[bmw325]

Had the steering retrofit with my winter wheels and tires on. Given the mild winter we're having in NY and the fact that my snow tires cause my steering to be very squirmy and shaky- I decided to change back to my summer tires today.

Well- thanks to my dealership the front lug bolts felt like they'd been torqued to about 300 ft-lbs. I had to stand a jump on the lug wrench to loosen them. Took my about an 1.5 hours to loosen all of them and i'm extremely sore now. Not that it matters, but I speciifcally told them to tighten the bolts w/ a torque wrench to 74 ft-lbs. Of course, for only $88/hour its really too much to ask of them. I find this to be irresponsible, unsafe and just plain idiotic. Doing this also could cause the bolts to fail and the rotors to warp prematurely. It also makes it nearly impossible to change the tire if you're on the side of the road. This really pisses me off- I may call BMW and make them extend the warranty on my front rotors by another year (yeah- I know its futile). ITs also telling of the lack of attention to detail and craftsmanship by many dealers. I'm sure the bolts holding my steering rack in have been air-wrenched to 1000 ft lbs too. I'd expect this from a discount tire chain, but I do expect just a little more from a BMW dealer.

Does anyone know of a quality dealer service department or even an independent shop in th New York area that I can use in the future? I'm sick of these hamfisted buffoons screwing up my car. On the positive side, it further motivates me to learn all I can about servicing my own car. It does seem like there would be a market for a good service dept for people who can tell good from sloppy workmanship. Unfortunately, there's too many rich, ignorant people in my area who don't really care about this sort of thing.

 

[ff]

Really lazy shops use...

Shops that care use...

 

[AF]

Where in New York are you from, I think Habberstad might be a good service department. I used them once a look time ago when I had a 325is.

With my 330 I've been going to Rallye and they are ok but not what you are looking for.

I don't think any service department will put the extra time into our cars that we would like.

It really sucks because we try to always take the extra step with our cars and the dealers treat them like they are nothing special. It's a shame but they work on so many cars, they just want to get the job done.

Back in the early 90's, I had a Corvette and I went to a dealer called Palanker Chevrolet. They were a big time Corvette dealer and they ALWAYS put the extra step in to it. They were the best service department I ever used.

 

[Emission]

I think this would be great to bring up when BMWNA gives you a call in a few days.

I use an air tool to get the bolts on (after I hand thread them), then bring them up to spec with a hand torque wrench. This is how it should be done!

 

[bmw325]

I completely understand that my car is nothing special to my service department. But, its not like i'm asking them for something really special here- just asking to do the job according to BMW's specs. That's all I expect. I can't wait for the survey-- they're getting 1's across the board . For jobs like tightening lug bolts I don't even see the need for an air wrench. Its very easy to pull 74 ft lbs manually w/ a regular torque wrench. I think it took me about 15 minutes to torque all 4 wheels. Of course, with their air gun they probably did it in 5 minutes. I know they can set the torque on the air guns -- but it felt like they must've torqued the bolts to way more than 150 ft lbs. I've also read that the torque applicaton on these tools are very inconsistent-- makes sense given that my bolts felt unevenly tightened.

Alan- isn't Halberstad in Long Island? I'm located in Westchester- so my choices are:
Pace BMW ( haven't heard anyting about these guys)
Westchester BMW (hated their sales dept, but maybe their service is ok?)
Wide World of Cars
BMW of Manhattan (might give them a try next since they're factory owned)
Competiton BMW of Greenwich (might give them a try for warranty work-- they won the BMW presidents club award for service satisfaction).
BMW of Darien (the ones who over-tightened my bolts)

 

[Ben Chou]

I actually read the if you truly want to be careful you should avoid the air wrench all together. This is the reasoning. BMW are notoriously sensitive to front end imbalances. One of the side effects of overtourqued bolts is warped rotors b/c of the un-even pressure on the rotor.

That being said, impact wrenches work on air. What most shops do is set it close to what the torque should be and then tighten them and then some will check with the torque wrench. The problem is with the impact wrench though. The air pressure going to the wrench is never even. Compressor on or off, other tools using the air presssure etc..... so what you esentially have is the impact wrench torque to different number every time you hit the trigger. Granted there is not that much of a differenct but from I heard, some cars can still be affected by this.

I personally do not that impact wrenches be used when I can help it. At NTB or other place like that, I will make sure they tighten the lugs all by hand. They don't like it, but oh well, it;s not their car.

 

[bmw325]

Ben-

How do you get them to tighten the bolts by hand? At my dealer, I told the service advisor 2 times and I even left a note on the steering wheel that said to tighten the bolts by hand! Yet, they still used the damn air wrench. I feel like no matter what I say, they won't listen to me-- be they'll pretend to.

I've read the same things about air wrenches causing rotor warpage-- that's why I was considering making BMW extend the warranty on my front rotors as a result.

 

[Ben Chou]

Ben-

How do you get them to tighten the bolts by hand? At my dealer, I told the service advisor 2 times and I even left a note on the steering wheel that said to tighten the bolts by hand! Yet, they still used the damn air wrench. I feel like no matter what I say, they won't listen to me-- be they'll pretend to.

I've read the same things about air wrenches causing rotor warpage-- that's why I was considering making BMW extend the warranty on my front rotors as a result.

I usually am not that concerned with my dealership doing it. They are good about stuff like that. Besides if the rotors warp I will have them replace it under warranty. It is pretty hard to get people to do it unless you are there to watch and make sure.