any other ones in raleigh other than Shade Tree?

6/11/2007 11:55:54 PM

What about the german garage where western and hillsborough merge?

6/11/2007 11:57:46 PM

shade tree too far of a drive?

what type of work are you looking for?
Ahmet should chime in and give his two cents on west german

[Edited on June 11, 2007 at 11:58 PM. Reason : not a huge fan of wg]

6/11/2007 11:57:46 PM

no you drunk driving idiot.

6/11/2007 11:57:58 PM

i went and picked up the 01 m3 today. its sick

no shade tree is not a far drive for me. i just dont want to be charged an arm and a leg for something simple.

well actually let me ask this.
i can transfer the 100k warranty from the guy's name to my name for $600. is this true? and should I?

[Edited on June 12, 2007 at 12:08 AM. Reason : .]

6/12/2007 12:04:50 AM

I had shade tree put some new bilstein shocks on my M3 once......the car wasn't ready until almost a week after they promised it would be ready and then a day after I got it back I was driving and the bottom just dropped out of the rear of the car and I heard a clunk, one of the rear shock mounts had come lose where they put it on incorrectly

6/12/2007 12:20:58 AM

^Wow. I know quite a few of the guys at shadetree, and they all do good work. Do you remember who worked on your car?

What type of rsm? Seems like it would be pretty tough to assemble one incorrectly, especially for an experienced mechanic.

6/12/2007 12:37:34 AM

i dont get shade tree place. they don't have a phone# on their website and they don't reply to any emails. are they that busy to spend 30sec to reply a really simple email question?

6/12/2007 12:43:18 AM

Quote :

"Wow. I know quite a few of the guys at shadetree, and they all do good work. Do you remember who worked on your car?"

No I have no idea who it was that was working on it but every time I went in there to check on the status of my 3, then 5, then 7 day overdue car it was always an older guy that I spoke to

and as for:

Quote :

"What type of rsm? Seems like it would be pretty tough to assemble one incorrectly, especially for an experienced mechanic."

they were some upgraded heavy duty aluminum rear shock mounts from Bavarian Autosport and those were my thoughts exactly, how do you screw up putting on a shock mount........I'm no experienced mechanic and after it broke I jacked the thing up in my driveway and replaced the mount (along with the other one also because although it hadn't broken yet it was still clunking around because they hadn't tightened the nuts on it) and I haven't had a problem since....I don't know if it was incompetence or just sloppy work but either way I won't be back

[Edited on June 12, 2007 at 1:04 AM. Reason : ]

6/12/2007 1:04:15 AM

they're pretty busy, yeah

none of the guys are particularly wired either, so email sort of gets cast by the wayside

^sorry to hear that dude. with that experience, I can't blame you

[Edited on June 12, 2007 at 1:09 AM. Reason : .]

6/12/2007 1:04:52 AM

The owner of the place is Truett. He's a pretty nice guy to talk to, and yea, it's hard to contact them.

6/12/2007 11:06:50 AM

I've taken my car to Brad Moyer at The Digital Chassis in Durham and he has done great work for me and it's usually easy to get in. He specializes in German cars, saw him working on tuning a new M5 right before I moved to Wisconsin, you can try him at 919-384-7070

6/12/2007 11:51:38 AM

I've heard absolutely horrible things about West German and their prices are higher than Shade Tree anyway.

European Performance seems alright, but their prices are pretty jacked up.

Shade Tree seems good to me. I don't think they charge "an arm and a leg" and I've always heard good things from people that have used them. I'm really surprised at Punter's experience, but I guess everyone messes up sometime. They came in a lot cheaper on a wheel bearing for my 325i than European Performance or West German garage's quotes and the work was done quickly.

[Edited on June 12, 2007 at 12:05 PM. Reason : s]

6/12/2007 12:04:40 PM

First Class anyone? Bill Hargrove?

6/12/2007 12:30:51 PM

Bill is a riot.

6/12/2007 12:41:36 PM

Shade Tree is bad ass. I have used Deitrick (I have a hard time spelling his name) for the last 3 years. In my experience, he undercharges. The work is top notch. They do NOT rip you off. I have had Leith want to charge me 2x the price for the same work. They will provide a loaner car if they have them available. The best method is to leave a voicemail on the answering machine for D and ask him to call you back. They do not answer the phone 99% of the time. They are that busy that they really dont need new business. I have his cell number, so if you cant get him to reach you, I can try for you (will not give out his cell number).

The problems with Shade Tree is that they are so busy, the turn around time isnt as quick as some other garages. If I am in an emergency, D will do his best. Otherwise, for most repairs, I expect it there 1-2 days. I normally schedule a few things to be done when its in the shop to minimize the disruption.

[Edited on June 12, 2007 at 1:27 PM. Reason : .]

6/12/2007 1:25:41 PM

^ loaner car??

6/12/2007 5:59:14 PM

Yeah. D will normally have a few older BMWs that he has fixed up. They are not always available, however. A customer recently totaled one of them.

6/13/2007 11:20:16 AM

^what happened? I was told that there's no loaner car when I dropped mine off. I guess you gotta be long-time customer for that.

6/13/2007 11:24:10 AM

^ did you wreck the loaner car ?

6/13/2007 6:36:58 PM

^nah man, unlike you, I haven't wreck any car in my life (knock on wood).

6/13/2007 7:25:35 PM

lol

im not going to anymore. not the M3. no way in hell (knock on wood too)

[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 7:32 PM. Reason : .]

6/13/2007 7:31:27 PM

If you guys need some BMW work, feel free to get in touch w/me for advice, but I am not always available to do work myself.
Ahmet

6/13/2007 9:48:49 PM

I didnt total the car. Someone else did. The 'loaner' cars are owned by each mechanic. D owns a few that he will loan out when available. I dont know if Truett or Stephen have any loaners.

6/14/2007 12:57:01 PM