[Dave92N54]

About to pull the trigger on these. What all needs to be swapped from stock struts? Have FCP warranty on everything so just going to get new everything. I have the mounts and paper gaskets in my cart, should I get new conical washers too? I read somewhere they're not needed with the PSS9s but that seems odd to me if we're reusing the stock spring seats, shims, and mounts.

[tej98]

I just ordered mounts and endlinks with my kit. Reused the paper gaskets. I did the Monroe rear upper mounts and OE lemforder rear lower mounts. TBH my original rear mounts looked fine. Fronts were toast however. Everything else hardware/seat wise I reused without issue.

Highly recommend atleast the M3 front rearward control arms if you don't have them already. Definitely worth the upgrade.

[AlexKoast]

I'm running Bilstein B14s on my e92 335i. The ride is in fact more firm compared to OEM. Its a nice change from the plush stock ride but not hard as a ton of bricks. Doing my research and my purposes (daily driven/street car) these work well. IIRC things to swap over from OEM front struts will be everything from the rubber groove for the coil to seat into and up. As for rear, everything needed is supplied.





In my case for the front I'm also running DINAN camber plates. Wheel specs are style 260m 18x.95 all four corners on 255/35/18. Also 10mm spacers in the back.

[Dave92N54]

Originally Posted by AlexKoast

I'm running Bilstein B14s on my e92 335i. The ride is in fact more firm compared to OEM. Its a nice change from the plush stock ride but not hard as a ton of bricks. Doing my research and my purposes (daily driven/street car) these work well. IIRC things to swap over from OEM front struts will be everything from the rubber groove for the coil to seat into and up. As for rear, everything needed is supplied.

[img]https://www.e90post.com/forums/attac...8;d=1384277615[/img]

[img]https://scontent.fyvr4-1.fna.fbcdn.n...38;oe=62BC8D2D[/img]

In my case for the front I'm also running DINAN camber plates. Wheel specs are style 260m 18x.95 all four corners on 255/35/18. Also 10mm spacers in the back.

[img]https://scontent.fyvr4-1.fna.fbcdn.n...38;oe=62BE4FBD[/img]

Thank you!

B14s have been ordered!

I'm extremely excited to see not only how the car will look but feel

How high are you set in the front in that photo? Are you as high as they'll go? I'm on 19" style 230s. Probably going to need some spacers to get the front a bit more flush.

[Dave92N54]

Also curious, for those of you who put together your struts

Did you just sink the top nut with an impact? or buy the special socket? I trust myself enough with the impact not to go crazy but just curious if the sockets are worth it.

[335i54n]

usually grip the shaft to hold and verify it doesnt spin, is enough

also you can hand thread the nut and release spring pressure and that should keep the shaft from spinning, quick zaps and looks to see it it spins (marking it helps). more of an issue with rear shocks type, which i always try to counter hold.

[Dave92N54]

Originally Posted by 335i54n

usually grip the shaft to hold and verify it doesnt spin, is enough

Bet. Struts are already delivered. FCP was QUICK with it, didn't wanna wait on a socket.

[Jaronbwall]

Everyone making me want to spend another $1K on Bilstein coils and random suspension bits... damn you.

[Dave92N54]

Anyone ever have something like this happen with FCP before?

They sent the PSS9s Fedex which arrived in less than 24 hours.

However they sent the strut mounts USPS and USPS tracking is saying they haven't even gotten the mounts yet.

I contact FCP support yesterday, bot basically said someone would email me in 24 hours. No email, so I contact them again today. Got a real person, who said they'd have to email the warehouse to confirm they actually left and would email me back. No email back…

[335i54n]

I had stuff from the same order ship from different places few times. yeah hope these can reach msport ride height

[Dave92N54]

Well, I went ahead and found some front mounts locally and will be returning the ones from FCP whenever they finally arrive.

I started the install today but seems the car is going to have to get put back together. I started with the rear driver's side and immediately encountered an issue I won't be able to resolve.

The lower nut on the rear strut is just spinning on it's threads. I have no clue why. I put the 15mm on the shock body, and started to remove the lower nut. Ratchet was moving, and I made sure the socket was the right size so I know the nut isn't stripped. Was going for awhile so decided to look at how many threads were left and it hadn't moved. The nut just won't go anywhere.

I have a nut breaker so figured maybe I could remove the whole strut with the lower mount but there is no way to since the mount has to go in at an angle. I'm going to have to take the car into a shop so they can I guess melt the nut off.

[335i54n]

sometimes the thread strip inside the nut. dont you have to remove the lca for the springs, you should be able to remove the shock/mount together that way, gonna need a align anyways

[Dave92N54]

Originally Posted by 335i54n

sometimes the thread strip inside the nut. dont you have to remove the lca for the springs, you should be able to remove the shock/mount together that way, gonna need a align anyways

I thought about that possibility but unfortunately I know longer have the time to do so. I've done several shock installs and was pretty confident in my time frame and stupidly agreed to take a responsibility later in the day. Had this gone smoothly I realistically would've been done with the car in the next two hours. I wrote the previous message after having had the car back together. I started this morning around 5AM EST lol

Is what it is I guess. I'll call the local indy on Tuesday. May as well see what they'll quote me for the whole install + alignment while it's in there.

[mashimarho]

For the money, they're bang for buck. That's for sure

[tej98]

I had to drop the lower arm to give enough flex to get things out in the rear. The stripped shock nut is weird, if you end up trying it again yourself might be worth putting an impact on it and giving that a careful try.

[Dave92N54]

Originally Posted by tej98

I had to drop the lower arm to give enough flex to get things out in the rear. The stripped shock nut is weird, if you end up trying it again yourself might be worth putting an impact on it and giving that a careful try.

Yeah, I just decided when I have time (shooting for the 17th) i'm just going to do it myself by lowering the arm and pulling the shock out with the mount. I have new lower mounts so don't need to even worry about getting the nut off.

I went ahead and ordered all new hardware for the front since I already have FCP's warranty. This way I can assemble everything without removing the fronts from the car and can just pop them in when the fronts come out.

[Dave92N54]

Going back at the car tomorrow. Will let you all know how it goes.

I have always thought the rear of my car was lower than it should be but I know the E92s sit pretty uneven but seems off to me. I do have 255/35/19s in the rear and I can fit maybe half a finger in the fender lol. I'm now wondering if I should have ordered a new lower spring seat for the coilovers? or think it will be fine? Car has 145k on it

I already know i'm going to leave them at max height in the rear and will leave it max in the front for probably about a week just to see how I like it, if not I will adjust it a bit lower. Have new DWS06s (going 235/35/19 & 265/30/19) on the way and will be getting aligned same day they're installed.

Images attached for rear height.

Another thing I should mention is the car has Bilstein B4s on it now. I've had an odd suspicion they weren't for the 335 for awhile now, especially now that FCP doesn't list them anymore but they did when I purchased them for the coupe. Googling it brings up a new listing from the kit I purchased in 2020 and fitment no longer lists the 335i coupe after 09/2006

[335i54n]

the front fender are usually cut out different for turning so it seem rear sit lower, so the perceived level with coilovers may actually be too much forward rake. fyi with wide spoke like that the tire shop could balance it so the weights arent visible. looks goods at that height, dont think i can do that for my dd though

[Dave92N54]

That was literally on stock suspension which I thought was weird

Well! B14s are on. I'm so extremely happy and i'm honestly shocked I got the fitment I wanted first try! I just drove the car for about an hour to my girl's place and I think they've mostly settled. The cars feels significantly better than before as well.

My noise is also gone! I did encounter a few things I think could have been the cause but either way i'm happy. First I found the rotor set screws had somehow started to back out. Now I know when you put the wheel on, the rotor gets pushed to the hub but when I shook them they made a noise similar to what I was hearing. Additionally I found the shop that did my front M3 arms, did not torque the front right control arm (not the tension arm), it wasn't very hard to loosen. Either way, noise free and the car looks and feels amazing.

I'll attach some photos I've taken of the car so far. It is absolutely filthy so bare that in mind. I have ATE pads so wheels are caked in dust and I did manage to leave some greasy hand marks on the car, oh well. Needs a paint correction anyway.

[tej98]

Nice! Here's mine:

[Dave92N54]

I fucking love these things. Car feels phenomenal. Love how it looks and I'm not scraping anywhere.

Tires and alignment should be done Saturday.

[Dave92N54]

Well this is certainly an interesting one...

Got the tires on, 235/265 is great and fits just fine. Had the shop do alignment as well. They basically only adjusted toe and told me they couldn't do camber... what?

My front camber is now -1.2 FL and -2.1 FR. This is causing a hard pull towards the left. Rear was -2.2 RL and -2.5 RR which I'm okay with. Ideally, i'd like -2 both but I'm not terribly concerned about it as I am for the front.

I don't deal with shops often unless I must really admit defeat or for tires/alignment and I swear the previous shop I had align the car did camber just fine. How can I remedy this? The current shop has agreed to realign the car tomorrow but I have the feeling I'll get the same bullshit. I don't feel exactly like I can ask for a refund either, but considering they "can't" align the car properly I feel like they should. I will take it elsewhere but truly do not want to pay for an alignment twice...