| New BMW owner - in trouble already - help, anyone?
Hello fellow BMW owners,
After a long, long and excruciating search, I at last have a BMW (yay!). I recently bought a two owner (almost one owner) 1997 Bmw 328is with about 143K miles. First things first, I love it. Almost everything inside functions (well not the wiper fluid thingie, and the stereo display is fading out, but other than that, it is pretty good on the inside. A few flaws no doubt in the seats but nothing ungainly, ditto with the exterior as well. I bought it right away since it drove nicely - could not find any leaks or obvious problems either.
When I bought it I noticed that the serpentine belt had a few cracks and after the test drive, on the way home, I also noticed that as I went over bumps, there was a thump in the rear passenger side, along with a little shift in the steering. My guess was perhaps a rear shock mount and in a worse case scenario, a pair of new shocks.
Well speaking of shocks, when I took it to a local mechanic (not familiar with BMWs btw), he gave me a rude one and pointed out that the rear knuckles are all but gone, and the vehicle is a danger to drive! He does not exactly know what the part is called and where it may be available, but believes his labor to be no less than $ 450 including the serp belt, which too he said, was a pain in the rear to fix.
My problem/questions are - a) I cannot find anything called a rear axle knuckle for the BMW, all I can find is front steering knuckles. b) Should I go to someone else? c) Can anyone suggest what might be the problem?
Thank you very much, and may your Bimmers take you to glory!
BMW_N | 
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