When one is an enthusiast with a focus on a single car make, the familiar faults—and the best ways to remedy them—are often regarded as common (or perhaps communal) knowledge. Owners of E36 and E46 chassis 3 Series are well aware that preventative cooling system maintenance is key to a trouble-free ownership experience, for example. As mentioned in our previous installment covering Palmeri’s and his M5, it’s also standard procedure for enthusiast owners of older and high mileage vehicles to use independent specialist shops, or their own garage, for repairs.
There’s also the cost of parts, which many of us have mastered over the years by once again, avoiding the dealership, and instead turning to part numbers, the community, and extensive research to find the best quality replacement for the fairest price. I’ve explained my own process in great detail on this very site, and it’s clear that Palmeri employees a similar procedure to avoid dealership markup for replacement parts as well.
We can’t forget the reality of actually performing the repair, either. Once again, this is where the community comes in, with certain chassis- or model-focused forums often having DIY tutorials with photos of the various steps shared for everyone to see. To the uninitiated, used, high-mileage BMW ownership can seem daunting, but in Palmeri’s latest video, he demonstrates that basic automotive and mechanical knowledge easily translate to BMW repairs. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a lift in our garage either, but once again, almost all repairs with the exception of a rear ball joint could have likely been completed without one, although there’s no denying the convenience.
Check out the latest video to see how the repairs are tackled with quality replacement parts in short time, for a fraction of the what the same work would cost at a dealership.—Alex Tock
[Video via LegitStreetCars on YouTube.]
