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Yeah, accepted, these are important factors, and often critical to business continuity. I suppose my position is that I meticulously research parts and would never expect a warranty on installation of such, I didn't make that clear and many customers probably don't have those same expectations which makes it tough/impossible for shops to accept that risk. I do want to stress that my opinion is that it's a shop's choice, and no customer should be upset with that. It's just sad that the official parts network make this discussion even necessary, how about just not being obscenely greedy? It's a literal kick in the balls to their customers and supporters, and they smile whilst doing it.

Really interesting question and responses, most of which I agree with. Things have changed over the years! Bellars used to allow customer supplied parts (early/mid 2000's), I know because I did that a lot with the M3. It doesn't surprise me that many no longer support this. As above, if you have a good relationship with a not-too-big shop, they will often accept customer supplied parts... there are a few members here with shops that will. Main reasons for not supporting this are discussed above in this thread but, let's be honest, the bottom line is they make no margin off customer supplied parts and, for better or worse, that's their choice. I have had recent success requesting work at a shop and indicating (with links) what I could land the parts for and advising them, that if they could match that price, I'd get them to order the parts directly (basically from FCP or Spareto). The shop set up a trade account with the vendors, got the parts cheaper than I could and made a little margin, I had to wait a few weeks for the booking (for the parts to arrive - also a challenge with the NZ BMW network because they keep very little in country), but I paid the same as I would have buying the parts directly, the shop made a little margin and was happy with the (genuine or OEM) parts, and we all walked away happy with less money lining BMW NZ's greedy pockets. This problem wouldn't exist of course if dealers didn't want to put a 100% margin (or more), on parts. This is not a problem unique to NZ but BMW NZ really takes the piss.

Full lci interior swap done, much nicer than black on black. Been busy getting my white 130i for sale so not much attention to this one for now. Didn’t make track day last month but planning to go 29th June.

I imagine shops get some demanding and unreasonable customers. But I also meticulously research parts and wouldn't expect warranty on my own mistakes. Agree it's a shops choice. I didn't get upset either. Decided to try one more place and then get to the work myself. Luckily I found somewhere that is willing to do the work. Obviously it's a leap of faith for them. It's a risk, they don't know me. But after this they'll gain a long term customer. That's also a smart business decision. But it comes with risk. Obviously they were willing to take that risk here. But no hard feelings against the other shop that turned me away. Agree. It is their choice and they get to decide what risk they want to take.

Having worked alongside workshops for years, profit margins are certainly a factor, but in my experience the biggest factor for workshops not wanting to deal with customer supplied parts is as mentioned, the risk of wrong parts, inferior parts, time wasted, tied up hoists, angry customers etc. Never underestimate the cost to business and reputation from customers buggering things up. It's all well and good saying "i got the parts from FCP, they're good and the right ones" but unless the workshop is going to check each and every part, how're they to know they are the right ones for your car before the car is in bits on a hoist? It makes it really hard to warranty the work too, when they didn't supply the parts. Do you expect them to get the car back in, diagnose the failed bush you supplied, and tie up a hoist/parking spot waiting for you to order a new bush from FCP?

Time for a fresh windscreen. The old screen was covered in little rockchips from living up a gravel driveway and was probably still the original screen. The sensors also didn't work very well - both rain detection and auto lights, the lense was pretty cloudy after many years of UV. A decent rock hit the screen a couple of weeks ago on the way to work, conviently large enough for a replacement screen through insurance. I ended up going through Smith and Smith Mt Wellington as they were nice and close to work. Overall they did a great job, trims seated nicely with nothing scratched, 10/10 would recommend. I was initially leaning towards trying to get it replaced with OEM because that would always be nicer but after some research it looks like it is pretty difficult to get done. Of course paying the difference is always an option but when an E91 screen is ~$1400 I don't think so. I ended up not sweating it and they replaced with an 'equivelant' brand. I've got no issues with the product so far, apart from the sun strip at the top missing. I figured if it was an average install and the glass was subpar I could have whinged enough to get an OEM replacement. What a difference a fresh screen makes! To anyone with a chipped up old screen it is well worth the effort.

$22500 Excellent condition. 70000km Lowered on Eibach Springs Near new Rotors & Pads LED light upgrade (OEM) NBT 3D Design genuine front lip M Performance Carbon fibre interior trim kit,pedal covers, & rear difuser. FTP Charge pipe kit included.

I love the pics of the large Polish car shows. They get right into it.

It has been a long time since I've written something thought out and (hopefully) well considered on Bimmersport. It just so happens that the opportunity cost of becoming a "mature adult" (although this is very debatable) is a lack of time and motivation for certain passion projects. Nevertheless, as a brief speed run; I got a university degree, a girlfriend, a real job, a resignation letter to quit said real job, I started a business but most importantly, bought many, many cars along the way. I liken myself to someone like Hoovie's Garage - just without the comforting cushion of a substantial YouTube ad revenue. That's to say a degenerate car enthusiast with a distinct lack of self control when it comes to buying old and obscure European cars. Anyway, the reason I am writing this is I am looking to launch another business (of which the details are under wraps for now...) and I have come to the conclusion that a very strong marketing channel will be digital media about cars - hopefully of the entertaining variety. That's to say YouTube videos and factual/opinion based articles. I hate unnecessary expenditure, so if I can do something myself, generally I give it a try. This situation is no different. Basically, I'd like to try hone in on my writing ability and hopefully use it to produce some interesting stuff for you all to read, with the hope that I can leverage this new found skill to grow an audience and promote my business. Obviously this may sound like a pipe dream, but I thought it's worth a go - and I've decided it all starts here, in this thread, on good old Bimmersport. Why Bimmersport? Well I was hoping you all can provide ideas, thoughts, critiques and hopefully you may also find it interesting too. Now comes the part where I ask if there is anything specific I can write about that may pique your interest? Literally any suggestion would be great. Of course I also have a list of things I personally want to write about, but only time will tell whether these were ramblings I should have kept to myself. If you're interested in a car I have owned let me know. I would post a full list of everything but that's too embarrassing to admit publicly. My current line-up consists of: BMW M Coupe, BMW E34 540i, Volkswagen Passat W8 6-Speed Manual, Porsche Boxster 987 Manual, Porsche Cayenne (957) 3.0 TDI, and 2x Brabus Forfours. I'm not sure when my first article will be posted but I will aim to have it done before the end of the week.

I'm always into E30 content. The passion for the Gusheshe in SA. The Polish E30 scene. The obsession for the E30 among teens and young adults in the states. The OEM+ group and traditionalists. What it means to different groups and how they express their passion for the car in different ways. What are the differences? But also what are the core things that they share in their passion for the E30. My preference these days for mine is OEM+ (I did some dorky stuff to my E30 from my teenage years - but I thought it was cool then 😅). But I like seeing what the Polish community do and the stanced out E30 style in the states (among other scenes around the world). Iconic car with its own sub cultures. Same could be said about other iconic BMW's from the 'golden era'. Would be cool to find out more about these scenes and these classics that continue to draw people to them (from all walks of life). Tons of technical stuff out there. But I think not as much around the various scenes and sub cultures around these cars. I have no idea if this is the sort of thing you were thinking of writing about. But it would be interesting to me.

This is pretty bloody good!

On TM via Favorites. They'll get emailed to you daily. Really worth it when you want to look for weird things. I also setup searches for BMW "style XX wheels" and "throwing stars" under all wheels. Its helps.

Couple of jobs recently, rear brakes on the E39 and Mickey on the 130i. Brake job went smoothly I find brake jobs very satisfying. Mickey did not go so well I stupidly stripped the Aluminium threads, was furious with myself...had to get my mechanic to save me with some Helicoil work I was very embarrased Lesson well learnt though, be f****ing gentle and precise with Alu threads, make sure stuff is seated properly Yep my OFHG needs doing as you can see

I fundamentally disagree, if you have 'have' to use TM, then you're opting to play by their rules, or reduce your potential market. Most people listing like this are trying to avoid public disclosure, divide and conquer, it's totally suspicious and the principle reason there are a ton of people like me that just won't consider it. It's like people saying "as is, where is" hoping that potential victims don't understand the legal implications of such a statement. Anything less than 100% transparency, as is the case here, is caveat emptor and even Caesar himself would say to walk away. I'm also not sure why somebody would consider it logical that this approach would mean less tyre kickers relatively speaking - there will be less interest for sure, but most likely the same proportion of time wasters.

Have racked up about 1500kms since the camshaft surgery and all is well. Great car to drive, rewards smoothness especially with the clutch. Penrite synthetic in the gbox has significantly reduced the notchy shifting. Wof and rbf next week then Hampton Downs on one of 2 dates end of month that isn’t expecting rain.

Scrubs up well. New rear brakes and handbrake adjusted. Will order a new pair of discs and my go-to track pads for the front. Gearbox oil and some RBF and she’s ready for Hampton downs end of next month.

No more ticky diesel like n52! After hunting around for a good exhaust cam and bearing ledge and no luck I pulled a good one out from a pickapart car. I should’ve done this the first time round i opened it up, the old cam had alot of play resting in the ledges. Happy days! Cleaned up the replacement : Doesn't look out of place… Result! IMG_4400.mov

Replacement bonnet got given the same treatment as the rest of car. Before After

Had a decent go at cutting and polishing. Lots of trial and error along the way but getting the hang of it… Test area to see how hardy the paint is. On to cutting the fr guard. Then the sides and the roof, which I never thought would come up well, lots of deep scratches. Gave it a wet sand first. After cutting the sides and roof I expected this sh*t to appear under bright lighting.. Up until now i’d been using a rotary polisher so i switched to a DA and got rid of most of it. Happy how it turned out Got the hatch and bumpers to do. Won’t bother with the bonnet until i can find a straight one with saveable black sapphire metallic paint.