no you don't have to pay department store prices! (archive)

erik - i can totally understand your frustrations - that is quite a bit of money to be paying out. i have lived in apartments for the last 13 yrs - and no i don't own a hammer either (well maybe a rubber mallet). i have simply found other ways of working on my cars. i'm here to tell you that if you want to work on your own car - there are ways out there. i personally think you are quite lucky to live in california - from a bmw standpoint. i would venture to say that there are more bimmers in cali than in any other state in the USA. if you do want to work on your car, start by getting a decent set of metric tools (sears) - this may seem a bit pricey, but not compared to what you've been paying, plus you will have them for life. next get a bentleys e28 repair manual. armed with these 2 things, you next find a friend with a house to work at. the deal i have with a friend to use his garage is - i change his oil. for that i can do just about anything i need to do to my cars. anyway - you get the idea. i just want you to know that yes you can maintain your car at a much lower expense than you are currently paying. as far as the cat goes - i don't know california law, but i did an 88 535i a few years ago and it cost me $700 + an O2 sensor. i know from checking at a couple of sources that a cat can be had for even less now. if you want to do this yourself, go for it. if not, you owe it to yourself to find a good local shop that won't take you to the cleaners. erik - i wish you the best of luck - jeff h (hoping i didn't sound too much like an ass)

I lurked awhile here on the Forum before jumping in and purchasing an '86 535i (I wanted a 535is, but couldn't find a decent one).

You guys all seem to love these cars, and after driving one, I found I liked the model as well and thought that one would last a long time and be fun to drive.

I had heard stories about rip-off repairs, but I needed new shocks and springs for my car because there was a banging in the left front corner on parking lot speed bumps only a week after buying it, so felt that the dealer would be more honest than unknown independent shops.

I ended up paying over $2200 for shocks and springs plus almost $1000 for front brakes (I needed pads and calipers, but the dealer wouldn't do the job without new calipers since my car had over 100,000 miles on it and I couldn';t prove the calipers had been previously replaced).

I only paid $4500 for the whole car, and now I have almost $9000 (including tax and license) in it and they told me that I need new front end parts ($2500 or so)to make the car "right."

Add to that the fact that I failed CA emmissions and they want $1700 plus an additional $300 to install a new catalytic converter. The local muffler shop won't touch the car since their cats are not CARB certified for BMWs unless they get a cat from the dealer, so it's the same price either way.

Short of actually doing the work myself (I live in an apartment don't even own a hammer), how can I ever afford to own this car? I like driving it, but they just didn't build them like I thought they did! Do you guys have a list of shops that can fix my car somewhere? I live near Redding, CA. and cannot justify owning a $14,000 car of 1986 vintage regardless of how much I like it.

Erik

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