[Mike K]

Just replaced my rear shocks at 108k on my 2011 328i e91 RWD. I went with new Bilstein B4s from Summit Racing. I also replaced the upper bushings from KYB via Rock Auto. And I replaced the lower rubber shock mounts with Lemforder from FCP.

Bilstein’s site recommends B4 #19-303574 as the non-sport replacement. Rock Auto was out of stock on these for awhile. FCP’s site says these won’t fit and they source you back to Sachs which I didn’t want. So I got em from Summit at a fair price about $71 each.

I kept my old shock plastic tubes but I had to change out the upper metal collar washers with the new ones in the KYB kit. That’s because the old metal collars, which were still fine, have a slightly smaller hole that just won’t fit the Bilstein B4s. I could have drilled it out, but I just swapped them out after a bit of hammer and vice work. My tubes didn’t have the larger rubber bushings but just the collar and simple ring style rubber bushings at the top of each shock, inside the wheel well.

The work was straightforward. Most of the time was stripping out the interior cladding and trim on the e91 wagon. There are several helpful youtubes on this.

[Mike K]

Prying off those rear seatbelt mechanism covers is a pain indeed. I found that by prying at the spot where the two smaller plastic tangs are, and by using two trim pry tools a once, they finally popped off undamaged. Lots of trim rivets and torx screws too.

[Mike K]

And here’s that upper metal collar that was replaced on each shock protection tube.

I used a torque wrench for all the lower stuff but I just tightened the upper bolts inside the car by holding the shock with a 6mm and then using a 15mm offset wrench until the bolt basically stopped. Hope this helps other e91 folks. YMMV.

[Mike K]

Oh and BTW, the car handles great now. The old shocks were indeed shot (one was leaking) and with the new B4s and new Pontenza RE980-AS tires it feels like a new car!

[NL-Toontje]

I ordered B4 rear shocks on black Friday, they will arrive soon.
After that I will have to go though the same as what you went though

I ordered #19-135052 as my car has the 704 option (hope that was OK). Black Friday price was €55 each.
All together, incl. dust cover kit, new rubber parts and other small bits and pieces, the price was €189.