8.9mm valve shim kits for a '17 R1200RT

Can anyone recommend a particular kit? Most I have seen run from 1.72mm to 2.60mm in .04mm increments with 3 shims of each size, like Wiseco. OEM shims come in .02 increments. Does it matter much in practice? I have not yet done a valve check on my bike, and it seem to make sense to have a shim kit handy for when I do rather than hoping the dealer has what I need or waiting for a shipment.

I wouldn't be surprised if all shims, including OEM, were made by the same company. A fellow on a BMW car site did a pretty comprehensive comparison and it appears the Wiseco shims are as good as OEM in all respects. You can read that here down the page a bit, #26 at https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/...#post-16598487

Given the year of your bike (I too ride a 17’), I suspect the valve clearance would stay within spec for many more years to come. So I don’t think there’s a need to stock up on the shims yet.

I checked mine last year.


Tapatalk

This kit has worked for me thru about 40 valve checks


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006573A6I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bill,

I have a complete set of shims. And I bought a few extras to fill in between the common sizes. I discovered that the majority of shims in my kit were not in the range to be useful on my R1200RTW. And the spacing between shim sizes in the kit was not sufficiently small to achieve my goal of having my valve clearances in the middle of the range.

The useful shims are 2.22 through 2.28 in my bike. Other owners have confirmed these shims.

I found that I could swap some shims around using the ones that came with the bike, and using only a couple of the new ones from my kit. Later, knowing which values I needed going forward, I bought the individual shims to fill in.

You will also need some feeler gauges. The same problem arises: the gauge kits don't have great coverage of the gaps we want. So, I ended up buying a few different sets and making up a batch that has the sizes we need.

In any case, if I can help by loaning tools or swapping shims, let me know.

Cap
Fort Collins

I have a camhead R1200R which uses the shims. When I finally had to change the shimming at 48K, I found that I was able to repurpose a couple of shims that I had removed and only had to buy three shims to finish the job. I didn't see the need to maintain a kit of all the sizes. I'm sure that if I had a kit, I'd be missing the one size needed. It seems a lot less expensive and the 2-day wait for the shims was used to complete other checks on the bike.

Doug

Boxflyer said:

This kit has worked for me thru about 40 valve checks

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006573A6I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Same for me. Great kit with quality shims. YMMV

Thanks all. Sounds like I should wait for a week when I don't expect to ride and then start the valve check then, buy what I need, and then complete the work. God knows I have enough old spare parts in my garage that have been hanging around since I was a teenager, and I don't need any more!

This also sounds like a great opportunity for someone to run a non profit "Shim Bank". Among all MOA owners there are probably hundreds of shims sitting around unused while others need them and buy more. Would be a great service if MOA ran that. Yeah, dream on...

I've always just bought mine from the dealer as needed. Most dealers will have a full kit in stock and can get exactly what you need without having to buy a whole bunch of extra you will never use. I just start my service in the morning so I have time to run to the dealer if I need to adjust a valve (granted I am lucky to have a dealer 10 miles away).

natrab said:

I've always just bought mine from the dealer as needed. Most dealers will have a full kit in stock and can get exactly what you need without having to buy a whole bunch of extra you will never use. I just start my service in the morning so I have time to run to the dealer if I need to adjust a valve (granted I am lucky to have a dealer 10 miles away).

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I see MSRP is $8.43 each at A&S. My dealer usually doubles this for small parts like nuts, bolts, etc., so probably about $17 each.

AjaxTheDog said:

I see MSRP is $8.43 each at A&S. My dealer usually doubles this for small parts like nuts, bolts, etc., so probably about $17 each.

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Double MSRP on small bits?? Please share the name of the dealership so I can avoid them when in the area.

Best,
DeVern

GTRider said:

Double MSRP on small bits?? Please share the name of the dealership so I can avoid them when in the area.

Best,
DeVern

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Marijuana is legal in Colorado, so...

azgman said:

Marijuana is legal in Colorado, so...

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So I hear, but those days are long behind me, I have no brain cells to spare.

Actually it is quite common for dealerships of all makes to mark up the MSRP on small parts. I was griping about this with my cousin's husband who manages a large GM dealership in NH and he started laughing and said that this was a common practice by dealers. Small usually inexpensive parts are marked up on a "because we can do it" basis, and if something that's a dollar is priced at two the customer will buy it anyway because it is convenient. He even had a name for the practice which I can't recall at the moment. Like I said, I need every brain cell I have.

Both Foothills BMW and BMW of Denver do this, the former more so I have found. MSRP is usually available on REALOEM and I see it is $8.43 each for shims. Just for fun I just called BMW of Denver and was told they are $9.27 each, and that they don't even carry a full line of them. If I need to order one it is 3-5 days. That's not a bad markup, maybe they have some kind of scale for how much more over MSRP depending on that price. I know I called them about some torx bolts recently and they were 2X MSRP. So I went with A&S who charge REALOEM prices, free shipping and no tax. Usually takes a week, which I can stand.

This isn't a gripe post about dealer prices on parts, I know they need to make a living and I am OK with that. But, I do recall my Marketing guy at a past job telling me repeatedly, "Cost has nothing to do with price". Businesses charge what the market will bear regardless of cost. That is a good thing to bear in mind when you are buying something that you think is higher quality (you think it costs more to make) just because it costs more. Like my guy said, that has nothing to do with it. Sellers charge more if they can, period.

AjaxTheDog said:

MSRP is usually available on REALOEM

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Actually, no. Prices on RealOEM are terribly out of date, since the prices shown only change when there is an update to that particular parts diagram or catalog. The site is very useful for looking up numbers, but if you want an accurate current price it’s necessary to check the online dealer websites—Bob’s BMW, MaxBMW, Sierra BMW, ASCycles, etc. I find prices on small parts are pretty consistent across those, but there can be differences on large items like body panels and such.

Best,
DeVern