[jwebb335xi]

Hey guys,

All of the parts needed for a shock/strut swap for my 2008 335xi are sitting my my garage. I do, however, need to grab a spring compressor.

Has anyone used this type from Harbor Freight??

http://www.harborfreight.com/single-...sor-43753.html

[slupie]

Rent one from any auto parts store for free.

[jpregione]

either rent one or bring them down to a shop that does shocks / coils, they have a wall mounted monster that takes about 2 minutes to use and shouldn't charge you that much money to do it.

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by jpregione

either rent one or bring them down to a shop that does shocks / coils, they have a wall mounted monster that takes about 2 minutes to use and shouldn't charge you that much money to do it.

thanks for the advice guys. i talked to two shops today about doing that work for me as well as the alignment and they simply will not! it's amazing to be honest.

[TheTallJS]

its a pain in the arse changing the front struts, even with a wall mounted spring compressor. Took me 4 hrs just the left front strut. Then need alignment and headlight leveling.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by TheTallJS

its a pain in the arse changing the front struts, even with a wall mounted spring compressor. Took me 4 hrs just the left front strut. Then need alignment and headlight leveling.

4h ? Seriously? I will do all 4 for 4h and alingment as well.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

i talked to two shops today about doing that work for me as well as the alignment and they simply will not! it's amazing to be honest.

Small shop in Edgebrook has BMW specific air driven spring compresor. For both front and rear. The rear one is pritty neat. Goes thru the lower control arm. Is about 1h job and they have account with Firestone for affordable alignments with 1y warranty I think. If you need help send me a PM.

[Donutz]

I use these:
http://www.princessauto.com/en/detai...or/A-p8023104e

They aren't the safest, but they work well enough.

[Stupenal]

I lived nearby a main Street full of auto shops

After struggling for hours to compress the springs enough to get the strut hat on, we figured it be safer to just have a shop do it.

Me and a buddy just walked along the street and asked a couple of shops if they could help us out. 3rd shop charged me $20 per strut - done in 5 min literally. When going back to stock,another shop charged me $20 for both as a favor.

Spring compressors are dangerous to work with ( I've been doing suspension swaps on various cars for 15 years) and if the strut body does not have good "holds" for the claws, it can get dicey real quick.

This was done on my e82.

[PrematureApex]

Maybe too late now, but the one in your link will not work if you're planning on using them to aid you in removing the strut from the car.

The problem with E90s is there's not enough fender clearance to get the top of the strut out from under the fender. So typically people attach two screw-type spring compressors to the spring while it's on the car, shortening the overall height to remove it. There's not a lot of room, so screw type x 2 works, whereas the one you posted is too big to fit up into the strut tower.

Another way is to loosen the lower control arm bolt (inboard side), and perhaps remove the tension strut bolt (in board).

This often allows enough added droop travel to allow you to remove the knuckle from the bottom of the strut (while the top is still bolted to the car), or to give enough room to get the strut top under the fender.

Sometimes, the control arm bolts allow you to avoid spring compressors all together, sometimes they only help, and require less compression. It's often side-to-side dependent.

Hope that made sense!

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by PrematureApex

Maybe too late now, but the one in your link will not work if you're planning on using them to aid you in removing the strut from the car.

The problem with E90s is there's not enough fender clearance to get the top of the strut out from under the fender. So typically people attach two screw-type spring compressors to the spring while it's on the car, shortening the overall height to remove it. There's not a lot of room, so screw type x 2 works, whereas the one you posted is too big to fit up into the strut tower.

Another way is to loosen the lower control arm bolt (inboard side), and perhaps remove the tension strut bolt (in board).

This often allows enough added droop travel to allow you to remove the knuckle from the bottom of the strut (while the top is still bolted to the car), or to give enough room to get the strut top under the fender.

Sometimes, the control arm bolts allow you to avoid spring compressors all together, sometimes they only help, and require less compression. It's often side-to-side dependent.

Hope that made sense!

Makes total sense. I think I'm going to loosen up the control arms, remove sway end links and headlight adjuster and see if I can get the struts, springs out. Then, i'll run over and get the compressor. If all else fails, an indy will do th front for $140, but I'd like to learn how to do this as I may want to fiddle with the front end again this summer..

Finished rears earlier this afternoon.. I should have done this 20k miles ago!!

[PhaseP]

I think I'm going to loosen up the control arms

You have xi from your signature. XI control arm (wish bone) bushing is a ball joint type, you don't need to loosen it, it will rotate by itself.

You may need to loosen up the tension (compression actually on xi) arm, but that big rubber bushing allows some movement also by itself without bolt loosened. From what I remember I had removed mine without loosening up any of those nor compressing the spring on the car, but it was somewhat of a struggle.

When compressing the XI stock front springs you will most probably compress it to the compressor tool's limit and still the top tension will be there. Now this maybe because of two reasons:

1- spring is not really compressed fully and has still applying tension to the top of the strut, or
2- there is an internal spring inside the xi stock front struts that pull the piston shaft down and that is the one left only putting tension on the top of the strut.

So you need to be able to decide if it is 1 or 2. If it is 1 you either have to compress the springs better, use another tool that compresses more or bring it to a shop. Because the spring will still release its tension and can be dangerous upon removal of top nut.

If it is 2, it is safe to slowly start removing the top nut on the strut because the internal spring inside the strut will just push the piston inwards and that won't harm anything.

To be able to tell if it s 1 or 2 requires some experience.

For anyone reading this and not experienced or hesitant, I recommend take the safe route and bring it to some shop to do this rest of the work of.

The replacement struts I had used were B4's and they didn't have these internal springs pulling down on the piston shaft, so installing was not a problem. If replacing stock struts, they would requires somehow pulling up on the piston shaft so the top nut can be threaded. Not something I had to do. Or maybe a better compressor tool.

Another thing to watch out with XI struts, including replacement, they have two "dots" spot welded on to the body of the shock that go into the clevis crack on the spindle. These provide alignment of the strut. Problem with them, if you hit them on the spindle during assembly or disassembly they broke off and fall down easily.
Also the clamp bolt on the spindle that clamps down the clevis over the strut goes in between these two dots. Always remove this bolt completely, not just loosen up during disassembly and assembly of the strut, otherwise bolt will hit the lower "dot" and break it off.

[PrematureApex]

Good insight.

I sometimes mix up my 135 (uses a bushings on the CA vs. a ball joint).

[Rosetta Stoned]

Hey Op, I actually used the cheaper $15 spring compressor from HF and it worked great. Of course had to use it 4x (two old springs off, two new ones on) but by that point it was toast so went into the trash. At that price it's worth it. Also it held up well to the impact wrench which made doing that job very easy. The only problem I had was not having the 7/8 size spark plug socket for reinstalling the upper strut mount and instead had to use a regular 7/8 socket and vice grips. If you have a 02 sensor tool that may work as well. I just completed the same job you're doing so let me know if any questions, my stockers were toast at 68k miles. The Bentley manual has the torque specs so let me know if you need those and they don't come up in search.

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

You have xi from your signature. XI control arm (wish bone) bushing is a ball joint type, you don't need to loosen it, it will rotate by itself.

You may need to loosen up the tension (compression actually on xi) arm, but that big rubber bushing allows some movement also by itself without bolt loosened. From what I remember I had removed mine without loosening up any of those nor compressing the spring on the car, but it was somewhat of a struggle.

When compressing the XI stock front springs you will most probably compress it to the compressor tool's limit and still the top tension will be there. Now this maybe because of two reasons:

1- spring is not really compressed fully and has still applying tension to the top of the strut, or
2- there is an internal spring inside the xi stock front struts that pull the piston shaft down and that is the one left only putting tension on the top of the strut.

So you need to be able to decide if it is 1 or 2. If it is 1 you either have to compress the springs better, use another tool that compresses more or bring it to a shop. Because the spring will still release its tension and can be dangerous upon removal of top nut.

If it is 2, it is safe to slowly start removing the top nut on the strut because the internal spring inside the strut will just push the piston inwards and that won't harm anything.

To be able to tell if it s 1 or 2 requires some experience.

For anyone reading this and not experienced or hesitant, I recommend take the safe route and bring it to some shop to do this rest of the work of.

The replacement struts I had used were B4's and they didn't have these internal springs pulling down on the piston shaft, so installing was not a problem. If replacing stock struts, they would requires somehow pulling up on the piston shaft so the top nut can be threaded. Not something I had to do. Or maybe a better compressor tool.

Another thing to watch out with XI struts, including replacement, they have two "dots" spot welded on to the body of the shock that go into the clevis crack on the spindle. These provide alignment of the strut. Problem with them, if you hit them on the spindle during assembly or disassembly they broke off and fall down easily.
Also the clamp bolt on the spindle that clamps down the clevis over the strut goes in between these two dots. Always remove this bolt completely, not just loosen up during disassembly and assembly of the strut, otherwise bolt will hit the lower "dot" and break it off.

Leaning toward having the Indy do this for me..I had this guy do my downpipes as I though it would be too much of a pain in an XI on my garage floor with one jack and four stands!!

He charged me $300 and it probably took him 4hrs.. His pricing seems pretty good.