[montE90 blue]

So I've been working on getting these things in all afternoon/evening (08 328xi e90)and have run into a few snags along the way. It appears that the rears are finished but I have two problems with them. First is with the top nut on the strut that's in the trunk. Manual said that it needs to be torqued to 28 ft/lbs, but I can't get the torque wrench to tighten it to 28 because the silver rod on the strut starts to spin. Tried holding it with a strap wrench but only had minimal success. I'm having the same problems with the fronts as well while trying to tighten the KW piston rod nut on the top. The other problem I'm running into is when I try to adjust the rears with the tool that came with them the whole thing spins, not just the purple part. I've searched this forum and the internet high and low but no luck. This is really frustrating, any help would be hugely appreciated.

[adrean8j]

I V1's on my E82 but had them installed by a shop that works exclusively on European cars...I would suggest calling your favorite local euro-shop and asking them...those guys are usually pretty forthcoming with tips and help.

[Kylekuu]

use a wrench, open side on the top nut for the rear and for the shock itself, there is a hole in the middle for a allen key to go in, DONT TURN WITH THE ALLEN, just hold it in place with allen and turn the wrench. As far as torque goes, unless you have a torque wrench + eagle's foot(i think that's what it's called, something foot) you won't get it exactly 28. I just tighten mine to what 28 is suppose to feel like(i.e. tighten something else at 28 and expect the same pressure), if your really worried, put another nut on top of that nut, then it won't loosen

[montE90 blue]

Ok yea I just checked that out and completely missed it earlier. In terms of the fronts, there is no spot for an allen wrench like there are in the rears. Is this something that an impact gun could be used for? Also any ideas as to why I can't get my rear height to adjust? I'm gonna post some pics here in a couple minutes in case there's something wrong with my install.

[montE90 blue]

Here's some pics, sorry if they come out huge.

[IMG]<a href="http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/asteel85/?action=view&current=220.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/asteel85/220.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/asteel85/?action=view&current=229.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/asteel85/229.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]

[montE90 blue]

One more try...

[DJKhan85]

I had to use air tools to get the nuts tightened. then I checked tq spec after the nut was zapped on.

You will have a hard time doing either the front or the back without box wrenchs/air tools.

EDIT: BTW to adjust the rear height, if the black piece spins with the purple piece then you have no other choice but to remove the whole spring assembly and set it to the right height. Then reassemble it all. I have to remove the spring and perch from my driver side rear while the passenger side rear can be adjusted while in place. Major PITA.

[montE90 blue]

Damn I was afraid I was gonna have to take them off to adjust, oh well. Thanks for the info.

[Kylekuu]

is your car on jack stands right now. For me i was able to turn the purple piece without the black piece moving as long as there is no pressure on the set up. Also the further away the purple piece is from the black piece, the higher you are; incase your wondering why your sitting so high.

You could use a air tool to try to tighten the nut, but you need a semi-deep socket and depends on how big your gun is, mine didn't fit. And using u-joints for torque isn't a good idea.

o btw make sure the spring is sitting on the rubber piece which is sitting on the lower control arm properly, incase you take the rubber piece out, there is a groove for the rubber piece to go back in.

last thing, there was someone that used a brake clamp to wedge the black piece, so he could turn the purple w/o disassembling the unit

also make sure you clean your rotors, don't want any type of oil on the face

[montE90 blue]

Yea I'm on jack stands right now and the black piece still spins. I may play around with putting the jack under the rotor. I'm just gonna take the fronts down to a machine shop which is basically next door. They said they had an impact gun and would only charge like 15 minutes worth of labor if that to tighten them. For adjusting the fronts is at the lower the purple piece the higher you sit?

[montE90 blue]

Oh yea one more thing. I had adjusted the rears about halfway before I put them on but realized I misread the the range they would drop and want to raise it more because I'm afraid it might be too low or rub. Looking at other people's setups though, my perches look like they're set a lot less aggressively. Just from looking at my pics, do you think I'd be high enough to clear 265/30/19 in the rear with a 33 offset? If you can't tell I really don't want to take these back off haha.

[Kylekuu]

yup fronts are lower, i have mine sitting at the lowest possible (you still have to spin it up, otherwise when you lower the car the spring/adjuster will scrape along the front torsion bar(i think that's what it's called) the rod that is connected to the front shock. just make sure you can clear it, otherwise it scrapes the side of the spring and adjuster.

If you set it to just clearing that rod/nut, i believe that is like 7.1 and the minimum clearance for the front was i think like 6.5 or 6.9.

Are you going to bring just the front two coils to the shop for them to tigthen it? would be great if you can, otherwise i wouldn't bother setting it up on your car and driving there, risk of damage and they will have to disconnect everything again which takes longer than 15 mins for sure. Have you tried contacting autozone or something? They sometimes loan tools too.


As far as your rears, i think you might rub but not exactly sure. I have mine set pretty low, I forgot the measurements but i have a little less than 1 finger width space in between the purple and the black piece, and i have small figures. i would say it's less than 1/2 inch gap. but i clear with 235/30/19 offset 30. Mine is tucked in the well, i could add at least 5mm-to 10mm with no probs. So but since yours is 30 mm wider and 3 more offset, im not 100% sure. I think if anything you can always raise it up a little more; just make sure you take into account of the settling in

[BoxerGT2.5]

Call your local Sears and find pass through sockets for the rear, this is what they're designed for. I personally wouldn't take an impact gun to a strut, but that's me.

[montE90 blue]

Whew, so after a solid day and a half I finished haha. Ended up being able to just carry down the front setups to the machine shop and had them use the impact gun to crank the nuts in the top. Really the only major complaints was having to completely take off my rears to adjust them, getting that huge 21mm bolt to line up on the swing arm is a major pain in the ass. Fronts are little high, but I'll give them time to settle and adjust accordingly since they're 100x easier to do than the rears (which are just a touch low for my liking but screw it I'm not going through with that again any time soon). I appreciate the help and I'll get some more pics up tonight!!!

[petelazro]

Originally Posted by montE90 blue

Ok yea I just checked that out and completely missed it earlier. In terms of the fronts, there is no spot for an allen wrench like there are in the rears. Is this something that an impact gun could be used for? Also any ideas as to why I can't get my rear height to adjust? I'm gonna post some pics here in a couple minutes in case there's something wrong with my install.

Just wondering. I have a spot for the fronts for the allen key to turn but the rears dont have anything. we are talking about the small pin hole where the purple knob thingy goes into for locking correct? Were they put in backwards for me?

[PSUSMU]

Originally Posted by petelazro

Just wondering. I have a spot for the fronts for the allen key to turn but the rears dont have anything. we are talking about the small pin hole where the purple knob thingy goes into for locking correct? Were they put in backwards for me?

That's not what he was referring to 4 years ago lol
Allen key on the top of the strut/shock shaft. Rear perches do not have the set screw you are referring to.

[petelazro]

hahah i know the thread was old but if the information contains what is required there is no point of starting a whole new thread right? people always post "SEARCH" and i didnt want to get flamed.

perfect just wanted to check. KWs are so nice! I just love driving my car!