[OEKlM]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

jmramos, how did those spring compressors work out for you? Without a doubt, the hardest part of doing this is wrestling with them.

I love my air ratchet.... it jsut sucks that I started with the rear springs at 8pm and no wI have to wait till tomorrow morning to dothe fronts because I cant turn the compressor on because it will wake the neighbors

[voltron1011]

I just did my shocks and struts this weekend:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65204

[!Xoible]

HOLY SHIT!!! the front can be done much much easier than this. just take off the plastic covers and you'll have access to the whole thing without having to touch your suspension at all

[finE91]

Hi, this is my first post to this outstanding forum. I have read this forum ever since I started to think of buying E91, forum inspired me to order Alpin White E91 - which I got 3.3.2008. I will post more pics and specs about finE91 later..

Just finished my suspension mod in last weekend. This was something like fourth or fifth car that I lowered, so basically nothing new, except that this time I had this tremendous DIY-thread

For those whom are going to do the same modification I'd like to share some tips.

1. then loosen 17mm bolt and nut from the front sway bar, do not try to force bolt out. Put the jack under the front strut and jack it upwards, after sometime bolt will move freely out.

2.Use good spring compressors. Mine were not so good and I needed help to get the strut out from the fender without scratching it. Better compressors would compress the strut/spring combination more and given more space to work with.

3.Rear is peace of cake. Except that when you put things back to gather, getting this 21mm bolt into it's place is tricky. But with jacking it from the right angles and forcing with pry bar, it's doable.

But it was worth of it, meaning all the trouble. My E91 was delivered with the factory M-sport suspension (-15mm lower) and it was quite harsh and bouncy, in some road bumps rear felt even to loose its grip due its harshness. Now with H&R sports car is substantially lower but also its characteristic has changed much more functional towards road bumps and steering response is more Agilent.

So I would say H&R is more comfortable than OEM Sport suspension while beeing much much more sporty than SUV-looking standard suspension. I bought my springs from Ebay with 165 €, no regrets

[voltron1011]

Sometimes I wonder if it's easier just to take the front fenders off, and pull the struts out that way... The hardest part of this entire process is just getting the struts from under the fenders, but if the fenders where out of the way, you could easily save a lot of time and effort.. I wonder how hard it is to take the fenders off?

[DRC328i]

Originally Posted by j|rz44

Used the diy yesterday....
the guys out here wanted about $500 for the install!
thought i would save myself some money and learn something along the way
InI thank you very much for your help!
here are a few pics....
oh and for the rear ^+1
GL

Is the picture front right angle car on the ground the after install picture? I wanted to see how much the springs actually drop the car.

Thanks. DC

[MDCTFTW]

Do you guys have torque values for the bolts you removed? One thing I never know how to do for the fronts is how tight do you tighten the bolt on top of the strut that holds the mount against the spring.

[My535i]

Originally Posted by MDCTFTW

One thing I never know how to do for the fronts is how tight do you tighten the bolt on top of the strut that holds the mount against the spring.

+1 , same question

[BzsBimmer]

Def. easier removing the outboard control arm bolt! I can vouch for that.
Still need to remove the shock nut on the bottom but I didn't move the sensor bracket

[sirantsE90]

the techs at bmw kept bailing on me so i finally took the springs out of the trunk and did it myself with this diy. i thought it was great except for almost scratchin my fender. thank you for the time u took to explain it and take pics!! it helped alot
thanks bro.

[E92-B]

Looking at the Diy this is for the spring only, I was wondering what is the better way to get the front shock that is attach on the knunkle?

[cpe90]

Guys,
What is the proper torque for tightening those bolts back or I shouldn't have to worry about that as long as it's tight just by using human power.

[lpphreakx06]

I did them to 88 ft/lbs. But if you dont have enough room to get the torque wrench back there try tightening like a quarter of a tread. Its hard to explain.

[BSM 135i]

does anyone know if I could use this DIY for installing H&R sport springs on my 135i?

[voltron1011]

Originally Posted by BSM 135i

does anyone know if I could use this DIY for installing H&R sport springs on my 135i?

Yeah, it should be almost identical since both cars run on the same chassis.

[BSM 135i]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

Yeah, it should be almost identical since both cars run on the same chassis.

thanks! can anyone verify this??

[Kevro]

Does anybody know if the procedure for the fronts is different for an AWD car?

[Dlifevr6]

This was a great help me and my brother did it very simple

[OverDrive]

sorry for going off topic, but i noticed the OP is autocrossing his car with the springs only. Doesn't that wear out the shocks more quickly? I'm looking to lower my 335xi with springs and at the same time would like to track my car once or twice a year, and since coils are too expensive, they're not an option for me right now.
so is a spring-only setup suitable for track use?
thanks in advance

[mark325]

Just a quick note, My 325i E90 RHD has 21mm strut nuts not 19mm.

[voltron1011]

Originally Posted by OverDrive

sorry for going off topic, but i noticed the OP is autocrossing his car with the springs only. Doesn't that wear out the shocks more quickly? I'm looking to lower my 335xi with springs and at the same time would like to track my car once or twice a year, and since coils are too expensive, they're not an option for me right now.
so is a spring-only setup suitable for track use?
thanks in advance

Here's a bit of advise from someone who's done this procedure twice now (once for the springs, and then a few months later for replacing worn struts/shocks)...
Make sure you get everything you need (shocks/struts & springs) before you do this. Don't go chintzy on this by only doing the springs, because I can tell you from personal experience that you will be kicking yourself for not doing both.
Being that your car is an XI means that you have non-sport suspension with very soft shocks that won't last very long once you go with lower springs.
Some people (like the OP) with sport-package equipped cars are able to add slightly lower after-market springs since the difference between them and OEM is very minor.
My car was exactly like yours in that it had non-sport suspension first, and when I did the lowering springs only, my shocks/struts lasted a few thousand more miles before they went spongy. After that, my car drove like a big '74 Cadillac, floating over everything.
Once is enough for a DIY of this caliber.

[chris@strutmonkey]

So, I followed this DIY thread this weekend to install ZSP springs on my non-ZSP e90. Here are some observations which I hope will help all of you. First off, let me say that I am not a mechanic and have only basic tools, but I have replaced springs on other cars before, exhausts, BOV, and even a FMIC. So, I am probably like a lot of you - not a rookie and not a pro. Just wanted to give you some sense of my knowledge. Anyway, here are some thoughts that I hope help you all:

1. FIND A FRIEND TO HELP YOU! Seriously, there will be times here where you are trying to loosen a bolt while grasping a nut with a wrench, while trying to prevent the shock from scratching your car, only to find out the socket you need is just out of arms reach!

2. Do not use this spring compressor:
http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...compressor.jpg . IT WILL NOT WORK! You need to use this one: http://www.oem-tools.com/images/preview/25550.jpg .

3. Protect your fender! I used a beach towel around my fender. Otherwise, you will likely scratch your fender at some point. If you positively cannot under any circumstances handle the thought of a small scratch on your fender, I would just remove the entire shock and work on it from your workbench. I forgot to unclip my sensor wires, which gave me only 1/2 inch of slack, so I did the entire install with the shock/spring 1/2 inch from my fender! I got lucky with only one tiny scratch, but do not overlook the wire/hose slack instruction in the DIY write up..

4. Two minor errors in the DIY writeup: (1) The shock top hat requires a 21mm socket, not 19mm. This is important because most basic socket sets do not have a 21mm socket (like mine!). (2) the headlight sensor is obviously on the driver's side, not the passenger.

5. When you go to remove the top hat 21mm bolt, please note that that the shock rod will turn with the bolt, netting you nothing. You either need a special open faced tool and Allen wrench to properly remove it. Or do what i did: Grab some pliers and some padding (I used weather stripping), and grasp the shock rod gently. That will enable you to remove the top hat bolt without a special tool. And you only need to torque it at 55ftlbs to tighten.

6. Spring compressor position: Trust me, you do not want to compress your spring, only to find out that it does not compress enough to get it out from under the fender, to get the top hat 21mm nut back on, or to get it back under the fender. I did all of the above! Here is how you avoid it:

(6a) The spring compressor rod bolts need to be at top of spring, not at bottom. Some of you, like me, might be thinking to put them at the bottom so you can get them easily and maybe use an power drill with a socket attachment. IT WILL NOT WORK because the compressor rod bolts, once tightened, will stick out further than the top of the shock top hat, making it impossible to get it back under the fender.

(6b) You cannot just grab any 3 springs and compress them. If you do, you will find that you compressed them all the way and still cannot get the shock 21mm top hat bolt back on. Solution: Put the spring compressor on 4 springs on one side. You can do this if you put one end of the compressor on the second row spring immediately in front of where bottom end of the spring ends. Essentially, you want to place the compressor grips as close to the top and bottom of the spring without interfering with the bottom perch or the top hat. Make sure you check before you compress - you do not want to compress the spring only to find that the bottom spring end will not sit on perch or the shock top hat will not fit properly on the top of the spring.

(6c) Another way to solve this problem: If you have compressed the spring all the way and still need a tiny bit of compression in order to get the top hat bolt on the shock rod, use ratcheted cargo straps like this: http://www.discountramps.com/cargoIm...het-straps.jpg . I thought of this in my desperation! You put one hook on the shock top hat and one down on the control arm. Do it on both sides of the shock/spring. All you will need is a couple of clicks to get the top spring coil to compress a little more to get the shock rod bolt to move up so you can attach the 21mm top hat bolt.

7. Don't forget to use a power drill with socket attachment to loosen and tighten the spring compressor when it is off your shock - saves a bunch of time.

8. You will need a 19mm open faced wrench to loosen the spring compressor rod once the new spring is back under the fender. It is going to be a very awkward and difficult exercise - a real pain is ass. One key is to lower the rotor as far as it will go and place the shock assembly close to the wheel well - not all the way inside it. That gives you more room to loosen.

9. Do not put the spring compressor on the spring in a position that, when you place the spring back under the fender, you cannot get the to spring compressor bolts. The spring compressor bolts need to be on the left and right side of the shock assembly, NOT in back of it!

10. Neat hint: When you are loosening and tightening the first 17mm control arm bolt, you will need to have a 17mm open faced wrench in the back to stop the nut from also turning. This is a pain ass unless you do what I did: Put the open faced wrench on the nut in back and then lay the other end of the wrench in the hole in the inner fender. It lays in there perfectly and will not move as you tighten and loosen the 17mm bolt. That way this become a one armed task.

11. Do not forget to put the bumper stop and dust shield back on the shock rod prior to putting the top hat back on! Yes, shamefully, I did this!

Best of luck to you all!

Chris


p.s. Sorry I do not have pics for all these steps/ideas. I was working alone in a cold garage with a baby monitor on my workbench and a pissed off wife during the Blizzard of 2010 in DC area. I spent over 8 hours to do this install with a bad back. The last thing I was going to do is go get my camera. Hope you understand :-)