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Planning my suspension OVERhaul. Opinions?

6K views 28 replies 6 participants last post by  simonhla 
#1 · (Edited)
I was looking under the hood today and noticed that the bolts on the strut tower were not completely perpendicular to the metal, close but not completely flat. Mushrooming? :censor::banghead:

This, and reading the other Koni FSD thread inspired me to plan my suspension overhaul. I might as well change everything while I'm banging away at the mushroom.

Here is everything I plan on changing. I am planning on doing this in the summer when I have more free time.


Mileage: 63,XXX


I like my current ride height. I have no plans to track the car in the next year or two, and if I do, it would be to have fun. I won't be worried about trying to trim 3 seconds off my lap time.

San Francisco has some crappy roads. That's probably how the mushrooms formed to begin with.

I only shopped around a handful of websites, so if you know any place that has something cheaper, please let me know!

I plan to buy the parts over the next coming months, just so it won't put a huge dent in my checking account at once.

Any opinions or recommendations? I still have to buy some tools too. :thumbdwn: Unless someone in the Bay Area wouldn't mind lending me tools, or some knowledge, or even a helping hand! :thumbup:

Updates: I will probably go for these now

$345 for Meyle HD CA and FCAB with brackets!

$35.28 for the steering coupler!

$510 for Meyle HD CAs, FCABS w/brackets, front tie rods, front sway links!
 
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#2 ·
#6 · (Edited)
I did almost exactly the same thing nearly a year ago using exactly the same parts. More or less. I went with the meyle HD control arms because I liked the idea of the removable and replaceable ball joints. Other than that, all the same.

I saw on your spreadsheet you had a query over the RE Rsm's being compatible with the FSD's. Well they are. I am running that set up. I also went with an M3 front sway bar and a vert rear sway bar. Both used. Saved me a ton on a sway bar kit. Both are beefier than stock and fit no problems. Although I did have to double nut the m3 sway brackets and use some loctite.

As for mushrooming. I also had the same issue. I used the BMW rough road reinforcement plates that come with the xi. Super cheap and it's nice to stay oem where you can. I then also put the strut bar on top as well to create a sandwich effect which should prevent reoccurence. One thing to consider is that if your shock towers are mushroomed and the bolts are no longer parallel to each other, your front shock mounts are warped too. I beat my towers back to flatness with a rubber mallet and a block of wood. The new mounts fit right in perfectly. Huge difference.

Great and useful list by the way. The FSD's are awesome shocks, great handling with minimal sacrifice in comfort.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Oh, something I forgot. Is to check your springs. Specifically the rear ones for wear. Sometimes the ends of the rear springs snap off. If the coating has worn off and the springs are rusty in any area, then I would replace them. It's really easy to find used ones on this forum somewhere for dirt cheap. I got mine with only 20k miles on them and for about $100.
No idea how I missed your two posts before, just read it now.

I know the FSDs will work with the RE RSM, but RE has the option of 10mm to 12mm mounts. http://www.rogueengineering.com/rogue/RSM.html

Problem is, I am not sure what the outer diameter of the shocks are.

Does the vert sway fit on a sedan?
 
#7 ·
Oh, something I forgot. Is to check your springs. Specifically the rear ones for wear. Sometimes the ends of the rear springs snap off. If the coating has worn off and the springs are rusty in any area, then I would replace them. It's really easy to find used ones on this forum somewhere for dirt cheap. I got mine with only 20k miles on them and for about $100.
 
#12 ·
Stick with your original plan. The FSDs make your plan superior to the trademotion kit, zhp shocks are bouncier than sport shocks, and a helluva lot worse than FSDs.

Those parts of autohauz, fcpgroton, rmeuropean, etc. sites are not always OEM, usually they are lower quality to aid in the cheaper price.

Having said that, if getbmwparts has a kit similar to ECSs (without the shocks/struts) I would use it, because recently some have had issues with ECS; getbmwparts has certainly earned their salt in the BMW community.
 
#29 ·
Good luck. Btw there are at least 3 used oem sport springs threads in the classifieds section. May all be for coupe. Not sure if the coupe and sedan springs are the same. But to give you an idea they are going for something in the 60 to 80 dollar range and all have low, low miles on them. Spreadsheet looks good.
 
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