Gary Gray at BMW Nashville told me this wasn't a safety issue, but is it a performance issue?

How does this affect my driving experience?

Also, I was quoted $850 to fix, does this sound right?

Thanks!

 

The toe for that wheel will be all over the place under nearly all conditions.

For $850 they better be doing the bushings on both sides, unless that includes the part too.

 

It feels like the wheel jerks sometimes, is that the result fo the broken bushing?

If I was to AutoX it would this be a dealbreaker?

 

The longer you run with a bad bushing the more tires you'll eat monthly and "safety" is the dealers CYA statement. $850 is a little high, check out http://www.autoxcooper.com/control_a...e_service.html for the DIY deal . You will also need an alignment to bring everything back to spec that's another $100 +/-. I'd do them sooner then later but not at the dealer if you can find a local performance shop to do it.

 

I was quoted $500 to $550 (Including parts... not including the alignment) for this replacement.

 

What parts?

 

Good question! Stock OEM bushing. Powerflex would be an additional expense.

This was from a solid tuner shop in the Dallas area.

 

if you don't want the OEM rubber bushing check out http://www.autoxcooper.com/control_a...e_service.html and have the shop do the labor. I bet the upgraded bushing service is about same parts price as the OEM that will fail again.

 

I found an independent BMW shop that did this replacement - with PowerFlex - for half what the dealer wanted. The GEN1 front was very similar to the small BMWs it seems. He had no problem doing it and had a tool so he could also do it without dropping the sub-frame.

Sorry - this was in Norfolk tho ....