I fixed my BMW!

[Geo]

Usenet was surely around 15 years ago.

I'd argue that until AltaVista started to mature there was no 'net worthy of the name in the context that _xxx_ is proposing --the ability to easily search and find products and services at discounted rates all over the world.

Sure, some hardcore specialists knew which doors to knock on with which code knock to be allowed entrance for a given niche area. Good for them. They were a tiny minority and the number of products and service providers they had access to were much smaller as well. The explosion of the net after the birth of the WWW in 1994 was from both directions --demand and supply.

 

[_xxx_]

Well yeah, but there were always loads of clubs, magazines and such where you could find connections if interested.

C'mon, just stop denying your laziness

 

[Arwin]

Bulletin Boards were cool ... As were IRC chat channels.

 

[Geo]

Well yeah, but there were always loads of clubs, magazines and such where you could find connections if interested.

C'mon, just stop denying your laziness

Oh, I'm lazy alright. The last car I worked on regularly was a 1974 Buick Century station wagon. Two tons of American steel with a 455 cu in 4-barrel carb. Of course, that was also the last car I owned that you pretty much didn't have to have several thousand dollars of highly specialized tools and really small hands to work on it. :smile:

But that still misses the point of apples-to-apples. High-end German cars are more expensive to get worked on generally.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

High-end German cars are more expensive to get worked on generally.

work on high end german cars is highway robbery.

I remember this student girl crashed my old car from behind (she hit the brakes and barely made a cratch, there was like a 0,5 cm^2 round area where the paint peeled off on my car, you could only slightly notice as my CLK was silver\grey.

Mercedes wanted $2000 to fix it. I couldn't do that to the poor girl, her car wasn't probably even worth 2k. Managed to fix it for one tenth of the price.

 

[RudeCurve]

Replacing discs AND pads is relatively easy and you only need to do it maybe every 50K miles.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I gotta get new brakes. Should I go OEM or switch to ceramics?

The OEMs are nice, but they really wear down the pads/rotors quick and make a ton of brake dust. The ceramics should last longer, but not be quite as grabby.

Thinking these pads with these rotors....

 

[_xxx_]

That is VERY cheap for ceramics, i'd be suspicious about those. They might as well be good, I don't know that brand, but they usually cost 5x as much.

 

[digitalwanderer]

$150 for a set of pads for a car ain't cheap to me, but I've found similar prices on 'em at other places or I could go Akebono ceramics instead for about the same.

On all the BMW forums they recommend the Hawk & Akebono ones, so I figure they're safe.

 

[_xxx_]

Hmm, I guess the stuff is way cheaper over there in the US. But if people who tried it recommend them, I guess you'll be fine.

I tend to only use components approved by the manufacturer, after several not-so-good experiences with aftermarket parts.

 

[Arwin]

Even German cars are ridiculously much cheaper in the U.S. A nephew of mine lived in the U.S. for a while and bought a Z4 there for next to nothing, then had it shipped to Europe when he came back. As he owned the car more than a year or whatever the term was, he didn't have to pay any additional taxes. The difference in price was stunning, I think he saved something like 20.000 euros that way.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

$150 for a set of pads for a car ain't cheap to me, but I've found similar prices on 'em at other places or I could go Akebono ceramics instead for about the same.

On all the BMW forums they recommend the Hawk & Akebono ones, so I figure they're safe.

i remember having to pay $20k to get ceramic brakes, so $150 is cheap..

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Even German cars are ridiculously much cheaper in the U.S. A nephew of mine lived in the U.S. for a while and bought a Z4 there for next to nothing, then had it shipped to Europe when he came back. As he owned the car more than a year or whatever the term was, he didn't have to pay any additional taxes. The difference in price was stunning, I think he saved something like 20.000 euros that way.

Alot of my friends have moved to the usa to study, and they all buy ridiculously good cars over there. In norway, you need $100k to buy a half decent C-class\3-series, so when they move to the states the car park suddenly takes a huge bump. Cars in america cost about 1\3 of what it cost to get the same car in norway (taxes account for 80% of that).

Im considering taking a master degree in the usa, if i do, i reckon im gonna buy a year old Porsche 911 Turbo or the new sl if its any fun.

 

[RudeCurve]

$150 for a set of pads for a car ain't cheap to me, but I've found similar prices on 'em at other places or I could go Akebono ceramics instead for about the same.

On all the BMW forums they recommend the Hawk & Akebono ones, so I figure they're safe.

Akebono are very good, they are OEM for many Japanese car companies.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks guys, the Akebono it is. Probably get smart too and go straight Brembo rotors too instead of the fancy drilled ones.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

oh is this just the pad, not the entire brake kit?

 

[RudeCurve]

If your stock discs/rotors are solid then just stick to the cheap Brembo solids. Slotted and drilled rotors crack over time under heavy use that's why you don't see weekend racers using them. Professional racecars use drilled rotors but they can replace them after each race so cracking isn't a problem. The Akebono ceramics work better with solid rotors anyway since they run so cool. Running them on drilled rotors makes them run too cool diminishing brake performance.

 

[digitalwanderer]

oh is this just the pad, not the entire brake kit?

Just the pads. I'm getting new pads & rotors all around, but just the pads are ceramic.

Yeah, I'm gonna stick with the Brembos. They're a name I know/trust.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Woodys Garage
2943 Highway Ave
Highland, IN 46322
(219) 923-1525

I can't say enough wonderful things about this place. Aside from the fact that it's literally 2 blocks from my house they do great work at really fair prices.

He just quoted me at $575 to do the brakes on my BMW, parts included. I'm taking it in Thursday.

 

[digitalwanderer]

F**K WOODY'S!!!!!

Took it in to get me bargain $575 brake job, got a call a couple hours later saying that there was a mistake and they had used the wrong rotor price and it would be $750 to do them. Also, one of my ball joints is about to fall out and they want another $400 for that.

I can buy the damned parts for under $400 and I think the $350 left over will be more than enough to cover a jack, jackstands, socket set, and a couple of allen wrenches to do the job myself.

I'm PISSSSSSSED! Their "bargain" $575 turns into $1,150 that fast? I think not.