MA shop for rod bearing replacement?

[CSI]

Looking to have my rod bearings replaced in the spring (car will be going into hibernation next weekend for the winter), and it's not something I'm comfortable doing on my own. Anyone else have it done anywhere in MA with positive results? I emailed Turner to do it and they want $3200. That seems excessive to me, but maybe that is the going rate. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by CSI

Looking to have my rod bearings replaced in the spring (car will be going into hibernation next weekend for the winter), and it's not something I'm comfortable doing on my own. Anyone else have it done anywhere in MA with positive results? I emailed Turner to do it and they want $3200. That seems excessive to me, but maybe that is the going rate. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

I would choose for Turner or Malek , because they have the necessary knowledge for the S65 bearing job .
I would not care about the 3K , think 3K is a lot cheaper than a new/rebuild S65 engine from BMW...

[pbonsalb]

Its $500 to $1000 in parts depending on what you use and it will take a shop that has done it a few times about 8 hours though book time may well be 12 hours. Looks to me like Turner wants at least $2200 for 8 hours work, which is a ripoff.

No special knowledge is required to change bearings. Just good tools, care and patience and a fair level of competence.

[oolas3]

Try contacting German Performance Service in Brighton. I haven't had my rod bearings done yet but this would be a shop worth considering.

[HandmeDnM3]

Never got rod bearing replaced but did get a new clutch and flywheel replaced at Precision BMW in Brentwood NH. Derek, the owner, is a great guy and does amazing job. He worked for Turner Motorsport and BMW dealer before opening his own shop. You could literally eat off his shop floor but would not recommend. Its how thorough and anal he is with the work space and cars.

[takrdown]

I had mine done at VSR in Bow, NH. Talk to Mario (the owner) or Chris (his son) and you will be all set. It's a small shop that specializes in vintage BMW restoration but they still build race engines for one of my friends and do anything and everything BMW wise.

I couldn't be happier with them and they are the only ones that I let work on my M3. For perspective I live in Central, CT so It's a 2.5 hour drive just to get there.

[Mr. BMW]

I think the whole rod bearing issue is really inflated. I've asked my dealer if they have done any replacements or know of any motors that have blown up and he said no. I then asked if they service many M3's and he said he's has a lot of them that come in for service...

[pbonsalb]

That is one theory -- that the failures are just a small percentage and most people have nothing to worry about. I would have to agree that, so far, the odds are with you. But almost all the bearings that have come out of cars for replacement have been heavily worn. I think the failure rate will increase as the cars age, but that it will still be a minority of cars that are affected. I chose not to take the risk, since I could do the change for $600 and I could not afford a $10k used motor.

Regular bearing changes are recommended by some E46M3 tuners, and BMW did a recall on the S54 bearings, so the possibility of real problems is not unheard of. Its unfortunate, but the failures are a reality that each person has to decide whether to address preventatively or that the odds are with them and nothing is needed.

[takrdown]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

That is one theory -- that the failures are just a small percentage and most people have nothing to worry about. I would have to agree that, so far, the odds are with you. But almost all the bearings that have come out of cars for replacement have been heavily worn. I think the failure rate will increase as the cars age, but that it will still be a minority of cars that are affected. I chose not to take the risk, since I could do the change for $600 and I could not afford a $10k used motor.

Regular bearing changes are recommended by some E46M3 tuners, and BMW did a recall on the S54 bearings, so the possibility of real problems is not unheard of. Its unfortunate, but the failures are a reality that each person has to decide whether to address preventatively or that the odds are with them and nothing is needed.

Agree with all of this. When mine were pulled they were worn. I think I may have seen maybe one set of bearings on here that weren't worn. Anyone on this site is an enthusiast that takes particularly good care of their car and with that comes "just in case" maintenance. Unfortunately for this car that means bearings. I'm sure if it cost $200 to do them everyone would be doing them. Cost is absolutely a limiting factor.

[Nice Rumble]

Originally Posted by takrdown

I had mine done at VSR in Bow, NH. Talk to Mario (the owner) or Chris (his son) and you will be all set. It's a small shop that specializes in vintage BMW restoration but they still build race engines for one of my friends and do anything and everything BMW wise.

I couldn't be happier with them and they are the only ones that I let work on my M3. For perspective I live in Central, CT so It's a 2.5 hour drive just to get there.

I second VSR as a strong recommendation to do a bearing replacement. Mike Miller from Roundel's Tech Talk say's it should be part of your preventative maintenance and should be performed between 60K-80K. So now the replacement bearings have no lead in them which means it will be hard for Blackstone Labs to detect when the bearings are going bad.

http://www.vsr1.com

I think I saw your car up on the lift when I was there this summer. Space Grey Coupe? You had also hit some curbing and bent part of the exhaust system? They had the bottom of the motor removed and were doing the bearings.

[pbonsalb]

Vac and BE sell aftermarket bearings made by Clevite, which was the original oem supplier, with lead.

[takrdown]

Originally Posted by Nice Rumble

I second VSR as a strong recommendation to do a bearing replacement. Mike Miller from Roundel's Tech Talk say's it should be part of your preventative maintenance and should be performed between 60K-80K. So now the replacement bearings have no lead in them which means it will be hard for Blackstone Labs to detect when the bearings are going bad.

http://www.vsr1.com

I think I saw your car up on the lift when I was there this summer. Space Grey Coupe? You had also hit some curbing and bent part of the exhaust system? They had the bottom of the motor removed and were doing the bearings.

That was me! I have a sedan though but pretty sure it was me. They fixed up the exhaust nice too! I love those guys!

[CSI]

Originally Posted by Nice Rumble

I second VSR as a strong recommendation to do a bearing replacement. Mike Miller from Roundel's Tech Talk say's it should be part of your preventative maintenance and should be performed between 60K-80K. So now the replacement bearings have no lead in them which means it will be hard for Blackstone Labs to detect when the bearings are going bad.

http://www.vsr1.com

I think I saw your car up on the lift when I was there this summer. Space Grey Coupe? You had also hit some curbing and bent part of the exhaust system? They had the bottom of the motor removed and were doing the bearings.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely give them a call.

[pbonsalb]

They are right down the road from me in NH. They have a good reputation and have restored some older bmws very nicely. Not cheap, but NH is tax free.

[BoosTonian]

Originally Posted by CSI

Looking to have my rod bearings replaced in the spring (car will be going into hibernation next weekend for the winter), and it's not something I'm comfortable doing on my own. Anyone else have it done anywhere in MA with positive results? I emailed Turner to do it and they want $3200. That seems excessive to me, but maybe that is the going rate. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

Farley at Eurotech in natick had done them on my car. He's done a great job on my f80 and my e92..looking forward to his work on my e82 now. Great reputation around here!

[oolas3]

Originally Posted by takrdown

I had mine done at VSR in Bow, NH. Talk to Mario (the owner) or Chris (his son) and you will be all set. It's a small shop that specializes in vintage BMW restoration but they still build race engines for one of my friends and do anything and everything BMW wise.

I couldn't be happier with them and they are the only ones that I let work on my M3. For perspective I live in Central, CT so It's a 2.5 hour drive just to get there.

Did you supply the rod bearings/bolts or did the shop? Did you use BMW bolts or ARP bolts?

[oolas3]

Originally Posted by BoosTonian

Farley at Eurotech in natick had done them on my car. He's done a great job on my f80 and my e92..looking forward to his work on my e82 now. Great reputation around here!

Did you supply the rod bearings/bolts or did the shop? Did you use BMW bolts or ARP bolts?

[BoosTonian]

Originally Posted by m3m3mr

Did you supply the rod bearings/bolts or did the shop? Did you use BMW bolts or ARP bolts?

I supplied them, wanted BE bearings. Also went with BMW bolts. Some say you don't need to upgrade the bolts unless you're going with the 650kit from ess or vf. Some people are running stock bolts on that kit, so I just kept cost down and went with stocks.

He can get them for you if you want I imagine, he offered to get me the internal gears for the throttle actuators.

[pbonsalb]

Stock bolts may not save you any money. The cost less to buy, but the labor to install stock bolts is three times that to install ARP bolts due to the factory bolt install procedure that has you going through 3 torque sequences twice for each of the 16 bolts. No doubt it costs over an hour. I have done it both ways.

[takrdown]

Originally Posted by m3m3mr

Did you supply the rod bearings/bolts or did the shop? Did you use BMW bolts or ARP bolts?

I had them shipped directly to them and they offered to procure them for me if I wanted. When I did my job the APR bolts were on back order so I went OEM. They will do whatever you would like and Mario and I talked last time I was up there and he has been doing a lot of reading on the issue so he is beyond familiar with it. His techs are not cookie cutter either. They are all master technicians that know all of their engines. Like I said they have done race engines as well so they know what they are doing and have contacts all over if they see something they don't know.

[CSI]

Originally Posted by takrdown

I had mine done at VSR in Bow, NH. Talk to Mario (the owner) or Chris (his son) and you will be all set. It's a small shop that specializes in vintage BMW restoration but they still build race engines for one of my friends and do anything and everything BMW wise.

I couldn't be happier with them and they are the only ones that I let work on my M3. For perspective I live in Central, CT so It's a 2.5 hour drive just to get there.

Just spoke to Mario and set up an appointment for early April. I appreciate the recommendation.

[takrdown]

Originally Posted by CSI

Just spoke to Mario and set up an appointment for early April. I appreciate the recommendation.

That's awesome! tell them Jeremy said hey when you drop off the car!