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Front ride height after fitting Bilstein B4 on my E90 330i Exclusive RWD
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12-07-2020, 08:11 AM | #1 |
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So last week I finally had new shocks and struts fitted, thought I was being sensible fitting Bilstein B4 OEM replacements. The workshop that fitted them were able to reuse some of the mounts (this includes the front upper mounts and rubber strut spring pads) since the car's overall mileage is still low and they were in good condition still, the original Sachs shocks and struts were toast already some years back, so all bump stops were falling apart from being crushed here and there. So they replaced all bump stops and I also had them replace front and rear stabilser links and bushes, so no more rattles going on and off driveways etc. Four wheel alignment was of course done, and everything else as required.
On collecting the car, and driving home, could definitely feel that there is now a firmer but more compliant ride, and not crashy like it was due to the old shocks not working properly. But here's the head scratching problem - the front ride height was 15mm higher than before and the rear about 5mm. Before the car went in for this, I had measured these heights in my garage that is level, measured from ground up to highest point of each wheel arch with the roundel being the middle point. My initial thought was that they need to settle, but when I had posted on a social media page, almost everyone was saying that the shocks won't influence the ride height, or not by much, so won't settle lower. I have since been driving the car a bit, probably not enough in reality, but I have seen a few minor changes at least, the rear was first to settle and it returned to where it was before, about 66cm from the ground up. The front is now about 10mm higher than before, so has come down by about 5mm too. Has anyone else had this happen, and if so, did it eventually settle to the correct and original car's height? As per the subject line, this is my '05 E90 330i Exclusive, so non-Sport suspension and of course RWD. And in case there is doubt as far as measuring from the ground up, since tyre pressures could alter the ride height even though these are still RFT's, I have seen that you can see exactly how different the ride height changed if you use a line drawn in line with the crease on the front bumper and gap between the fender and side-skirt, then look at where the roundel is by comparison. Before (taken a few weeks ago): [img]https://i.ibb.co/Y3QjTFb/E90-330i-shocks-before.jpg[/img] After (taken just after fetching the car): [img]https://i.ibb.co/C2HcNFg/E90-330i-shocks-after.jpg[/img] |
12-07-2020, 10:40 AM | #2 |
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If they changed the upper mount up front to a new part, that's where the height is coming from. Will take some time for the rubber built into the mount to wear in a bit. Look around here for examples of that posted quite a bit already...
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12-07-2020, 10:49 AM | #3 |
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Sorry, I should've explained in more detail, front upper mounts as well as the strut spring pads reused, bump stops don't affect ride height of course since they are only compressed in rare cases if you've gone over a severe bump. So it's only the struts that were replaced in front that would contribute to added ride height.
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12-07-2020, 12:10 PM | #4 |
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When they had everything apart to do the swap did they tighten it down while the car was loaded or when it was on the lift? Some of the rubber bushings in the control arms require the car to be loaded before you torque down the control arm installation nuts. If they torqued everything down while on the lift it could explain why your car looks like it was lifted.
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12-07-2020, 12:12 PM | #5 |
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This is normal. A new high pressure gas charged damper will increase ride height. Actually, it is more you are now at proper ride height, the car would have sagged on blown dampers.
It will settle a bit though, give it a couple hundred km. |
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12-07-2020, 12:47 PM | #6 | ||
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So hopefully the ride in front will continue to settle. All I can think is that they are still charged enough to add to the spring force of the actual spring and that's what's raising the ride height. |
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12-07-2020, 01:13 PM | #7 | |||
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When you take a new strut out of the box, it takes nearly your full body weight to compress it. It is doing the same thing once installed, so nearly your full body weight pushing up on the car. Grab the fender and lift as hard as you can, same thing. |
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12-07-2020, 01:36 PM | #8 | ||||
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12-07-2020, 01:40 PM | #9 | |||||
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12-07-2020, 04:07 PM | #10 | |
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How would you compare the ride with the B4s you have now to the original Sachs you had before (when they were in good order)? Also, just a thought about the B4s - did you buy the correct B4 shocks, as I understand that there were 2 types - B4 non-sport and B4 Sport. And finally, the front left side of the E9x models (measuring from the ground on a level surface to the wheel arch) is approx 10-13 mm higher than the front right side. And one more thing, the E9x models sit higher on the front than the back, just for reference. When I had my new SACHS dampers put in, I do not recall any increase in ride height. I also replaced the shock mounts as well with Lemforders. Hope this helps. |
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12-07-2020, 07:16 PM | #11 | |
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No problem, mine is regarded as the Exclusive, so not M-Sport or SE I gather, so has the normal suspension and trim etc. I suspect the crashy ride has always been there and is more to do with the car having RFT tyres, well, mine has always had RFT tyres, will eventually change to normal tyres when I am able to find a nice set of 18" style 162 Ellipsoids (do have a proper BMW space-saver in the boot). The B4s do feel quite good overall, not nearly as hard as I would've expected, firm but still very comfortable. I can still feel the slightest bit of thud or crashiness from the rear when accelerating over the harsher bumps in the road here and there, but it's not as bad as obviously compared to the old shocks. To be honest though, I still have to drive the car more to get a real sense of these shocks in all conditions, but apart from the height issue, cannot fault them. How would you compare the ride with the B4s you have now to the original Sachs you had before (when they were in good order)? That's hard to say since I've effectively been running with these deteriorated Sachs (rubbish) since probably 2014 or so, only had them tested middle of last year when I suspected they were getting tired, and drivers side was reported as below 50%, passenger side was just on 50%. But, thinking back, ride was always firm as expected, but comfortable, never liked rough town roads and this meant a choppy ride here and there. Also, just a thought about the B4s - did you buy the correct B4 shocks, as I understand that there were 2 types - B4 non-sport and B4 Sport. I took my car to a BMW specialist and they ordered the parts based on the car's spec, so when I spoke to them this past Friday, they confirmed that they did order the non-sport shocks and struts, and we never got the AWD (Xi) models here, but was evening wondering if they somehow supplied struts for those instead of the RWD which are apparently higher up front. And finally, the front left side of the E9x models (measuring from the ground on a level surface to the wheel arch) is approx 10-13 mm higher than the front right side. And one more thing, the E9x models sit higher on the front than the back, just for reference. When I measured mine before it went in for this work, I parked it in the middle of my level garage, and then measured from the ground up on all four wheels - it was interesting that I saw both left wheel arches were 66.5cm from the ground and both right wheel aches were 66cm from the ground, so drivers side 5mm lower. Maybe from my weight when moving the car, and course battery in the boot is drivers side too. As for the ride height in front over the years, has always been exactly like the before picture - using the body panels and roundel on the wheel as reference makes it quite easy to see, there's a huge difference with a 10-15mm change of ride height. When I had my new SACHS dampers put in, I do not recall any increase in ride height. I also replaced the shock mounts as well with Lemforders. Hope this helps. Only reason why I didn't replace with Sachs is simply that I was quite disappointed that mine were trash at approximately 70k km or possibly earlier even. I remember around that time going through a dip down a hill pass and the right rear did something weird, later on I figured out that it had bottomed out and crushed the right rear bump stop. It wasn't even that much of a dip, and was going at normal speeds. I was going to replace the upper mounts if necessary, and was initially going to also fit the Lemforders, but read of some complaining that they found cracks in the ones they bought recently and there's even a note from Lemforders saying that their mounts need to be inspected for cracks which is sometimes due to manufacturing. So if I was going to have to replace these, probably would've gone for Meyle. But mine were still fine, and they just added some bearing grease. |
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12-08-2020, 07:03 AM | #12 | |
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Interesting about your left ride heights and right ride heights. Even though the battery is in the trunk on the RHS, the front left should be 10mm+ higher than the front right, with nobody sitting in the car. Yes, when someone is sitting in the front left seat ONLY, the front left and right heights should be almost the same. Did you also change the shocks at the rear? My E92 measures 695mm front left and 683mm front right (driver side) so 12mm difference (with nobody in the car) and rear measures 655mm both sides (again, with nobody in the car and remembering from the top of my head). I would expect a E90 saloon to also have a similar pattern albeit with possibly different values as the coupe may ride at a different height. Re. the Lemforder front shock mounts, I hadn't come across that before but it could be that the updated Lemforder mount (part number 27001 01) for E9x was a improved mount over the predecessor part which is now discontinued... As others have suggested, the possible reason for your car sitting higher than before could be the worn old dampers most likely, so maybe its not something to worry about. However, I personally would check out for the ride height pattern: front left should be 10-13mm higher than front right and both rears should be almost identical and ~30mm lower than front right or ~ 40mm lower than front left, as a rough guide. Last edited by bmw_solid; 12-08-2020 at 07:16 AM.. |
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12-08-2020, 11:31 AM | #13 | |
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It's the first I hear of different ride heights left to right, especially in front, and it would make sense in my case if the right front or right in general was slightly higher since that's the driver side. Like I've said already, have had this car since mid 2010 and when looking back at pics taken through the years, ride height has always been the same, like the before pic in my original post, and never noticed an odd difference in left to right ride height. As for the measurements that I took when I spotted the 5mm difference, only thing I can think is that the suspension didn't settle back up after I had moved the car, I'm not a particularly heavy guy (88kg), so could just be the old shocks. Yes, all four corners were replaced - struts and shocks. Thankfully my upper mounts were still in good shape, and should continue to be fine for many years to come, but if I ever need to replace, will definitely still consider Lemforder. |
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12-08-2020, 02:14 PM | #14 | |
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The reason they raised the front left is mainly for when driving alone as maybe they thought most cars are driven alone. Hence, when the driver is sitting on the front left, it will be almost level to the front right. I am not sure if the front left and rear left should be at the same height but from what I have seen on these forums, it is only the front left that has a raised setting. |
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12-08-2020, 02:55 PM | #15 | ||
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12-08-2020, 03:29 PM | #16 | |
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https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=819454 especially post #14 |
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12-08-2020, 04:50 PM | #17 | ||
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12-09-2020, 02:09 AM | #18 |
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Well the chap in post #14 took his car to his BMW dealer and they confirmed its meant to be like that. There are various threads on this topic as its been covered many times... I have heard the F30 has this set-up also. Not sure about USA/Canada but Europe and UK has this set-up from factory.
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12-09-2020, 08:22 AM | #19 | |
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12-09-2020, 09:36 AM | #20 | |
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As far as your 135i is concerned, I don't think they have this set-up either. I have read somewhere on here that this set-up is only on 3-series models... I had a 120d E87 and never noticed any ride height difference between the front left and front right either. As far as the OP is concerned, I take it your car is not a X-drive, hence it should be raised on the front left. I would like to also clarify that the actual tolerance for the front left is not 10-13mm, but 6-13mm higher, from browsing some other threads yesterday. |
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12-09-2020, 09:56 AM | #21 |
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The thing is, in Germany with their cars being LHD, sure, maybe they set their suspensions up that way, but then it should either be the opposite for RHD cars, or if not, just same height on both sides, certainly not such a big difference. Mine is of course an SA build, being built at the Rosslyn Plant in South Africa, which back then, made all 3 series models for local and export market, even the Xi models were made there, but not for our market. I've had 3 BMW 3 series models for far, E46 and E90, none of them have had this weird uneven left to ride heights, a few mm is impossible to see without measuring, but over a cm is easy to see, they've all been pretty even.
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12-09-2020, 10:39 AM | #22 | |
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Honestly, i have done thousands of alignments on BMWs, and have never seen this on any car. If the ride heights are that different it is because something is bent. Here is the E90 spec for all world markets. |
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