S85 Rod Bearings Job - Why The Sudden Sky High Prices?

Raven M6 said:

So a couple years ago, the going rate for rod bearings was widely reported to be in the $2-3.5k range. I get we’re seeing inflation across the board, but I still can’t figure out why this job is suddenly costing 2-3 times more than it did just a couple of years ago. Part prices are still very reasonable. There are several online parts stores selling the entire rod bearing kit, oil included for around $1300. Add in high pressure hoses, odds and ends you might want to change while you’re in the engine and you may be looking at $1600 in parts.

From what I’ve read, this is an 11-13 hour job. All the quotes I’m getting are in the $5.5-6.5k range here in the Houston area. I’m hearing of similar rates across the country. If dealers are charging $125/hr labor, why is this job being billed at $300-350/hr? What am I missing?

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TexaZ3 said:

Just had mine done at MPorium in McKinney, TX for $3680 parts and labor and tax, out the door. Includes Vanos hi-pressure line, all chain guides, oil squirters, oil and filter. That's with BE Bearings, ACL/King even cheaper.
They are top notch shop too, pretty much do a bearing job on a S85/65 every day. Worth a trip if you are getting $6.5K quotes in Houston.

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tangle said:

There are still some reasonable shops around but at the end of the day, the engines are just expensive and not getting cheaper, so not only does a 5k service make more sense than it did before its also more risk to the shop if the job is botched. In LA the rates are still around 3-4k from good shops which is reasonable. Also Omicron.

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Raven M6 said:

You guys are lucky there! Those are reasonable rates. I get Omicron is a worry now, but this was a few months ago before Omicron when COVID had really tapered off and everything had fully reopened.

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Raven M6 said:

Thanks for the insight! Now $3.7k is a heck of a lot more reasonable than $5.5-6.5. I called 3 reputable shops in Houston a few months ago and the lowest quote I got was $5.5k. I’d love to get the job done in McKinney for that price but it’s a good 4-5 hours away so I’d have to leave my car there for a week, and by the time I factor the multiple round trips, gas, time, mileage, the effective cost savings would diminish quite a bit. If I could find a Houston shop at that price I’d schedule the job tomorrow!

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GabrielD said:

That's pretty incredible that they can get it in and out in 24 hours. I am in Houston and got mine done late last year and it was right around $5.5k from the only shop in town (that I have any personal experience with) that I would trust to do it. I too went through the same thing though wondering how everyone was getting theirs done for a fraction of the price but justified it by knowing it would be done right and that it was a one time expense I had already put off for the past 7 years and 50k miles. That being said if I could turn back time and do my research and plan better a trip to Austin for a $1.8k savings I would have probably done it since I love saving money and driving to/visiting Austin.

I would definitely be careful shopping around in Houston there are so many shops out here that are incredibly shady, not just the ones that work on BMWs. I would definitely ask the shop rate and the expected/billed time involved because I am guessing that they budget in a decent amount of time more than 10-11 hours if its not their bread and butter just to make sure they can take their time, not mess it up, and not end up losing money because they underestimated the time commitment. For a shop like the one @TexaZ3 is describing, to be doing bearing swaps daily and get it out between 24 hours I bet they have found the most efficient way to do it and are able to cut down the time (and number of techs) to get a rod bearing replacement done where it does make that much of a difference. For reference the shop I would guess the shop I took mine to probably does a rod bearing replacement once or twice a month. My car was with them for a couple weeks but that was partially because they were waiting on a couple parts that were not a part of the rod bearing job and they know it's not my daily so I am not in a terrible rush but quite the difference from pumping it out in 24 hours.

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Mporium BMW - BMW Repair & Maintenance Garage in North Dallas

Mporium BMW is the region's premier BBB accredited, Master certified facility for independent Service, Repair, Maintenance, and Performance

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TexaZ3 said:

Their turnaround is 24 hours. So all you need is a 3 tanks of gas, and a night at the hotel. For $3K savings, no brainer really.
If that's still a no, then try Hill Performance Bimmers in Austin. They are a top notch shop, and their prices are similar to MPorium. Ask for George Hill, tell him Alex from Fort Worth sent you

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GabrielD said:

That's pretty incredible that they can get it in and out in 24 hours. I am in Houston and got mine done late last year and it was right around $5.5k from the only shop in town (that I have any personal experience with) that I would trust to do it. I too went through the same thing though wondering how everyone was getting theirs done for a fraction of the price but justified it by knowing it would be done right and that it was a one time expense I had already put off for the past 7 years and 50k miles. That being said if I could turn back time and do my research and plan better a trip to Austin for a $1.8k savings I would have probably done it since I love saving money and driving to/visiting Austin.

I would definitely be careful shopping around in Houston there are so many shops out here that are incredibly shady, not just the ones that work on BMWs. I would definitely ask the shop rate and the expected/billed time involved because I am guessing that they budget in a decent amount of time more than 10-11 hours if its not their bread and butter just to make sure they can take their time, not mess it up, and not end up losing money because they underestimated the time commitment. For a shop like the one @TexaZ3 is describing, to be doing bearing swaps daily and get it out between 24 hours I bet they have found the most efficient way to do it and are able to cut down the time (and number of techs) to get a rod bearing replacement done where it does make that much of a difference. For reference the shop I would guess the shop I took mine to probably does a rod bearing replacement once or twice a month. My car was with them for a couple weeks but that was partially because they were waiting on a couple parts that were not a part of the rod bearing job and they know it's not my daily so I am not in a terrible rush but quite the difference from pumping it out in 24 hours.

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Raven M6 said:

Hey TexaZ3, thanks for the suggestion. If their turnaround is indeed only 24 hours, I might still consider it although I don't see how it's a savings of $3k. I was quoted $5.5k here in Houston. Your price was around $3.7k. So 3 tanks of gas, tolls, food, hotel, etc.. is another $400 or so. So I'm looking at $4.1k out the door plus 8-10 hours of driving. All this with the hope that everything goes exactly according to plan and I'll 100% get my car back within 24 hours. Is it really worth it to save $1400? I'm not so sure....

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GabrielD said:

Yeah I got it done at ABR in Spring, it's quite a ways from where I live (but way closer than Austin). I got it done almost exactly a year ago and it came out to just under $5.6k. That was for the VAC bearings and ARP bolts. They also did the motor mounts while they were in there (mine were pretty worn) and did not replace the HP vanos line. They also changed the oil and drove it for 100 miles, changed the oil again to make sure everything was really working good with no glitter, then gave it back to me to finish the break in the next 1k miles before changing the oil again. I know that the vast majority of the board will say to definitely get your HP vanos line and oil squirters replaced while you're in there. I will most definitley come back to tell you all about how dumb I am if I end up exploding my HP line since my car was a VERY early production (11/2005).

Their shop rate is high even compared to a lot of other BMW indys in the area but they also warranty their work and parts for 3 years 36k miles which is worth a little peace of mind. Like others mentioned I did pay a premium for parts and labor. The parts came out to $2,400 and the labor was $2,930 (and that's without the HP line, squirters, and other odds and ends a lot of people do). That was pretty much exactly what they quoted me on the front end and I had done my research and knew that folks on the board all around had shops do it cheaper but after having a couple shops in the past decline to do it (and refer me to ABR) or tell me that they could totally do it without having any experience I decided to just bite the bullet and go with what I knew would be the safe but expensive option. I also was putting a supercharger on and if I tried that with 120k+ mile rod bearings I don't think my car would be long for this world. I had also discussed it with them a few times before I took the plunge and they brought me into the shop to see an S85 they were halfway through doing a rod bearing replacement on and walked me through their whole process. I have no doubt you could find a competent indy with experience in town to do it for less but I just needed it done and didn't have the will or the time to go crazy searching any more than I already had.

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Raven M6 said:

i called ABR last summer as I heard a lot of good things about them. They’re one of the few shops in town who know their way around an S85. They quoted me around $6k otd for everything including the oil squirters and hp line. That’s amazing your car lasted 120k on the original bearings especially being that it’s a super early build. I have only 48.6k on my 2010 and was planning to do this job somewhere between 50-60k which is the recommended mileage to get them swapped at. So I have a bit of time to figure out my options.

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flacoramos said:

Depends what you believe in tho. Why is 120k amazing to you? What is different on early builds? Who recommends 50-60k? If you believe in the clearance lottery (as I do), then all the issues you bring up are non issues really.

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Raven M6 said:

I have read on several rod bearing threads on this forum, where the recommended mileage for the swap is in the 50-60k range. Jcolley who was one of the leading S85 experts on this forum, strongly advocated changing them around the 60k mark, even on late builds. With these cars, the question really isn’t if you’ll spin a bearing, but when. The vast majority of catastrophic rod bearings stories that were posted in threads here and elsewhere were on early builds, especially on pre-LCI models. And the leading common denominator was that failure happened before the 100k mark. So the fact that his M5 lasted till 120k on original bearings was pretty impressive. I think this is why you seldom ever see a used S85 car for sale that’s well into the 100k mileage range. It’s probably because those cars blew their motors before they could get past 100k.

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