Quote:
Originally Posted by SD 335is
Actually, I bought a refundable round-trip ticket on SWA this afternoon. I'm flying in to Oakland tomorrow and someone from the dealer is picking me up. I have an appointment for a PPI at SAS German Auto, about 3 miles from the dealer.
My BMW mechanic friend ran the service history and there isn't much history. Potential red flags are the brakes being replaced at 1700 miles due to warped rotors (tracked?) and he said that it appeared to be a demo car initially. It's only been for service twice besides that for regular maintenance and the last maintenance was done in 2010 at 17,000 miles. CarFax shows one owner, no accidents reported, and service at 10,804 miles when the car was 1.5 years old, then at 12,096 miles two months later. CarFax doesn't show the 2010 service.
The sales guy confirmed that there is no wheel rash, no wear on the steering wheel or seats and they all looked almost like new. He said that the body is free of any dings or dents but there appears to have some curb rash on the front splitters. The M Mobility System and the tool pouch don't appear in the photo of the trunk so the sales guy is looking into that.
If the PPI looks good I'll be driving the car home tomorrow. Thinking about taking the coast highway down and stopping in Cambria for the night.
BTW, what were the OEM tires? What are people putting on for replacements? I'd like the Michelin Pilot Super Sports myself.
I sure hope this one checks out!
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Unless the car was never driven all bumper "fangs" have curb rash. Haven't seen an ///M w/o it. If it's already there, you won't feel so bad the first time you do it yourself.
(Tip: Park with your seat more or less in the backseat of a car that's next to you to try and avoid this fate.) The hood is really long, and curbs and those damn parking lot concrete fang destroyers take their toll.
I wouldn't put much stock in the rotor replacement. The stock M rotors are floating rotors on aluminum hats, which are very resistant to heat and cooling expansion (they're attached to the hat by what might be called a "spoke" unlike regular rotors). It's really rare that they warp (if ever). Many of us, me included, have a lot of track time on the stock rotors and no "warping"--and trust me, we get those babies quite hot! Much more likely the car had inconsistent pad deposits and "shudder" and some dealership was too lazy to properly diagnose and correct it with proper pad bedding.
I'm assuming the break-in service was completed, yes? If they replaced the rotors at 1,700 miles, they should have changed the engine oil, transmission and differential fluids as well at the same time or around 1,500 miles. That's standard with an ///M car, and it should be recorded in the BMW system (required service, and free too).
Stock were Contis Sport somethings. They were, IMO, crap. Newer Contis are pretty good tires though, and as long as they're not RFTs I'd give them a good shot. I just put PSSs on my car today, and I really like them. But they ain't cheap!