Suspension rebuild

Hey guys,

At 187,000 kilometers, the car is starting to feel a little "loose" going over bumps etc. By no means am I bouncing around the road, but I want it to feel like it did the day it left the lot. So, where do I start? What parts do I need to change to make her feel new again?

F

Originally Posted by fastsoup

Hey guys,

At 187,000 kilometers, the car is starting to feel a little "loose" going over bumps etc. By no means am I bouncing around the road, but I want it to feel like it did the day it left the lot. So, where do I start? What parts do I need to change to make her feel new again?

F

see sig. second link. scroll to bonus.

Originally Posted by fastsoup

Hey guys,

At 187,000 kilometers, the car is starting to feel a little "loose" going over bumps etc. By no means am I bouncing around the road, but I want it to feel like it did the day it left the lot. So, where do I start? What parts do I need to change to make her feel new again?

F

You need to get in there and inspect CAB's, tie rods, ball joints, strut mounts, shocks, and steering rack to be complete. Replace whatever is questionable in the slightest.
Do that rather than a complete expensive replacement of everything. Unless you know the car has not been refreshed for a long time. Then replace all but the steering rack.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

see sig. second link. scroll to bonus.

Thank you mango...as always. I would like to avoid buying springs and shocks from BMW to prevent over spending. The car rides on sport suspension, do you know what brand would be similar to OEM?

Originally Posted by Stinger9

You need to get in there and inspect CAB's, tie rods, ball joints, strut mounts, shocks, and steering rack to be complete. Replace whatever is questionable in the slightest.
Do that rather than a complete expensive replacement of everything. Unless you know the car has not been refreshed for a long time. Then replace all but the steering rack.

I don't think a damn thing in regards to the suspension has been changed.

At about 117K miles (for US reference), some of your stuff is cooked!

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BMW-E46-325i-...#ht_1970wt_771

Would a kit like that be acceptable? Please keep in mind that my car is a DD that never gets tracked.

Would it oh be so easy!
Unfortunately no.
This is obviously chinese made off brand parts and experience has taught that the quality is poor, installation sometimes difficult or impossible and failure rate very high. You don't track, but you can die on the road too.
Will take work; look up indivdual part numbers on www.realoem.com and plug them into www.furiousmethod.com to check the prices at each of these online vendors.

You will find that ones like rmeuropean, bmaparts, and oembimmerparts offer great prices consistantly. But watch out for off brand parts even on some of these sites.
Put together an order if you like and post back here for review if you want.

Having done my suspension, I recommend the following if in need for replacement:

Control Arms/Bushings - Meyle HD
Endlinks - OEM (Lemfoeder)
Inner/Outer Tie Rod - OEM (Lemfoeder) + OEM boot repair kit
Steering wheel u-joint - OEM
Struts/shocks - OEM or Bilstein Sport
Shocks - Eibach pro-kit, OEM
Strut mounts - OEM
Shock mounts - OEM or TMS aluminum/rubber

Thanks guys for all the responses.

I guess Bilstein is the way to go for shocks. Can anyone tell me the aftermarket springs that are equivalent to the sport springs on the e46 for comfort and ride height? I don't want to go any lower, prefer to remain the exact same so if there is nothing aftermarket, then OEM is my best bet?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/H-R-LOWERING-...item4d0200232c

^ will those drop me a further 1" from where the sport suspension is now? Anybody know?

I never found aftermarket springs that will not drop your car at least an inch from the factory springs (regular or sport suspension).
I do not want my car any lower than stock as I have enough scraping going on now.
Therefore I put on FSD's with my stock sport springs to keep the higher ride.

With the H&R sways, the car handles and rides well.

No need to replace the springs if you're not changing ride height and the current ones aren't cracked or broken.

Sent from my EVO