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Lowering spring fitting

2003 - 2009, roadster, coupe, facelift
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Kieran_Z4
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by Kieran_Z4 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:22 pm

Hi everyone,

I am looking at getting some H&R lowering springs but i am having a problem, either garages wont fit them due to they are a nightmare to fit on the zed or they charge me £350-400 which i think is way expensive! These are garages i have used in the past & even had my S5 lowering springs fitted for £150! have anyone else had this problem or know roughly how much you was charged as i cant bring myself to pay the price when in the past i have had springs fitted for £150-200

Thanks in advance
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mjennings23
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by mjennings23 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:28 pm

I did it on the driveway at home, I can't see any reason why a garage would have the slightest issue with them. The front springs are a bit of a pain to compress due to the small number of coils, but I'd expect most garages to have a hydraulic compressor that would have no bother.

And the rears take about 15 minutes to do both, once the car is up and wheels off.

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Lowering spring fitting

Post by synthedup » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:45 pm

Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:22 pm Hi everyone,

I am looking at getting some H&R lowering springs but i am having a problem, either garages wont fit them due to they are a nightmare to fit on the zed or they charge me £350-400 which i think is way expensive! These are garages i have used in the past & even had my S5 lowering springs fitted for £150! have anyone else had this problem or know roughly how much you was charged as i cant bring myself to pay the price when in the past i have had springs fitted for £150-200

Thanks in advance
It only tool me about an hour and a half to fit mine.

I'm in Rotherham so not far it you need a hand.

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Kieran_Z4
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by Kieran_Z4 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:07 pm

mjennings23 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:28 pm I did it on the driveway at home, I can't see any reason why a garage would have the slightest issue with them. The front springs are a bit of a pain to compress due to the small number of coils, but I'd expect most garages to have a hydraulic compressor that would have no bother.

And the rears take about 15 minutes to do both, once the car is up and wheels off.
Thanks for that. Can’t believe garages are turning down work.
synthedup wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:45 pm
Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:22 pm Hi everyone,

I am looking at getting some H&R lowering springs but i am having a problem, either garages wont fit them due to they are a nightmare to fit on the zed or they charge me £350-400 which i think is way expensive! These are garages i have used in the past & even had my S5 lowering springs fitted for £150! have anyone else had this problem or know roughly how much you was charged as i cant bring myself to pay the price when in the past i have had springs fitted for £150-200

Thanks in advance
It only tool me about an hour and a half to fit mine.

I'm in Rotherham so not far it you need a hand.
Oh nice thanks for that, I’m happy to pay if you can do it with me for helping & having the tools :thumbsup:
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synthedup
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by synthedup » Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:25 pm

Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:07 pm
mjennings23 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:28 pm I did it on the driveway at home, I can't see any reason why a garage would have the slightest issue with them. The front springs are a bit of a pain to compress due to the small number of coils, but I'd expect most garages to have a hydraulic compressor that would have no bother.

And the rears take about 15 minutes to do both, once the car is up and wheels off.
Thanks for that. Can’t believe garages are turning down work.
synthedup wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:45 pm
Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:22 pm Hi everyone,

I am looking at getting some H&R lowering springs but i am having a problem, either garages wont fit them due to they are a nightmare to fit on the zed or they charge me £350-400 which i think is way expensive! These are garages i have used in the past & even had my S5 lowering springs fitted for £150! have anyone else had this problem or know roughly how much you was charged as i cant bring myself to pay the price when in the past i have had springs fitted for £150-200

Thanks in advance
It only tool me about an hour and a half to fit mine.

I'm in Rotherham so not far it you need a hand.
Oh nice thanks for that, I’m happy to pay if you can do it with me for helping & having the tools :thumbsup:
When are you free mate?

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Kieran_Z4
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by Kieran_Z4 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:36 pm

synthedup wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:25 pm
Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:07 pm
mjennings23 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:28 pm I did it on the driveway at home, I can't see any reason why a garage would have the slightest issue with them. The front springs are a bit of a pain to compress due to the small number of coils, but I'd expect most garages to have a hydraulic compressor that would have no bother.

And the rears take about 15 minutes to do both, once the car is up and wheels off.
Thanks for that. Can’t believe garages are turning down work.
synthedup wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:45 pm It only tool me about an hour and a half to fit mine.

I'm in Rotherham so not far it you need a hand.
Oh nice thanks for that, I’m happy to pay if you can do it with me for helping & having the tools :thumbsup:
When are you free mate?
Well I have been holding off buying the springs until I knew I could get them fitted. So if I buy some this weekend I will have them by end of next week pal
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synthedup
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by synthedup » Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:38 pm

Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:36 pm
synthedup wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:25 pm
Kieran_Z4 wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:07 pm Thanks for that. Can’t believe garages are turning down work.
Oh nice thanks for that, I’m happy to pay if you can do it with me for helping & having the tools :thumbsup:
When are you free mate?
Well I have been holding off buying the springs until I knew I could get them fitted. So if I buy some this weekend I will have them by end of next week pal
No problem, you get the springs sorted and let me know, I can do any evening or Saturday/Sunday really. Petty flexible.

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ben g
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by ben g » Fri Jul 13, 2018 6:48 pm

They're the same to fit as they would be on any macpherson strut wearing car. Pretty simple if you have the usual tools, which any garage would have. Unsure why they're turning down work. They must be really busy.

The rear springs are incredibly simple. You just drop the rear shock bolt and jobs a good'un.
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by 9designs » Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:36 pm

Do you have to disconnect the rear drive shaft to get enough drop to get the spring out/in as suggested in the Haynes manual for E46 Chassis.
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by Jembo » Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:51 pm

There is a place next to Brands hatch which is fitting my //M with new bilstein shocks & springs all round for £150 + VAT

Yes, £150 + VAT (just for fitting)

CDV delete £30 + VAT

ETA Motorsport BMW specialists & they come highly recommended if you google them, but earliest 4 appointment is end August at the moment.
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by greg81 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:23 pm

Anything more than an hour's labour is just robbery

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ben g
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by ben g » Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:34 pm

9designs wrote: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:36 pm Do you have to disconnect the rear drive shaft to get enough drop to get the spring out/in as suggested in the Haynes manual for E46 Chassis.
No. I didn't do that with mine. I jacked the car up, removed the rear wheel, then I used another jack positioned at the bottom of the rear discs to stop the rear hub from dropping, then I removed the shock bottom bolt.

Once the shock bolt is out, you have loads of movement to be able to swap the springs over. It's really easy to do :thumbsup:
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by 9designs » Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:46 pm

Cheers, will give my coil overs a go tomorrow.
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by MACK » Fri Jul 13, 2018 11:22 pm

I wonder if the garage are confusing this with doing shocks and springs on a roadster. The rear shocks can be a fiddle/time consuming on the E85 but even then the price seems very steep.
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Lowering spring fitting

Post by srhutch » Fri Jul 13, 2018 11:26 pm

3 of us changed all the springs on two ///M’s in one days so there is no reason why a garage should struggle.

On the ///M you don’t even need a spring compressor on the fronts.
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