I'm looking for a recommendations for a shop that can do a ppi for E46 M3 in the Doral-Miami area. South BMW wants $300, which seems high, but I'm not local to Miami and don't know the area. TIA
Bump. Anyone recommend a shop that can do the rear subframe reinforcement? More concerned about quality and thoroughness than price. Can travel from Jupiter to north Miami. Any recommendations?
Did you try Ultimate Euro in Davie? I think I posted about them earlier in the thread.
The M is in for dreaded Vanos repairs at Cars and Concepts in Tampa and have nothing but good things to say thus far. Thomas one of the owners, German and die hard BMW fan, has a bad ass race preped E30 M3.
They dont have any problems with the customer bringing in their own parts for repair and they are a licensed AA installer.
The guy doing my work is a stand up guy as well and knows what he is doing. They will glady show you around the shop and your car during the repair so you can see first hand the damage and/or what is being done.
Will report back when the work is complete.
Last edited by 04LSBM3; 11-02-2010 at 08:15 PM.
I hear they do decent work but I also hear they are a very expensive shop...
With that said - anyone know of a good reliable shop in Pinellas or Hillsborough counties? St. Pete, Tampa?
I've been using Team Motometrics down in Largo. Rocky is a nice guy but I don't think he's the best troubleshooter. He is a very capable installer...
Last edited by FusionZ06; 12-01-2010 at 05:26 PM.
Dathaeus-
Road & Race Automotive, Peter Shadowen is a great shop. I have been using them for 4 years and have recommended them to many friends --all have been very happy with his work and his honesty. He goes that extra mile to stand behind his work as well. I also live in zip 33418 and his shop is 10 minutes from my home. His phone is 561 845-6640.
Jay
Does anyone have any experience with German Car Repair or Boca Tech Auto Center?
I need a coolant leak fixed and I don't know which one is least bad.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...php?p=21954714
Last edited by rdebay; 05-12-2011 at 11:19 AM.
Thanks! I have a super nice guy at Mathewson Motor Works in Lake Park, very close to me... the problem is I feel like sometimes he tries to save me so much money, he doesnt do the COMPLETE job that needs to be done. For example, I had to deal with my rear bearings like 4 times in the last 4 years before he finally got a new part and put that in and it finally feels right, after also a control arm, tie rod, bushings, and 6 new tires.
I know it is near impossible to check for everything around the wheel when u do a job, I would know since I work on computers and I wouldnt do a full diagnostic on every component for a virus clean job, but still, I feel like he has tunnel vision and fixes only what needs to be done and bam, outta there. His rates are more than reasonable, $85/hr, and he only charged me 2 hours of labor for the bearing job, which is amazing by most people's standards. Anyways, my car is finally in decent shape so I'll play it by ear and see... always a toughie with this stuff.
And seriously, your name is Jay too? Cmon
Last edited by Dathaeus; 05-16-2011 at 02:25 AM.
__________________
2003 ZHP 4dr
165,000 miles
Tires: BBS 17" rims
Front: 225/45ZR
Rear: 255/40ZR-17
Answerway.com
Can we make a second list or add a body shop section?
db
[oo]|[||][||]|[oo]
'95 M3 Cosmos Schwarz Metallic on Dove Grey: AA CAI, AA bump up kit, Euro HFM, JC chip, AA track pipe, AA Gen III exhaust, AA ltw flywheel and clutch package, X brace, front strut brace, Koni SA shocks, H&R sport springs, GC RSMs, 71 deg T-stat, aluminium housing, JT-D underpanel, Hamann black out grill kit, oem euro lights all around, 18" BBS RC 10s, UUC motorwerks pulley kit, 3 spoke steering wheel, silverstar H1s fog light bulbs, ZKWs w/CCFL, Prolumen 4300k HIDs, Powerflex RTAB and LCAB
(<oo\(||][||)/oo>)
'00 M Coupe Oxford Green II Metallic Sunroof Delete on Oregon Beige: (under construction)
Little different question, but I don't want to start a new thread on the subject for the time being. I will be visiting the end of August before my eventual move down there. I am looking for a good shop to work in. Favorite indy shops that people know of that might be looking for someone, or at least to go and talk to, and get steered in the right direction. Been doing highline at an indy for the past few years, before that many years dealing with Honda's including the stealership and factory training.
PM me so we don't clog up this thread.
TIA
John
edit: Ft. Lauderdale area
This will probably get lost in here but I would highly suggest a place called Pierre's in Melbourne, FL. It is a one man show, dude is a master BMW mechanic, been working on only BMWs since 1985, and spent like 20 years of that working for BMW.
Dude seems to know his stuff and won't BS you.
http://www.yellowpages.com/melbourne...lace-464676706
Limitless Motorworks
7705 NW 29ST #104
Doral, FL 33122
305-592-9833
Great shop and centrally located for Broward and Dade county residence. Extremely clean and the owner is very knowledgeable. He will explain to you in detail what needs to be done to your car and more importantly he keeps in contact with you. I hate shops that you call them and they say they will "call you back" and never do. I have been taking my car to Limitless Motorworks since day one and I can honestly say I have never had an issue or something go wrong. His prices are awesome. I will never go to the dealer again. I thought owning a BMW was going to be pricey but David really helps you out!
Davie Motors Automotive
2041 SW 70th AVE
Davie, FL 33317
Fellow BMW Enthusiast,
There is a new shop in South Florida that is offering repair, service and performance upgrades on any type of BMW, new or old. We can install and order any part needed for your BMW. The technicians at Davie Motors Automotive are dealer trained and ASE Certified, we specialize in Volvo service and repair. Davie Motors Automotive has the capabilities to diagnose and correct any problem found on any model BMW. We can also order and install upgrades from any BMW performance manufacturer and are very experienced in doing so. Please feel free to give us a call at (954) 236-5500 or visit our website at http://www.daviemotors.com. We are your one stop shop!
Last edited by daviemotors; 05-07-2012 at 01:05 PM. Reason: add address
Another Happy Road N' Race customer here. Peter Shadowen pulled apart my motor after I overheated and warped the head. He had his machine shop mill the head and he put a Stage 3 kit on my car (Schrick Cams, Intake #24 Injectors).
Custom Vehicle Designs
18271 NE 4th Ct.
North Miami Beach, FL 33162
786-309-2283 - info@customvehicledesigns.com
Specializing in service/repair/performance/customization with an emphasis on BMW's.
We bring true "southern hospitality" to a demanding market in S.Florida. We would love the opportunity to EARN your business!
facebook.com/customvehicledesigns
[QUOTE=hooRAH;9788410]Ft. Lauderdale (Broward County) Shops:
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Shop Name: German Autos
Shop Phone: 954-781-9510
Contact: Peter
Specialty: BMW
Location: 3401 NE 6th Terrace Pompano Beach, FL 33064
Type of Work: Anything BMW
Submitted by Bimmer Freaks:
By far the best mechanic in South Florida. I took my cars to a bunch of other independents and the local dealers and all I can say is Pete is the last true good mechanic who does the work right the first time. He is a certified BMW master tech that worked at Vista and branched off to start his own garage. I've sat with him plenty of times and watched him work under my cars and he does it by the book and his rates are great. I believe in the $70's/hr. I have owned numerous BMW's ranging from an e31 840 to an e30 325is and he has kept them running perfect. My problem is that I can't buy another car besides a BMW now because I don't trust anyone else which isn't a bad thing. I floated all around to other shops and have been a loyal customer of Pete's for the last 5 years. 2 thumbs way up!!!
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Ultimate Euro Repairs
2011 SW 70th Ave. Unit #A1
Davie, FL 33025
Tel. 954-475-0225 , Fax 954-475-0498
Specializing in BMW, Mercedes, VW/Audi, Porsche and other european makes
Submitted by TopShotta02:
They have all the factory tools(GT1, SSS, MB basic2), and mostly do general service and repairs as well as coding and programming, light resets.....
They also dabble a bit in the high-performance game, but they target high end customers who dont mind paying for the meticulous work
Submitted by BigG:
!RECOMMENDED!
Submitted by joako:
Also forgot in Davie there's a place called Ultimate Euro Repairs they are a family business with about 5 service bays. When I was there the owner Raul Bengolea was dealing with the customers and his son was working there They stand by their work I called them one day and the next morning I dropped off my VW to change the camshaft seal on the 1.8t engine... those timing belts are a bitch to do and they had it to me same day mid-afternoon. Normally I do my own work but like I said those belts are a bitch have to remove the wheel, bumper, fuel lines, coolant lines, jack the engine and a few more things. They were able to diagnose the problem another shop told me it was the headgasket. They are mainly BMW/Benz shop if I recall correctly.
Submitted by DocSoc: I just went to Ultimate Euro in Davie Florida and let me tell you that Raul is a really nice old fella! He was polite and despite me walking in on his lunch he sent me away with the confidence that he would call me with the info on the work I wanted without having to wait around. He called me and gave me a fair price for a LOT of work to be done... So I recommend this guy and his family business!!!
He also gave me a number of a good body guy that also respectfully treated me with care and seemed honest about what I needed and price!
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Shop Name: European Transmission Tech
Shop Phone: 305-447-1115
Contact: Felix
Specialty: BMW/Mercedes/Porsche
Location: 3020 SW 38th Ave., Coral Gables FL
Type of Work: He is a transmission specialist. Swaps, rebuilds, etc.
UltimateDrivr's Review:
Its a small shop, with 1 lift. He is a pure transmission guy, he has hundreds of trannys all over the shop. When i got there he was working on a 635csi so he knows about the older ones too.
His prices were reasonable. He did excellent work. I was there for the 2nd have of my transmission swap. He didnt mind i was right under the lift with him. He cleaned all my old parts before reusing them. And just generally swapped it out quickly.
He seems very knowlegable...he was rebuilding a massive Porsche tranny when i got there.
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Shop Name: Redline Motorsports
Website: http://www.redline-racing.com/
Address: 114 N.E. 48th Street,
Pompano Beach, FL 33064
Phone: (954)783-7003
Contact: Rennie Bryant
Belligerent's Review:
I guess has been going through some changes lately , but I havent been there for maybe a year ...
but , when I was there , the mechanics were great , ( some blonde dude Tom, i think) , Rennie was nice .
They did a good job with the minor work. Looks like they really know bmws . they basically work on bimmers all day ...
But, i dont want to bad mouth the whole shop, but i stopped takin my car there after a friend got his car back form them for fender rolling , from the body shop. Well he said he even paid through the redline desk and Rennie saw it and they F*cted his car up. I told him to contact a laywer. it was bad ... So I just couldnt go there again.
SergeK's Review:
Ive taken my car to redline for the past year or so. They are going through some changes. One of which is their labor fee went up from 85 an hour to 98. It is quite significant but the work they do is great. Tim (blonde haired guy mentioned before) is a great mechanic and knows the cars in and out. Rennie is another great dude who really takes the time to sit down with you and talk your project over. For example, im getting ready to swap my transmission... i have a ton of questions and concerns, and i stop by about once a week to plan things out and order parts.
Even when the shop is busy, he'll take the time to help you out.
Egyptntree's Review:
This is an excellent shop. I have taken my car to them numerous times and have even done a clutch and flywheel swap with them. The are great and even let you watch them work on your car. Tim is actually the owner along with Rennie and Tim is always in the back working on the cars.
Submitted by Volan: Rennie, the owner, is a great guy and he seems to have gathered a bunch of good techies. They do have the traditional mechanic approach (way laid back) and the facility is a mess, but they know what they are doing, and they are great guys. They don't mind folks looking at their work and checking things out. They only do BMWs and they know them quite well, no matter year of production. Definitely recommended- just watch out for any laid-back/laziness prone unintentional mistakes...
Scorecard: Attitude:9/10, Service and Competency: 9/10, Prices: 8/10
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Shop Name: The BMW Shop
Website:
Address: ??? NE 1st Ave
Pompano Beach, FL
Phone: ???
Contact: Frank (More info please)
Forwarded from LeDerek:
i went to the "bmw shop" in pompano beach on ne1st ave
i found it on the forums...frank was a great mechanic, and had my car (clutch job, oil change) in and out in less than 2 days
all in all a great experience
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Shop Name: Bowla Motorworks
Website:
Address: I95 and Oakland Park (Maybe some more info please?)
[B]Phone: (954) 484-8747
Contact: Al (More info please)
Submitted by bigjoe87865: great work... small little job but does it right and affordable!...
only complaint I have is , his shop is a bit far from my house... and that its better to call him and make an appoinment since he is a small shop... he might already have cars in there. all in all... great guy... AL is his name
Yes I would most tell anyone in the tri county area to
with out any second thought bring your BMW here, Al
is very honest & will not half ass fix your car.
He's been work on BMW for almost 40 years & doesn't guess,
he knows, prices r more than reasonable.
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Shop Name: Foreign Affairs Motorsports
Website:
Address:
Pompano Beach, FL
Phone:
Contact:
Submitted by Volan: The guy(Bob) didn't even give me a chance to get to the shop- he specifically said no warranty for parts provided by customers and that he very seldom installs something that he doesn't provide. I tried getting more information, but he never replied back. Correspondence was via email regarding suspension component installation. I know he is considered a tuner celebrity in South Fla by Porsche owners, but come on...
Scorecard: Attitude = 0/10, didnt get to test the rest and probably never will
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Shop Name: KAR-BAR PEFORMANCE AUTO
Shop Phone: (954) 731-9450
Contact: OTIS
Specialty: BMW
Location: 1766 NW 38TH AVE
FORT LAUDERDALE,FL 33311
Type of Work: General Maintenance/Repairs. Motor Swaps. Performance Tune's. Turbo Charger installs
Submitted by Jamdun17: I'm associated with the shop in the way that I have been going there since it started. The price is fair at 80/hr and the work is excellent, no matter the year of the BMW it can be worked on by them. The work is done in a timely manner and they fight to get you the lowest price on premium parts, something i haven't seen much shops do. Performance tunes and Diagnosis are provided by the Autologic systems, and the motor swaps are handled by the Head Mechanic. Swaps done so far: 1jz into e36 M3, S50 into e36 325i, 4g63 into Mirage, 4g63 into gen 2 eclipse, B18c into USDM Integra.
Submitted by CreekBimmerCi: I can def. put this place "Kar-Bar Performance" in the top level of shops in South Florida. I had a horrible belt problem with my 325 ci and Otis and the whole crew took care of my car within no time. I was embarassed to drive my car down the street because of how loud my belts were sqeaking and vista bmw charges an arm and a leg so I gave them a shot and I def. was not disapointed. The atmosphere is def. a laid back vibe where you can have great conversation with the mechanics and it's an open door policy. If anyone in the area is in need of service or some "love" to their bmw bring it to Kar-Bar Performace you def. will not be
Broward County Performance/Service/Repair Shop
Eurowerks Automotive
4758 N Powerline Road
Deerfield Beach Fl, 33073
Check out their link to facebook on there for more pictures of the shop and cars done by Eurowerks.
Super nice shop, all BMW techs with two master technicians on staff. Anything from service, maintenance, to performance mods, these guys know their stuff.
Heres some pics of the place
http://www.foreignautospecialists.net/
8120 Belvedere Rd.
Suite# 6
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
Brian is an awesome guy and gave me a full inspection for my car. I will be going back to them shortly for front and rear brakes.
Best,
Zach
Thats funny, I forgot about this thread, and now I just got an email from the recent necro here, and lo' and behold, the first shop you list is the one I just started to go to recently. A local Mercedes guy suggested another place first, and when I went there, the main guy wasnt there, and when I called the next day, it seemed like he had absolutely no interest in taking a look at my car to fix certain things and give me a quote. He was kinda rude about it too. That was that. So I went back to the Mercedes guy and he gave me a second option, Avenue Imports.
I have been mostly dealing with Tim Jr. there... super nice guy, easy to talk to, but his dad seemed a bit stand off-ish, like he had no desire to ever answer any questions or deal with anything. Anyways, they did a pretty thorough checkup, seemed to be one guy there who dealt with most of the BMW questions (didnt get his name, about a 5'9" burly white guy, about 45-50 yrs old maybe?). They actually did several free things for me without even giving me a bill... so I went back there to fix a few more things and the prices didnt seem cheap (at an odd $91.50/hr) but wasnt a rip off. I probably should have talked to the BMW guy, but I was kinda disappointed that professional German car mechanics were not familiar with the ZHP at all. If I do need more advanced work, not sure if I want to keep dealing here (anything average, probably fine), but it is so close to work, and Tim Jr. has been very accommodating, I am at a cross roads for them.
I have a quote on some repairs that I will post for you guys to see if they are reasonable.
If anyone else has dealt with them please post, thanks!
Last edited by Dathaeus; 10-18-2012 at 02:22 PM.
__________________
2003 ZHP 4dr
165,000 miles
Tires: BBS 17" rims
Front: 225/45ZR
Rear: 255/40ZR-17
Answerway.com
2002 530i auto
Sold:
2008 MINI Clubman S
1995 525i manual
Shop Name: Crucial Motorsports LLC
Contact: Aaron Nash (904).652.9732
Location: 1520 State Ave. Unit C Holly Hill, FL 32117
Website:http://www.crucialmotorsportsgroup.com/index.html
Specialty: Older BMW's, Miatas, racekors and such
The Shop/Owner: The setup is a small Unit not too far off of US1. It's pretty easy to miss, but you'll know you're there once you see all the cars out front.The owner normally runs a "rent-to-race" shop where you can do just that. He has a couple of spec E30's, a spec Miata, and an E36 racecar (and likely more) that a team can rent for a race. He'll drive the car(s) out to the race, with several replacement parts and such, and will be your teams support crew, pit crew, etc. He also does general repairs, maintenance, and modifications on most cars. He can work on pretty much anything, but he avoids Volvo's for some reason. That being said, he has lots of experience with BMW's. He knows his way around the E36 and E30 chassis for sure.
My Experience: The first time I visited the shop, I needed an alignment and cornerbalance after installing some coilovers. The shop doesn't have an alignment machine, but rather they have a jig that they set up around your car, running string around it, making measurements and adjusting from there. After finishing the alignment, he set up 4 wheel scales and cornerbalanced the car with me in the drivers seat. He did a good job with it too, as it not only solved an issue I had with the car pulling when under braking, but when I took the car out to an autocross not long after, it performed great. I ended up finishing 2nd in the RWD category in that event. I've since been DD'ing the car and have put a couple thousand miles on since and have had no issues with excessive tire wear.
The 2nd time I used that shop was to have the drivers side axle replaced. I dropped it off between classes and he had it done well before I went back a few hours later to pick it up. He even diagnosed some issues that I've been having with my diff clunking while he was working on it. (He's also well aware of the Z3 diff mount/trunk floor issue)
Both times the prices for labor were very reasonable, none of the "BMW Tax" stuff you normally see with specialty European shops, and he does good quality work. He even went out of his way to save me a few bucks by telling me how I can rebuild my old alxe in case I ever need another replacement. He can also get you some performance parts at discount. He has good connections with local shops for engine rebuilds and custom fabrication as well. He can also weld up cages too. Another thing he's looking into is to rebuild/swapping internals on BMW diffs. He's still doing some research and is going to test it out on some old E30 diffs before he starts doing it with customer diffs.
All in all I'd give my experience a 9/10. The only issue I had was finding the shop since it's kind on a back street. That being said, it's only a few blocks away from where Grassroots Motorsports prints their magazines and where the main CCW (Complete Custom Wheel) warehouse is, so that's kind of cool.
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