Shake & Brakes

[jmpower]

Interesting to read of people experience re working on cars your self or paying others. A good DIY person can often do a better job than a professional in any hands on job because they will go the extra mile. A professional knows what they can get away with. A poor DIY person is a disaster when they do not recognise the extent of their abilities. From cars to building there are many DIY people that can match professionals.

With regard to the four piston calipers I would not pay a garage to do the job. I have done calipers before and the easiest and least costly way is to put in new seals. The best way which I do now is to put the caliper in a solution like Deox C which is a rust remover. An optional light sandblast with a fine glass bead and then replating new pistons and seals and you have a caliper that is returned to original spec. All of this can be done by specialist companies or it can be done at home.
From the quote it will be interesting to see what they do.
From my experience with the four piston calipers they are very good but as there are four separate pistons if one does not retract it can lead to an imbalance. I have taken a few apart and found partially seized,seized and working pistons. If your problem is not sorted then the control arms front and rear with ball joints should be checked for excessive movement.
RSheiman, Blood on your car= normal. Australian welding= burns everywhere. Hammers= sore thumb/finger, screw drivers = pierced skin and worst of all working under a car using only a trolley jack relying on mass produced seals= possible serious injury /death.

[bobby2putt]

Ill do the easy stuff like oil changes etc. I would love to wrench on my cars more but didn’t want to tackle those brakes. I finally got a call this afternoon that the car is done. Couldn’t pick it up and will get it on Wednesday (storm coming tomorrow). I’ll post a picture of the final damage. Think it’ll be around $3k. Then I’ll take pictures of the brakes and other things that were done.

[bobby2putt]

Well I got my car back finally yesterday. Overall not the happiest camper....the bill was little over $3k and still have some shakin goin on. I’ll take the wheels off this weekend to take some pics of the redone brakes. They do feel a ton better than before. The car has been gone for over 2 months and of course sat outside during the day when they weren’t working on it. What I didn’t think about is that it’s been really hot and warped the dashboard more. So that kinda pissed me off. Then of course they left me with no gas when I picked it up! Obviously not going back to Bimmerworks in West Chester Pa. I attached pictures of the final bill...

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[jmpower]

That is a lot of money to not fix the problem. The part about the wheel nuts and spacer is interesting and the first place that should have been looked at with regard to a wheel shimmy. Is the centre bore of the wheel correct for the car? Did they check the run out on the front discs? Did they test drive the car to see if the problem was fixed? Did they check the ball joints and bushes of the suspension/steering? Chasing down the shimmy can be expensive but the most likely and cheapest things should be done first.

[carsnplanes]

+1 Agreed. That's a lot of money for what I consider routine maintenance items. If the $3000 were used for the troubleshooting and resolution of the shimmy, that would be a different story, but to not even address it, burns me up, and is typical of a service center, even with a catchy name as BimmerWorks.

[bobby2putt]

It does piss me off some as well. Car was there way too long and barely heard from them the entire time. They did test drive the car but doubt they cared to look into the shimmy any further. Guess I’ll need someone else to check out the ball joints etc.
will try and take some pictures this weekend.

[carsnplanes]

It does piss me off some as well. Car was there way too long and barely heard from them the entire time. They did test drive the car but doubt they cared to look into the shimmy any further. Guess I’ll need someone else to check out the ball joints etc.
will try and take some pictures this weekend.

Have you tried swapping wheel positions, say, front to back, back to front, or tried a completely different set of wheels just for troubleshooting? Could be something right under you nose.

[jmpower]

The wheels are the first place to start. If as carsnplanes has suggested. If you could swap the wheels with those of another car that does not have the problem then you can start from a fixed point. If the shimmy goes away the problem is your wheels/tires. Simple fix.
If the shimmy is the same then you know the issue is in your suspension/steering.
The reason they did not do anything is because the fix can be difficult to identify. The wheel is connected through the front control arm and the rear control arm and at the top by the top suspension strut.
Any play at these points can cause the shimmy. The steering linkage is also connected to the wheel by a lot of links and joints up to the steering wheel. Any one of multiple points in the system can cause the problem.

So to fix it best to start with the cheapest and easiest things first to establish a start point. So starting with wheels/tires that are from a car with no shimmy is the best path. Then there is no confusion.
Here is a BMW document on the issue. Read it and see why I suggest a know set of wheels/tires

[bobby2putt]

The owner of Bimerworks has texted me a few times and I told him how I was disappointed with the high cost and didn’t fix the shimmy. He thinks it could be the wheels and spacers. I have E38 wheels on it with 5mm spacers in the front. I did have the wheels rotated and it did help but still slight shimmy. Think I should try another set of wheel but which ones would be the best fit and not need spacers? -Bob

[Bert Poliakoff]

If you are not using hubcentric rings on the hubs that is probably your problem. I see no mention of them unless they are integral with your wheel spacers. If they are not you have to have them in conjunction with the wheels you are using to center them on the hub

[jmpower]

The centre bore of the e38 wheels is the same as the e24 if they are genuine BMW wheels. The e39 is the problem child with wheels. After market may be a larger bore and need the hub centre rings. The best way to eliminate the wheels as the problem is as I said to change them for wheels from a car without the problem, maybe some one local can help.
The diagnostic abilities of this garage are unreal, " I think the wheels and spacers are the problem" but first I will relieve you of a large sum of cash.

I have used 5mm spacers on the front wheels without problems so have other people. Larger spacers can put extra load on wheel bearings but 5mm is not a large spacer.

When diagnosing a problem you start with the simple first but when it comes to cars the rules do not seem to apply. The garage has done well from you so they have a responsibility to you the customer. Think of any other item you own. If you brought it to be fixed and they charged you a large amount and did not fix the problem. I know I would not let it go, but then I expect that if you are paid to do a job then you do it.