What is important to fix?

Before you do anything on this, I want you to get a second opinion. BMW makes a reasonable decent car and that sounds like quite a bit of problems for 60,000 miles. If you need help finding a shop in your area, let me know and I'll see what I can find for you.

I took the car into a shop recommended by a friend.

Here's what they told me:

{Alternater belt cracked-$148} barely cracked, no need to repair now. They almost never see one break. You will usually hear squealing first. $130
{RF axle inner boot leaked out all grease and clicking-$730} Maybe it leaked a little bit, but no need to do anything. Can't hear any sound
{RR spring broken-replace both-$529} The RR spring is broken, but right at the bottom. The car is sitting level. No need to replace.
{both front lower control arms ball joints have play in them-$1016} Can't see any play. No need to fix.
{LR brake pad 1.5mm, RR pad 3mm-$540} yes, they're worn down, but you will get a warning light when it is so low it needs to be replaced. $160
{brake fluid flush-$95} $60
{coolant flush-$159} $115

Sounds like the dealer was really trying to screw me.
Maybe other BMW owners are rich enough to just pay whatever they say. They made it sound like the car was in critical condition and needed to be fixed immediately! They didn't want to let my wife pick it up without it being fixed, like it was unsafe to drive.

What do you think?

Brandon

IT is pretty much about what I expected and exactly why I wanted you to get that 2nd opinion. IT is too bad that the public in your area couldn't get a good exposure to this and it would be nice if you could take legal action against them. Scum like this makes us honest shops look bad and critically damage the relationship of car owners and everyone one in the industry. Part of the reason I am here is to help restore some faith for the good shops.

It sounds like you were treated honestly and qouted some fair prices. Do the brake fluid flush when you do the brakes. The coolant flush wouldn't hurt it and if you smartly keep the car for anothe 5 years, then you should flush it.

When the belt starts losing chunks or cracks are every 1/8-1/4 " apart, replace it then.

Thank you for your advice. It is difficult for most people to get this kind of honest information.

Brandon

Not here it isn't. Being here in cyberspace, it is hard to truley know where to send folks. I am interested in getting the shop's name, website and contact info that you took your car to the second time. I try to promote shops that are straight up. It's tough to know how things are going to be at any shop due to the employee that are there. One time may be great, the next may be a horror. It is always good to get a second opinion if you think you need to, at the very least, it is good to keep a shop honest. Even the good intentioned can go astray for a variety of reasons including communication internally in the shop. I feel good things went well.

The second shop I went to:

Tire Country
623 Hazard Avenue, Enfield, CT 06082
860-763-0846

A friend had worked there. I might have thought that they just treated me well because I was a friend, but I noticed how they treated the others that came in. I would recommend them for the types of repairs they can handle. (not just tires)

Brandon