[uucdigest] Friday, August 8 2003 Volume 03 : Number 6645
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Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |__________________________________________________________________ In this BMW UUC Digest: RE: [uuc] Recent dealer experience [uuc] Dealer Experience [uuc] Driving School vs. Racing School - results Re: [uuc] Wheel mount cost RE: [uuc] E30 Bumpers Re: [uuc] Recent dealer experience [uuc] Recent dealer experience RE: [uuc] E30 Bumpers Re: [uuc] Recent dealer experience Re: [uuc] Recent dealer experience ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 19:05:33 -0400 From: "M540" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [uuc] Recent dealer experience Like everyone else, I agree that you paid too much for this experience, but only because a flat-rate shop would have been cheaper. From my experience, however, the dealer probably didn't screw you though. I was a bit shocked myself when I dropped my wife's M3 off an while ago at an independent repair shop to get Tire Rack-ordered Kumho's mounted and was told they charged $29 or $30 a wheel. (I had remembered paying about half that on my last car.) When I picked them up, still grumbling a bit about the cost, the shop owner (very good Mercedes oriented guy) let me know that he'd lost his shirt on the deal. He said that M wheels are very difficult to mount and that "cheap tires" like my Kumhos make it damned near impossible. To his credit they were mounted well and no damage was done to the wheels, but I think he said it took them a couple of hours to get it right. Lesson from this: pay flat rate, not hourly, when mounting tires. Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2003 19:26:44 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [uuc] Dealer Experience Brett, I respectfully disagree! My mechanic has dismounted and remounted 8 tires, swapped tires and rims plus balancing in less than a hour and a half, I watched him do it.........by himself! Yes it scared the S*(&) out me each time the tire popped on the rim, I'm sure you know the sound! I don't understand what you mean about it being a two man job. If that was the case your right there's no way a shop could afford to perform the service reasonably, but it's not. Plus he charged me $80 or about what every mechanic should charge, a very reasonable $40 per hour. It might have been the best balancing job I've ever had to boot. Let's face it poor Richard got shagged! That's highway robbery, pardon the pun. Next time Richard send me your wheels and tires I'll have them done including shipping for less and guarantee them to be right. Brett it's both too high and unfair, Richard said he was new to the area and perhaps this was his first experience w/ this particular dealer...........and should be his last! Evan Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 17:52:03 -0400 From: "KMS - Brett Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [uuc] Recent dealer experience The price is high, but not unfair. What happened was that you allowed them to charge what it was worth for them to do it, not what it was worth to you. Mounting and balancing, especially stock E36 M3 wheels and MRoadster wheels, will NEVER pay what it's worth. It's like wheel alignments, you lose money on every on you do, if you do it correctly. Shops can't charge what it takes, normally. Here, it appears they did, and then, perhaps, some more. Labour is 0.5 higher than what I would have charged, and I'd have lost money on the job. Valve stems at $2.65 each, a little high. Stick on weights, if they're the good quality coated ones, as opposed to the "break off" strips, then they cost the dealership over a buck fifty a piece on average. Even with a Hunter TC3500, these wheels are a two man job, and not even close to easy then, either. The problem is the retention hump on both sides of the wheel, to prevent high cornering forces from peeling the tyres off the beads. Those, combined with super low profile tyres makes for a huge amount of work. I'd say, overall, you paid a little more than you should have. Probably should have been closer to $200. I don't think you got ripped off though, not by a long shot. Brett Anderson KMS >Thought I might share a recent dealer experience with everyone and >hopefully get a response from some of you regarding the cost of work >performed. I went to my local dealer to have four tires mounted and >balanced for my 1995 M3. As I am new to this area and leery of >taking my car into any random tire shop I thought the dealer would >provide me with quality work and attention to detail. I wanted all >weights on the inside of the wheel. I was prepared to pay somewhat >of a premium for them to do the work, but what I paid seems >ridiculously high. So, I purchased four new Yokohamas from Tire >Rack and removed my wheels and existing tires from the car. With >the car sitting on jack stands in my garage for a coolant flush and >minor brake work I dropped of tires and wheels to be mounted and >balanced. Dealer calls, says they're ready. Cost was $231.85! 2.5 >hours labor - $187.50, 4 valve stems - $10.60, stick on weights - >$20.62, plus tax. Dealer says they charge a premium for M! > style wheels!? This sound ridiculous to anyone? Dealer says >normal size (non M) wheels are $69.95 for all four! Thoughts. > >Richard Bennett ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 16:38:53 -0700 From: "Phil Bell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Driving School vs. Racing School - results I received from my wife the birthday present of time at a driving/racing school. I live in San Diego, so I limited my choice to the western states. As it is August, I chose Skip Barber at Laguna Seca vs. Bondurant at Phoenix (126 degrees!) or Derek Daley at Las Vegas (110 degrees!). I asked all of you on the Digest your recommendations. I got a great response, and chose the driving school vs. racing school. I went for 2 days and enjoyed myself. With Skip Barber you drive the Dodge Dakota on the skid pad and use Neons for emergency maneuver training. The autocross is with a Viper ACR. All cars had the ABS turned off. However, I kept looking over to the people in the 3 day racing school doing laps around Laguna Seca, while I'm in the infield on the autocross course or the skidpad. I concluded I should of done the racing school as they teach much the same concepts (physics is physics, right?) and would be doing laps at 110mph (at least on the straights) around Laguna Seca. I do recommend anyone who's serious about autocrossing or just improving their driving skills take the driving course. Phil Bell '02 530i ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 19:48:23 -0400 From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Wheel mount cost RB- I just picked my four 95 M3 wheels up from a local independent after having track tires swapped on. The 235/40-17 tires can be a bear, so I only take them to this shop. Anyhoo, the out-the-door total today was $51.73. Dismount, mount, balance, stems, stick-on weights inside the wheels, etc. Dropped 'em off at 1:30. They called me before 3:00 to tell me they were ready. Mike didn't do them when I dropped them off, cuz he was on lunch. I run those wheels on my 93 325is at driver's schools. My baby's got some new (R-compound) shoes. - -NJ sorry you haven't had a better time of it. look for an independent that handles a variety of high-end and exotic cars. they are usually more savvy with the stiff-sidewall, low-profile tires. get a price up front. ************* > Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 17:05:36 -0400 > From: "Richard Bennett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [uuc] Recent dealer experience > > Thought I might share a recent dealer experience with everyone and > hopefully get a response from some of you regarding the cost of work > performed. I went to my local dealer to have four tires mounted and > balanced for my 1995 M3. As I am new to this area and leery of taking my > car into any random tire shop I thought the dealer would provide me with > quality work and attention to detail. I wanted all weights on the inside > of the wheel. I was prepared to pay somewhat of a premium for them to do > the work, but what I paid seems ridiculously high. So, I purchased four > new Yokohamas from Tire Rack and removed my wheels and existing tires from > the car. With the car sitting on jack stands in my garage for a coolant > flush and minor brake work I dropped of tires and wheels to be mounted and > balanced. Dealer calls, says they're ready. Cost was $231.85! 2.5 hours > labor - $187.50, 4 valve stems - $10.60, stick on weights - $20.62, plus > tax. Dealer says they charge a premium for M! > style wheels!? This sound ridiculous to anyone? Dealer says normal size > (non M) wheels are $69.95 for all four! Thoughts. > > Richard Bennett ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 16:58:32 -0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [uuc] E30 Bumpers Rich, I think he means the 25# on the end of a 5 or 6 foot lever arm. - -Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 17:14:30 -0700 (PDT) From: willie yeo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Recent dealer experience I have had my Hoosier tires flipped inside out and rebalanced. The stiff sidewalls are a bitch to mount the tires. Still the bill comes to roughly $150 for 2 hrs of work. For common jobs like street tires mounting and balancing, it is cheaper to take it to a shop that does it by the flat rate. Will - --- Richard Bennett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thought I might share a recent dealer experience > with everyone and hopefully get a response from some > of you regarding the cost of work performed. I went > to my local dealer to have four tires mounted and > balanced for my 1995 M3. As I am new to this area > and leery of taking my car into any random tire shop > I thought the dealer would provide me with quality > work and attention to detail. I wanted all weights > on the inside of the wheel. I was prepared to pay > somewhat of a premium for them to do the work, but > what I paid seems ridiculously high. So, I > purchased four new Yokohamas from Tire Rack and > removed my wheels and existing tires from the car. > With the car sitting on jack stands in my garage for > a coolant flush and minor brake work I dropped of > tires and wheels to be mounted and balanced. Dealer > calls, says they're ready. Cost was $231.85! 2.5 > hours labor - $187.50, 4 valve stems - $10.60, stick > on weights - $20.62, plus tax. Dealer says they > charge a premium for M! > style wheels!? This sound ridiculous to anyone? > Dealer says normal size (non M) wheels are $69.95 > for all four! Thoughts. > > Richard Bennett > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 20:21:57 -0400 From: "Dorffer, Rich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Recent dealer experience > I'd say, overall, you paid a little more than you should have. Probably > should have been closer to $200. I don't think you got ripped off though, > not by a long shot. Being a cheap ass, I hate paying much for mounting and balancing tires, but I would hate even more if they ruined my wheels doing it. I have to agree with Brett though. If you have ever mounted and balanced 40 profile tires on M3 or M Coupe/Roadster wheels, you would understand...they are a bitch, even with the Hunter TC3500. Tires do not like to come off those rims and they aren't much more fun to put on. I worked with a BMW Master Tech doing mine once and it took us well over an hour working together to do all four. $100 is really a very fair price for doing four M3 wheels properly. $200 is high of course but not a complete "rip off" even though it seems it should be. $200 for any other four wheels on this earth may be a rip off though (cavaet: unless there are other wheels as challenging as M3 or M Coupe/Roadster wheels). Regards, Rich ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 17:25:39 -0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [uuc] E30 Bumpers Hey Neil is back.... of course getting that one photon is another problem in itself. Let's see the zen master accomplish that one. Maybe just the right pressure on a peppermint certs while whistling a golden oldie to gate to photon. - -Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 18:58:47 -0700 From: Rob Ramirez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Recent dealer experience $200 for mounting and balancing tires? And that's OK? Are you mad? I had M3 wheels before and the local Big O mounted and balanced em for $80. Work was perfect, nothing was out of balance and there was absolutely no damage to the wheels. 245/40ZR17s too. Had to leave em the whole day though. But it was just fine. I recently had the same shop mount the 275/35R18s on my Mustang and that went without a hitch too. Wanna know how much it cost? $80. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 21:12:18 -0500 From: "Dave Swingle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Recent dealer experience My local dealer (IL) told me that they would sell me tires for about the same price as Tire Rack (they actually GET THEM from Tire Rack at a discount and mark them back up) and the would mount/balance for free. If I bought them myself and brought them in, they'd charge for the mounting. Dave Swingle 99M3 97 528i > ------------------------------ > > Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 17:05:36 -0400 > From: "Richard Bennett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [uuc] Recent dealer experience > > Thought I might share a recent dealer experience with everyone and hopefully get a response from some of you regarding the cost of work performed. I went to my local dealer to have four tires mounted and balanced for my 1995 M3. As I am new to this area and leery of taking my car into any random tire shop I thought the dealer would provide me with quality work and attention to detail. I wanted all weights on the inside of the wheel. I was prepared to pay somewhat of a premium for them to do the work, but what I paid seems ridiculously high. So, I purchased four new Yokohamas from Tire Rack and removed my wheels and existing tires from the car. With the car sitting on jack stands in my garage for a coolant flush and minor brake work I dropped of tires and wheels to be mounted and balanced. Dealer calls, says they're ready. Cost was $231.85! 2.5 hours labor - $187.50, 4 valve stems - $10.60, stick on weights - $20.62, plus tax. Dealer says they charge a premium for M! > style wheels!? This sound ridiculous to anyone? Dealer says normal size (non M) wheels are $69.95 for all four! Thoughts. > > Richard Bennett > ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #6645 *************************** | | In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. |________________________________________ | Please visit these UUC-approved BMW parts vendors/service providers: | (listed alphabetically) | | Autoscope-Motorsports - http://www.autoscope-motorsports.com | |==================================================== | | Koala MotorSport . 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