Shade
Tree Garage answers:
Frequently asked Questions
- How can I make my BMW run faster?
We recommend that you enroll in a driving school through
the BMW Car Club of America. The Tar Heel chapter of
the BMW Car Club is available here: http://www.tarheelbmwcca.org/
Modifying your BMW to be faster in a straight line is one-dimentional fun, learning to drive your BMW faster through turns and elevation changes is multi-dimentional fun. Most BMWs are already much more competent than their drivers!
- What is the body designation (E code) for my car?
An E code chart is located here: E Code Chart
- What is the engine designation (M code) for my car ?
An M code chart is located here: M Code Chart
- Can I purchase BMW parts over the counter at Shade
Tree Garage?
Shade Tree Garage does not provide a customer parts counter. Please
click here for information on where to purchase BMW parts
for your personal use: BMW Parts
- What is your shop rate?
$66.00 per hour.
- What do you charge for tire mounting and balancing?
13-14 inch wheels - $15 each
15-16 inch wheels - $20 each
17-18 inch wheels - $25 each
19 inch wheels - $30 each
We charge an extra $5 each for run flats and $5 extra for 35 profile tires.
Shade Tree Garage is an installer for the TireRack (www.tirerack.com). When you order tires from The TireRack, you may have them sent directly to Shade Tree Garage. Please remember that we do not install tires on non-BMWs.
- Does Shade Tree Garage provide towing service?
No, we recommend that you use your AAA service (or insured towing). If you don't have paid towing, we recommend:
Stroud's Towing - (919) 556-3181 Wake Forest area
Dean's Wrecker Service - (919) 872-4476 North Raleigh Area
East Coast Towing - (919) 835-0705 Raleigh / Garner area
ACC Towing - (919) 554-3010 or Toll Free (866) 585-2228 RTP area
Lemon's Wrecker Services LLC - (919) 688-3022 RTP area
Superior Towing & Transport - (919) 609-9056 Raleigh Area (Todd McKenney- owner, Todd is very reasonable for local towing)
Eddy's Towing and Recovery - (919) 868-1499 Creedmoor / Wake county area
- My Automatic Transmission has failed. Do you rebuild these transmissions?
No, but we highly recommend Ted's Transmissions
(919) 881-0009 (8808 Running Oak Dr Ste C,
Raleigh, NC 27617-4615 - just off Westgate Road near RDU Airport).
BMW used GM transmissions (made in France) behind their small six engines from 1991 to 2003. These transmissions, while conforming to the industry standard quality, were not as reliable as the ZF transmissions of the same period which was used in the V8 cars (and also in the M3s 1995-1999).
The 4 speed ZF transmissions used from 1984 into the early 90's were very robust but were sensitive to being rev'ed in park or neutral. Don't allow your engine to be rev'ed about 2000 RPM while in park or neutral on these cars. The old emissions inspection process in North Carolina took out many of these transmissions and we have even seen damage caused by (other) mechanics rev'ing these engines trying to diagnose runability problems.
- Does Shade Tree Garage provide detailing services? No, we recommend Stephen Davis at Detail on Demand at (919) 676-8908.
Detail on Demand - "Have your BMW detailed by someone who owns a classic BMW and has always appreciated cars. I have owned BMW's for years and have been a customer of Shade Tree Garage, Truett and Dietrich for countless years.
I have been detailing cars long before someone coined that term. Let me add luster to your car, from a little to a lot. I will address whatever is needed or desired and service is priced accordingly."
Stephen L. Davis
(919) 676-8908 or e-mail StephenDavisart@AOL.com
Steve Davis is also an artist and is responsible for my sign and logo's.
Truett
- I am giving a used BMW to my daughter (son) . What precautions should I take to insure its reliability and safety for my child?
You should insure that your child has a working cell telephone whenever they go out of town and also that you have a towing service such as AAA plus or equivalent. Emphasize to your child that if their BMW overheats, they should stop immediately and call for help. If they run over something in the road and the oil pressure light comes on, they must stop immediately!
If you drive a overheating BMW until it quits, you are guaranteed to have a big repair bill. Cooling system problems can happen on any car, they do not have to be catastrophic! However, you must have a plan.
If you run over a significant piece of debris in the road, stop and make sure that there is no oil dripping from under the car.
These things are relatively simple to fix if you stop soon enough. If you have a towing plan, then you are not at the mercy of an unknown shop that is sure they will never see you again! You may wonder how I know about these things!
- What is the best type of oil to use in my car and how often should I change it?
For the older BMWs with single overhead cams and mechanically adjusted valves, we
recommend 20w50 oil (Castrol GTX or equivalent) with oil change intervals in the 3-6,000
mile range. BMW gave us the service interval indicator on these cars which generally let you go
7-9000 miles, depending on the number of cold starts and the amount of gasoline that you used.
In 1999, BMW went to synthetic oil in all of their cars and basically doubled the oil change
intervals (from 8,000 to 15,500 miles). (This was done in conjunction with the offer of free service for
the first 3 years or 36,000 miles.) While we believe that 15,500 miles is too long to wait for an oil change,
we agree that synthetic provides better protection and you can easily double your old oil change interval. We
recommend 8-10,000 miles for synthetic oil services.
For BMWs
with hydraulic valve adjustment compensation,
we use BMW 5w30 synthetic for the low mileage cars or Pentosyn 5w40 synthetic for the higher mileage cars.
- I have a 'check engine' light ('service engine soon' on later cars) illuminated on my BMW. What should I do?
The 'check engine' light normally indicates a potential emissions problem. The most common cause is that the gas filler cap is not installed correctly or was removed while the engine was running. Other common causes are: secondary air flow low (the electric air pump only operates during cold start up), camshaft position sensor, oxygen sensor signal slow, cylinder misfire, etc.
In order to plan for a repair, we need to read the codes that have been set. We ask that you bring your car by the garage during our normal hours (Tuesday-Friday, 9-12 or 2-5) and let us read your DME codes. There will be no charge for this. After we have read your codes, we can advise the necessary repair, order the parts, and schedule a mutually agreeable day for the repair.
Some of the later model BMWs have a 'Service Engine Soon' light. It is the same as the more familiar 'Check Engine' light.
The 'SRS' light is different from the 'check engine light' in that once it is turned on (the system is NOT disabled), it stays on even if the problem is no longer there. As with the 'check engine light', we ask that you bring your car by the shop during normal hours (Tuesday-Friday, 9-12 or 2-5), so that we can read the codes and plan the repair. There is a $20 charge for reading and resetting the SRS light.
We also will be interested to see if the problem returns after the light is reset. If the SRS light stays out for a long period of time, it means that the problem is very intermittant and maybe that is the repair.
-
I have 17" sport rims on my car and my rear tires wore out on the inside edge before 15,000 miles. What gives?
All BMWs have negative camber to give good handling. The sportier low profile tires have stiff sidewalls and because
of the negative camber, they will abnormally wear out the inside edge of the tires if you don't keep the air pressure up.
BMW recommends 38-42 psi at the rear for high performance tires (with 4 passengers and luggage), and if it drops into the high
20's range it will wear the inside edge abnormally.
Be sure to keep the rear tire pressure up!
- I drive an M5. What gasoline (brand
and octane rating) will make my car perform
best for normal around town driving?
We do not recommend a brand of gasoline as
we feel that any name brand gas will perform
equally well in a BMW that is well maintained,
however we do recommend that you use 92 octane
or higher gasoline in all M series BMWs.
If you have installed a 'computer chip' in your BMW, you should also use 92 octane or higher gasoline.
|
