[rideon88]

Hey all,

I'm about to do a suspension / brake refresh on a 2009 e92 335i. I got this car a few months ago used and it seems to have m sport suspension. The prior owner already replaced leaking front struts to pass inspection (with OEM) so i'm thinking i will just leave those alone.

Am I missing anything obvious in this order that I should be taking care of while doing this work? All work will be performed by a reputable indy shop in my area. Thanks!

https://www.fcpeuro.com/cart?utm_sou...1060620607%232

[squaredphoto]

You could probably save some $$$ by buying Cetric rotors from Rockauto

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by rideon88

Hey all,

I'm about to do a suspension / break refresh on a 2009 e92 335i. I got this car a few months ago used and it seems to have m sport suspension. The prior owner already replaced leaking front struts to pass inspection (with OEM) so i'm thinking i will just leave those alone.

Am I missing anything obvious in this order that I should be taking care of while doing this work? All work will be performed by a reputable indy shop in my area. Thanks!

https://www.fcpeuro.com/cart?utm_sou...1060620607%232

I see where you are going.

I've replaced every single piece of the suspension in a 335.

You need to ask yourself a few questions & come up with some answers.

1) what is the purpose of the car? DD, Track, mix of both, weekend canyon carver, etc?

2) do you want to at least have the m-sport suspension or are you interested in a better suspension than stock?

3) what's your budget & time?

I wouldn't put Bilsteina with stock, front struts. Bilstein are stiffer and a much better product than OEM.

If you want my opinion, I'd get the Bilstein B12 Kit & the M3 11 piece control arm kit coupled with Lemforder Tie Rods & some sort of adjustable sway bar links. I love the whiteline version for the front, but they don't make them for the rear. FCP Euro does sell them. I just put Meyle HD non-adjustable in the rear for now. They have been there about a year & no issues yet.

I'd then, start planning to replace every bushing & control arm attached to the rear subframe, in the next 25,000 miles or so.

You don't need bump stops if you get the B12 kit. They are built in in the front struts & come under the blue covers on the shocks.

At 100k, I'd also change out all the fluids, belts & pulleys and coils. Maybe even do the plugs. Last, change out the PCV valve & PCV vent hose too.

[rideon88]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I see where you are going.

I've replaced every single piece of the suspension in a 335.

You need to ask yourself a few questions & come up with some answers.

1) what is the purpose of the car? DD, Track, mix of both, weekend canyon carver, etc?

2) do you want to at least have the m-sport suspension or are you interested in a better suspension than stock?

3) what's your budget & time?

I wouldn't put Bilsteina with stock, front struts. Bilstein are stiffer and a much better product than OEM.

If you want my opinion, I'd get the Bilstein B12 Kit & the M3 11 piece control arm kit coupled with Lemforder Tie Rods & some sort of adjustable sway bar links. I love the whiteline version for the front, but they don't make them for the rear. FCP Euro does sell them. I just put Meyle HD non-adjustable in the rear for now. They have been there about a year & no issues yet.

I'd then, start planning to replace every bushing & control arm attached to the rear subframe, in the next 25,000 miles or so.

You don't need bump stops if you get the B12 kit. They are built in in the front struts & come under the blue covers on the shocks.

At 100k, I'd also change out all the fluids, belts & pulleys and coils. Maybe even do the plugs. Last, change out the PCV valve & PCV vent hose too.

The car is just for weekends and short trips in the tri state. My DD is the subway. I'm happy to maintain stock (msport) or a little better than stock without breaking the bank. My ideal parts cost for this refresh was ~$1k.

I hear you on the mis-matched shocks. I thought I could save here and match Bilstein "touring" in the rear and hope that the ride height and handling was about equal to the OEM m sport in the front. This is exactly what I needed to hear though. I guess I'll be going m sport in the rear as well. (i found these https://www.amazon.com/BMW-Genuine-S.../dp/B00TOV2PLI)

As far as the 5 piece vs 11 piece control arm set, I can see the 11 piece making a big difference in handling, so I might as well go for it.

I'm pretty sure coils and plugs were done around 85k. I will look into belts and pulleys. I did the PCV gasket recently. I figured they would have said if I needed the new PCV valve. I think they did do the hose while they were in there!

I've got my 1 year inspection coming up at the end of the month, so I was just hoping to get everything ordered soon, installed and inspected all before the last week of April.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by rideon88

The car is just for weekends and short trips in the tri state. My DD is the subway. I'm happy to maintain stock (msport) or a little better than stock without breaking the bank. My ideal parts cost for this refresh was ~$1k.

I hear you on the mis-matched shocks. I thought I could save here and match Bilstein "touring" in the rear and hope that the ride height and handling was about equal to the OEM m sport in the front. This is exactly what I needed to hear though. I guess I'll be going m sport in the rear as well. (i found these https://www.amazon.com/BMW-Genuine-S.../dp/B00TOV2PLI)

As far as the 5 piece vs 11 piece control arm set, I can see the 11 piece making a big difference in handling, so I might as well go for it.

I'm pretty sure coils and plugs were done around 85k. I will look into belts and pulleys. I did the PCV gasket recently. I figured they would have said if I needed the new PCV valve. I think they did do the hose while they were in there!

I've got my 1 year inspection coming up at the end of the month, so I was just hoping to get everything ordered soon, installed and inspected all before the last week of April.

Don't assume I'm the PCV valve & vent hose. Assuming can cause major oil leaks in the rear main seal & valve cover.

Get Rob Beck's PCV valve & cap. The vent hose is $30.00 at FCP..

Walnut Blast? Look into buying your own kit for around $200 or paying $400 or so every 36,000 miles. It should be done around that interval if you want to really maintain a DI engine.

Look into and consider a catch can.

I'd Get the 5 piece M3 arms, the b12 kit and new tie rods.

You can probably be out the door in parts for around $1400.00

B12 - 800
M3 arms - 300
Surrounding hardware - 200
Lemforder - tie rods - 100.00


You can get the 6 piece m control arms for the rear when you tackle the rear subframe in the next 25,000 miles.

That's what I would do.

[rbg00600]

I have a 2007 328xi that was mostly taken care of by previous owner but at 154k miles, I went ahead and replaced tie-rods, struts, shocks, rotors, and pads. As well as replaced the springs with lower ones to bring the car down a little bit.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by rbg00600

I have a 2007 328xi that was mostly taken care of by previous owner but at 154k miles, I went ahead and replaced tie-rods, struts, shocks, rotors, and pads. As well as replaced the springs with lower ones to bring the car down a little bit.

Hopefully, the springs are tuned to your shocks & struts.