How Many Hours To Change Suspension?

[Radioman]

Hi boys, how long is reasonable for a decent garage to replace the front upper and lower suspension arms on my 1998 750 v12 ?? Previous helpful suggestions have been taken on board to help me with the dreaded shimmy but I now need to sort the repair. Parts are coming in at about £300 and the labour costs will decide if the exercise is worth while. what do you think is reasonable?

[mart77]

cant you do it yourself?

[Radioman]

Thanks Marc, but to state he obvious , if I could I would!!

The sad fact is that not all members of the Bmw club are also members of the oily hands club. Plus my ancient years , no access to a lift or pit --- you get the picture , question still stands ??

[G4VHD]

I can unbolt, remove and replace a full suspension set up on a E46 in less than 4 hours.

The 7 shouldnt be much different

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Not really Gav, (oops misread that)... Yes with it being a larger wheel-span there is actually more room to swing at things :rolleyes:

As for the "shimmy" I would suspect the rear-end unless you could explain the symptom a little better...

[Radioman]

Hi Jack, thanks for your info. As to the dreaded shimmy action , I am going by what has been posted on the site already . The symptoms are steering wheel wobble and shudder at a specific speed , betwixt 50 to 70 mph. The symptoms are not present before that speed and disappear after that.

I gather the shimmies are the top recorded fault for the seven series and part caused by the weight of the heavy v12 over the front suspension - hence the suggestion that the front suspension arms need replacing. I came to that conclusion too, having worked my way through the other possibilities of wheel sizes, tyre standard, etc. The problem I have Jack is that despite the age of he car , I love it, but it is only worth 2 or 3 grand max. And if the cost of repair is too high I may leave well alone, hence my need to check it out first.

So what do you reckon is the hour cost ?

Thanks again.

[G4VHD]

45 an hour here in midlands

[Radioman]

Thanks , but the big question is how many hours???.

[G4VHD]

Respectable garage will charge 8 hours I reckon

[Radioman]

So guys, the maths see to be 8h x £45= £400. Plus the cost of OE parts , the least expensive being around £300. So the total job is

£700 with no guarantee that the shimmy will go away. Put that against a car value of only say £ 2k 'ish and the risk factor is a third the value of the car with no guarantees of fault being solved.

I guess the conclusion is if you can save the labour costs by doing it yourself it is worth it . however, in my case I guess I am going to have to live with it , it's not worth the cost or hassle . If you disagree please tell me , otherwise thanks for all you input.

[mart77]

have a go at doing it yourself mate.get a mate to help you

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

+1 I'm sure someone will lend a hand ;)

[G4VHD]

Bring it to me, ill do it all in for 500 :D

[Radioman]

Thanks Gavin, but as the car is based at my holiday home in Marbella, the trip back home would make your offer a tad expensive!

Thanks for the thought though, appreciated.

[G4VHD]

Thanks Gavin, but as the car is based at my holiday home in Marbella, the trip back home would make your offer a tad expensive!

Thanks for the thought though, appreciated.

Ah!!..

Pay for me and the SWMBO to come over for a week...ill do it for nothing ;)

[Radioman]

Good try !!!! And SWMBO means??

[G4VHD]

She Who Must Be Obeyed :P