Oil

[bstone801]

Anyone recommend some places they prefer to purchase oil & filters from for routine oil changes? Thanks all.

[takrdown]

ECS Tuning...best prices usually and quick shipping

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E90-M3-...e/Oil_Service/

[Flying Ace]

Are you talking about OEM oil and parts? If so, and you'd like to save some money, read this:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...ight=oem+parts

If you just need it now, you can go to any dealership, pull your pants down, bend over and they'll slide all the parts right into you and charge you for the lube.

[BzsBimmer]

Ecs does not have the best prices. While they are a supporting vendor on this forum, their items are typically higher plus the cost of shipping than other online vendors. Ymmv

[burtonsbs5114]

My dealer actually isnt too bad on oil price. I bought a liter for my trunk and it was like $13.

[Zeus69]

Have used getbmwparts.com for oil change kits. Very prompt, responsive customer service (Evan).

http://www.getbmwparts.com/partlocat...catalogid=4462

[WingZeroX5]

For routine oil changes, I buy Wix 57997 from amazon or wherever is cheapest

I get oil from amazon as well

[takrdown]

Originally Posted by BzsBimmer

Ecs does not have the best prices. While they are a supporting vendor on this forum, their items are typically higher plus the cost of shipping than other online vendors. Ymmv

I usually have a hell of a time getting parts anywhere else cheaper. FCP Euro will price match but I always have to ask them to price match. Where do you get your parts cheaper? I'm always interested in a better source for parts.

[12v_dub]

ECS for me. Ease of buying everything, and fast shipping.

[takrdown]

I have to admit the comment about ECS not typically being the cheapest piqued my interest so I did some looking around and found this amazing little gem done by one of our forum family members:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16847651

[bstone801]

Originally Posted by takrdown

I have to admit the comment about ECS not typically being the cheapest piqued my interest so I did some looking around and found this amazing little gem done by one of our forum family members:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16847651

Whoa! Nice freaking work bro.

[BzsBimmer]

Originally Posted by takrdown

I have to admit the comment about ECS not typically being the cheapest piqued my interest so I did some looking around and found this amazing little gem done by one of our forum family members:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16847651

Yes I should have also mentioned that link. I've typically done it the hard way by cross shopping PN's against various online sites.
Flying Ace tipped me off to a great site and their prices were a lot cheaper than even Tisher.

The catch some people don't realize is shipping. Some sites mark up shipping considerably to make up for the lower part cost. If you can find a site that offers flat, free or discounted shipping paired with lower costs (also need to include possible taxes like us folks in CA), then you have a winner.

My strategy has been to plan large orders to leverage shipping costs. I know I'll change out my oil, diff fluid, blinker fluid etc so I'll get several at one shot along with any spare clips or maintenance hardware. If I just need one of something that is a low cost, I'll usually just swing down to my local dealership.

ECS does provide a great service and their website is great to use but I rarely use them.

[Flying Ace]

My favorite vendor is BMW Fairfax, they have free shipping in orders over $200. Also one of the lowest vendors out there

[MrPrena]

Any trustable eBay vendor on oil filter? thanks

[Leonardo629]

Originally Posted by MrPrena

Any trustable eBay vendor on oil filter? thanks

This is what you need brah:

http://www.amazon.com/Hastings-Filte...=m3+oil+filter

It's made by Mahle for Hastings, I bought two when they were like $5.83 last year.

[vegaseric]

Filters are usually cheapest from the dealership for me since shipping usually negates any discount from online vendors. I might try the Amazon seller since I have Prime.

The best deal on Castrol TWS I found is at O'Reillys:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...2446&ppt=C0252

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by SilberVogel

I've thought about working shipping costs into that price comparison tool, but too many vendors require you to either have an account or go through the checkout process before giving an estimate. Would love to have that be a feature, but I tend to wind up shopping for parts, including oil, the same way – planning ahead and leveraging bulk orders.

Last time I checked, most non-dealership vendors have a free shipping threshold around $75 (although they usually have higher-priced oil than dealerships). I may need to update this list, but here are the majority of vendors' free shipping rates in one place: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...3&postcount=12.

Have a few more websites to add to the BMW PNPC tool (thanks to Flying Ace for bringing them to my attention), just haven't had time yet.

And +1 on Amazon for air/fuel/oil filters. That's usually the first place I check.

actually, I've logged shipping prices for a few of those vendors on your site. They have varying prices, and shipping prices can sway the overall cost of the order from one vendor to another. I had mentioned BMW Fairfax has a scaled flat rate for every $50 up to $200, after which is completely free. But they don't tend to be the absolute cheapest.

If you want me to help you log a few of these, I can.


Basically, I learned that the cheapest vendor varies as it all depends on what you order and how much your total order is. Not a single dealer is always the cheapest for every part. Some dealers are rock bottom on oil, but charge up for other parts like DEF fluid in the 0.5 gallon sizes, and etc. So it all depends on what you order and how much you order.

But recently no matter how I play around splitting my orders or upping my order size to get free shipping, it is usually the same 3 dealers that are consistently the lowest cost supplier and they only vary by a few dollars here and there.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by BzsBimmer

Yes I should have also mentioned that link. I've typically done it the hard way by cross shopping PN's against various online sites.
Flying Ace tipped me off to a great site and their prices were a lot cheaper than even Tisher.

The catch some people don't realize is shipping. Some sites mark up shipping considerably to make up for the lower part cost. If you can find a site that offers flat, free or discounted shipping paired with lower costs (also need to include possible taxes like us folks in CA), then you have a winner.

My strategy has been to plan large orders to leverage shipping costs. I know I'll change out my oil, diff fluid, blinker fluid etc so I'll get several at one shot along with any spare clips or maintenance hardware. If I just need one of something that is a low cost, I'll usually just swing down to my local dealership.

ECS does provide a great service and their website is great to use but I rarely use them.

I use to live near Tischer, so I would PM them for a pick up price and they would knock a few bucks off the S&H rate. Evan and Jason provides excellent service. I would always ask them to verify part numbers for me and they've gladly accepted returns with no questions asked. Once, I showed up for a rivet and they parted it out for me at a prorated rate rather than charging me for a larger piece it was part of. But unfortunately, they are often not the cheapest price.

My favorite when I lived in the DC metro area was BMW of Fairfax, they offered free online pickup order which for most of my orders came out to be cheaper than the cheapest dealer + shipping.