job. They do some greasing of the locks and some other stuff. Just wanted to throw that in there.

yeah, and i thought $80 oil change with bmw loaner car was expensive at checkered flag va beach.

Glad I could prove othewise:banghead:

Sounds like the price range for an oil change is larger than I thought. I guess it is all about location, location, location. I live in the same metro area as KingCon so I am more surprised that this Indy shop is charging nearly $45 more than a well known stealer only a few miles away.