BMW Specialsits in Welly

[Zoid 0]

Hi all,

Well its been a great first week with my e36 320i a few spins to the Wairapa and one road trip to Napier meant i've been having great fun, it handles so well and goes nicely when pushed...! God i love the roads in NZ, makes Irish roads look like horsetracks! Some mad people love to overtake on the rumatuka road though!

I took it into Jeff Gray BMW for an inspection and they came back with a list of things it needs done. Nothing hugely major hopefully. I'd like to get another quote from a good independant though and do the easier stuff myself. Easy stuff is rocker cover leaking, wipers, tailights corroded, brake fluid, coolant, bonnet struts and some broken trim unde r the bumper.

They said I ened to replace both control arms, ball joint, a/c toothbelt, both front trailing arm rubber mounts and front control arm bushes. Comes to about $1K. Im wondering whether just to give it to them and let them do it and at least have the receipts for when i go to sell or are there any decent indepentdant garages that could do it well in Wellington. I'm new to NZ and this is my first car here so not sure where's good and would love any recommendations.

Cheerz

Zoid

[martyyn 2]

Do a search mate, its been discussed lots of times. You'll find that most people will recommend Page European.

[Zoid 0]

Do a search mate, its been discussed lots of times. You'll find that most people will recommend Page European.

Yeah i did try but couldnt find anything...Cheers for the name i'll give them a shout

[3 SERIES 92]

Yep, try Page European. Very good service and definatly cheaper then Jeff Gray. Here are their details:

http://www.finda.co.nz/business/listing/131p/page-european/

[kiwi535 538]

speak ti Vijay,tell em bimmer sport sent ya....

[Zoid 0]

Nice one guys I'll give em a tinkle.

[rxsumo 33]

For the suspension bits...check out ebay, for the E34 the suspension parts are usually around 50% less than geniune including frieght ex the US.

[Neal 512]

Yeah i did try but couldnt find anything...Cheers for the name i'll give them a shout

Either will do a good job, have taken various BMW's to them both over the last 20 odd years. Vijay has been around for a long time. Was funny to see his service stamp on my old e30 323i at 20,000km then again at 320,000 km's.

My e36 325i has been going to Jeff Gray for the last 9 years and 165,000 km with no issues. Safe bet either way.

[Zoid 0]

Thanks all. Its hard when you move to a new country to know who's good and who isnt...local advice and experience is invaluable.

[chompa 0]

Yep, try Page European. Very good service and definatly cheaper then Jeff Gray. Here are their details:

http://www.finda.co.nz/business/listing/131p/page-european/

really? not from my experience.....but vijay is a great guy with high standards so dont mind paying top dollar. he even transplanted a new engine into my first car back in the day!-1975 mk3 ford cortina! so knows his stuff with alot of cars!

liam

[3 SERIES 92]

Only based it on my experience and not yours.

By no means would I say you pay top dollar there. Not from MY experience anyway.

[chompa 0]

fair enough!

[kiwi535 538]

Only based it on my experience and not yours.

By no means would I say you pay top dollar there. Not from MY experience anyway.

they are not the cheapest by a long shot...but i beleive they do a very good job..last time i was so impressed i took them a dozen beers.....they let me help them drink half of them!

[tire 10]

I took a doz to my mechanic when he went out of his way. Auto Care Kilbirnie / wgtn performance vehicles. Noticeably cheaper than page, and I'd like to say equally as knowledgable?

[Moose 0]

Hi Zoid,

I travel the Rimutaka Hill about 200 times a year, sorry if it was me, but once you know the hill and conditions it's quite good fun.

[rxsumo 33]

I took a doz to my mechanic when he went out of his way. Auto Care Kilbirnie / wgtn performance vehicles. Noticeably cheaper than page, and I'd like to say equally as knowledgable?

My 540i was serviced by Auto Care Kilbirnie by it's previous owner.

It had a current WOF (issued by Auto Care) with leaking front struts, and absolutely f#*ked front control arm ball joints.

That doesnt give me faith that these guys know about bimmers.

[3 SERIES 92]

My 540i was serviced by Auto Care Kilbirnie by it's previous owner.

It had a current WOF (issued by Auto Care) with leaking front struts, and absolutely f#*ked front control arm ball joints.

That doesnt give me faith that these guys know about bimmers.

Could have happened between the previous owner getting the warrant and you buying the car???

Or

They knew the person and got them to throw on a dodgy warrant so they could flick the car off???

[tire 10]

My 540i was serviced by Auto Care Kilbirnie by it's previous owner.

It had a current WOF (issued by Auto Care) with leaking front struts, and absolutely f#*ked front control arm ball joints.

That doesnt give me faith that these guys know about bimmers.

Wow I am very surprised to hear that. They have always had bmws in there whenever I've been in. Not to mention de loreans, jags etc, even race cars. I know id trust them with whatever I had.

CABs don't need to be perfect to get a wof anyway.

[rxsumo 33]

Could have happened between the previous owner getting the warrant and you buying the car???

Or

They knew the person and got them to throw on a dodgy warrant so they could flick the car off???

err...the guys we brought the car off were friends of ours, and surely garages that offer "dodgy" warrants wouldnt issue a warrant on a car that they knew was getting sold, its too likely to expose the fact that might not be issuing kosher warrants.

The balljoints are unlike to have failed to the extent they had in the 4 months since the warrant was issued, as the joints were completely U/S.