Xoutpost.com - My kingdom for a decent indie.

About a year and a half ago I took the X5 to a recommended indie for suspension bits. He replaced the control arms and tie rods, and rotors and pads. That temporarily solved my front end wobbles. Temporarily. A few months later they were back. I took it back to him and he replaced the controls arms again and returned the ones he had installed, all under the parts warranty. Again, I was good to go for a few months. When the wobble returned, I took it to my BMW dealer. They told me the indie had used third-party parts that weren't quite right. They tightened stuff and performed an alignment and all was well for a few months. It was summer, so I was driving the Z4 daily. That was last year.

Over this past winter, the X5 saw more use and developed clunking issues. I took it to a new indie and he said the control arm bushings were really loose and he tightened them. He also mounted and "balanced" my summer tires. The clunking went away, but the X5 would only go straight with the steering wheel about 2 degrees to the right. Plus there was a bad wobble at 55-65. I said screw it and brought it back to my dealer. They showed me where one wheel had no weights at all and said it was 160 grams out of balance. They balanced the tire and performed yet another alignment. Now the X5 is tracking straight and smooth.

I'm regretting ever going to the indie in the first place. The 3rd party parts haven't failed, per se, but they seem to be a source of constant problems. Now that it's summer, the X5 won't see daily driver duties until late fall, so we'll see what happens next winter.

I usually go through cars about every 18 months to 2 years, but this X5 has really grown on me. I hate the thought of getting rid of it, even for a newer one. I just hope the front end issues are solved for good.

Sorry for the long rant. Just venting.