Simon 3.2M
Senior member
I'm not normally one for endorsing a garage or product as, lets face, we generally pay them good money so the service should be good!
In total contradiction to my above statement I have to offer praise to my local Indy - Autobahn in Halesowen. There service and knowledge is second to none, the owner Rob is a time served BMW technician who just happens to race his E46 M3 and who has a deep passion for cars full stop. My rod bearings were recently done in a couple of days and there was no hard sell, no scaremongering etc just a good evidence based conversation showing me the internals of the engine and possible damage if a failure was to occur. The importance of good, regular servicing and maintenance and the cause and effect of the lack of it was also explained in detail along with need to let the car warm up fully before pushing the engine (all obvious points to any enthusiast admittedly) It was also stated that these cars do need to be "driven" as that's what they are designed to do, they don't need to be driven softly and contrary to popular believe, they don't need wrapping in cotton wool!
I was also allowed full access to my car so i could see for myself the condition of not only the crank and shells but the rest of the car which was reassurring since I've only recently purchased it. Communication was also very good and I was kept abreast of the progress of the works and my numerous questions were answered fully and explained in detail.
Most impressive was when I dropped the car off to have the valve clerances checked last night. What i expected to be a 5 minute drop stop turned out to be a hour and a half discussion about engines, vanos units, crankshafts, brakes, race cars and BMW performance cars in general. As I say Rob and his team are a thoroughly knowledgeable bunch that's for sure.
So if you live in the Midlands or want an Indy you can trust then you could do far worse than give Autobahn a call.
In total contradiction to my above statement I have to offer praise to my local Indy - Autobahn in Halesowen. There service and knowledge is second to none, the owner Rob is a time served BMW technician who just happens to race his E46 M3 and who has a deep passion for cars full stop. My rod bearings were recently done in a couple of days and there was no hard sell, no scaremongering etc just a good evidence based conversation showing me the internals of the engine and possible damage if a failure was to occur. The importance of good, regular servicing and maintenance and the cause and effect of the lack of it was also explained in detail along with need to let the car warm up fully before pushing the engine (all obvious points to any enthusiast admittedly) It was also stated that these cars do need to be "driven" as that's what they are designed to do, they don't need to be driven softly and contrary to popular believe, they don't need wrapping in cotton wool!
I was also allowed full access to my car so i could see for myself the condition of not only the crank and shells but the rest of the car which was reassurring since I've only recently purchased it. Communication was also very good and I was kept abreast of the progress of the works and my numerous questions were answered fully and explained in detail.
Most impressive was when I dropped the car off to have the valve clerances checked last night. What i expected to be a 5 minute drop stop turned out to be a hour and a half discussion about engines, vanos units, crankshafts, brakes, race cars and BMW performance cars in general. As I say Rob and his team are a thoroughly knowledgeable bunch that's for sure.
So if you live in the Midlands or want an Indy you can trust then you could do far worse than give Autobahn a call.