Whats the work worth???
 

Informed by the local indy that I need 4500-5K worth of work consisting of

• Front brake pads/machine rotors
• rear ball joints
• 1 outer CV boot
• 1 window regulator (not broken yet but makes a clicking noise sometimes)
• Alternator O ring seal leaks a bit where the coolant pipe attaches

Seems like a ton of money for this? Any comments on this. I might end up DIYing I'm thinking over a weekend. FYI seems the parts prices (not broken out) are dealer type along with labour. Note I'm in Canada as well.


Thanks

Your indy just hit the lottery. My recommendation is do it yourself and save a ton of money. My 2 cents worth.

:iagree:

I dont even see 1k worth of parts listed there:confused:

Too expensive, even at CDN prices. You can DIY if you like, but the first step might just be to get another estimate, either from the dealer or a different independent shop. That would help validate the need for those items, as well as the prices for each.

Well if I was your Indy I would charge you around $2350.

With parts markup and labor this is a fair quote of $2350. Tell your indy to sharpen his pencil by 50% if you do not want to do the work yourself. Parts shouldn't cost more than $500.00. You can save up to $4500 if you do the work.

:iagree:

I think I Will do the work myself. Brakes, boots and rear control arms. The pricing doesn't seem any different than dealer markups.

Wow i agree...some places are just like...hmmm you have a bmw, oh ok so the rates just went up...i mean brakes are brakes, no? sure the parts might cost more, but does the labour change?...not really....

Hey, also they quoted you to "machine" the rotors?
I was told by a BMW tuner shop that "BMW rotors usually do not have enough material to have them turned. They are performance brakes and made to ventilate rapidly, therefore they are not thick enough to turn down."

Just replace them with new ones.

Just slap new rotors on if they are worn. Don't machine existing ones, though I've done it, as there isn't much metal left and then you run the risk of too thin rotors even though your new pads have plenty of meat left. I did it b/c I do all my own work, have a lift, and my time is free.

Whatever you do, buy the Bentley manual for the X5 first. It is expensive-ish ($>100) but worth it. Look at it this way, you will save way more just on the brake job than the tools and manual cost.

Now, if you have a significant other to do fuzzy logic with, take the estimate in to her, tell her what the parts cost on line (good parts, not ebay knock offs) and then tell her that you need about $2500 in cabinets and tools to pull this off, still saving about $1k. You'll look like a hero and you'll start outfitting your shop with nice quality tools and a tool chest to put them in. Notice I said start as you should be able to run this scam, errrr, use this technique multiple times. Lay in some shop supplies too like gloves, lubricants, rust penetrating oils, grease, lighting, etc.

time to get an honest mechanic, because he ain't.....sheet nooka

I actually have all the tools and a pretty well equipped shop that I work on my motorcycles and kids cars for them. If it was a reasonable and fair estimate I'd forgo the labour myself, but looks like I'm doing this one. I have to say I was really surprised as I have known these guys for a number of years and have had a significant amount of work done there over the years on other cars as well as this X. Just wanted to sanity check it.