Suspension Refresh E85, What's needed?

B

bearded_ed

Member
Hiya,

My car is 15 years old and has done 90k miles, so I think it's probably worth budgeting for a suspension refresh... Trouble is, I'm not really sure what that means!

What do I need to look at and replace?

I'm 99% sure I have M-Sport suspension on my 108s.

There's an occasional klunk on full lock too which might be related.
 
Mainly shocks and springs. At that mileage bump stops and top mounts are most likely ok, but they're cheap enough and you might as well do it, specially if you're getting some knocking from the suspension.

Most here refresh/upgrade to a Bistein B4/Eibach set up. Eibach springs are progressive, so they are softer over small road imperfections, leading to a better ride; when pushed they're stiffer, resulting in less roll. B4s are apparently equivalent to the M-Sport shocks, and Bilstein say they are fine for a drop of (up to) 30mm (Eibachs give a ~15mm drop all around from M-Sport ride height, and ~30 from SE).

I don't have parts numbers, but your number plate will get you far enough in most websites. I personally used autodoc.co.uk to buy shocks and springs (~£400). If you want part numbers: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select

If you buy top mounts buy Lemforder ones (OEM), as some have reported knocking from other brands such as Meyle. I used eBay for these as they were more reasonably priced there.
 
Only the rear Meyle HD top mounts 'knock' apparently, so I fitted Lemforder rear top mounts and Meyle HD for everything else. I got my B4s from a German supplier on Ebay. He has a set of 4 now for £318 + £15 post :thumbsup: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332852757852
 
patriot66 said:
Only the rear Meyle HD top mounts 'knock' apparently, so I fitted Lemforder rear top mounts and Meyle HD for everything else. I got my B4s from a German supplier on Ebay. He has a set of 4 now for £318 + £15 post :thumbsup: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332852757852
Click to expand...

I read that too, but thought I would go safe and just use Lemforder all around.

I've just checked how much I paid for the shocks: £278.58 inc VAT, free shipping (>£150) - ordered on the 2nd of August and they arrived yesterday.

edit: £135.37 (VAT included) for the Eibach Pro kit. £35 for all four top mounts.
 
You will need to replace the front top mounts, mine were completely shot, with about 2mm play in the bearings, that is at 53k miles, yours at 90k?
The rears on mine were ok but I still replaced them...rubber does perish with time.
 
lucasxdiniz said:
Most here refresh/upgrade to a Bistein B4/Eibach set up. Eibach springs are progressive, so they are softer over small road imperfections, leading to a better ride; when pushed they're stiffer, resulting in less roll. B4s are apparently equivalent to the M-Sport shocks, and Bilstein say they are fine for a drop of (up to) 30mm (Eibachs give a ~15mm drop all around from M-Sport ride height, and ~30 from SE).
Click to expand...

I think the B4s are roughly the equivalent of the SE OEM shocks - the B6 and B8 are uprated to M-Sport (and possibly beyond). The slightly softer shock is the reason most have plumped for B4s to improve the ride quality.
 
z4pilot said:
lucasxdiniz said:
Most here refresh/upgrade to a Bistein B4/Eibach set up. Eibach springs are progressive, so they are softer over small road imperfections, leading to a better ride; when pushed they're stiffer, resulting in less roll. B4s are apparently equivalent to the M-Sport shocks, and Bilstein say they are fine for a drop of (up to) 30mm (Eibachs give a ~15mm drop all around from M-Sport ride height, and ~30 from SE).
Click to expand...

I think the B4s are roughly the equivalent of the SE OEM shocks - the B6 and B8 are uprated to M-Sport (and possibly beyond). The slightly softer shock is the reason most have plumped for B4s to improve the ride quality.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of contracting information on here. But from all I read: B6s are the uprated over M-sport, B8s are a shortened B6 to take shorter springs, etc. B12 kit is B8s paired with eibachs. B4s are equivalent to M-sport shocks.
 
:| just a note regarding bilstein b4 suspension struts I contacted bilstein uk on monday regarding part numbers as I was potentially going to buy the set that was advertised on here last week I was asked where these bilsteins were purchased I was led to believe they were from autodoc.The rep from bilstein uk told me that they purchased a set from autodoc and did a bench test on them and the results were shocking failed broken welds and bent tubes the rep stated they believed that they were fake copies and that I should be very careful were I buy them from.Dont know if this was a sales pitch but have found a few articles regarding fake bilstein kits :!: these could cause a danger to life potentially :!: :thumbsdown: be careful guys
 
lucasxdiniz said:
patriot66 said:
Only the rear Meyle HD top mounts 'knock' apparently, so I fitted Lemforder rear top mounts and Meyle HD for everything else. I got my B4s from a German supplier on Ebay. He has a set of 4 now for £318 + £15 post :thumbsup: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332852757852
Click to expand...

I read that too, but thought I would go safe and just use Lemforder all around.

I've just checked how much I paid for the shocks: £278.58 inc VAT, free shipping (>£150) - ordered on the 2nd of August and they arrived yesterday.

edit: £135.37 (VAT included) for the Eibach Pro kit. £35 for all four top mounts.
Click to expand...

That is a good price for the B4s :thumbsup:
I and quite a few others on the forum bought B4s from Germany in March of last year as there was a supply problem in the UK at the time....there wasn't any :D
 
This is all great advice thank you all.

I'm just wondering what you think about all bushings that I see people mention on here? Is that on things like control arms and stuff?

Should those be done at the same time?
 
bearded_ed said:
This is all great advice thank you all.

I'm just wondering what you think about all bushings that I see people mention on here? Is that on things like control arms and stuff?

Should those be done at the same time?
Click to expand...
A suspension refresh is changing everything that wears out.

Changing the shocks and springs is just... changing the shocks and springs.

Either you chuck it all in the bin and replace, or try to asses each component for wear. There's a lot of bushes / joints, especially at the back!

I fitted Meyle front top mounts, and Meyle HD rear top mounts and have had no issues (e.g. knocking).
 
bz4kev said:
Is it possible to use suplex springs with b4 struts :roll:
Click to expand...
Fairly certain Suplex are an OEM replacement spring so as long as they are either SE or Sport spec they should be fine with B4s :thumbsup:
 
I know when I refreshed mine earlier in the year after lots of research on here I replaced the following as they seemed to be the parts that were most often worn and seemed to offer the best improvement for your time/money:
shocks (sachs) and springs (eibach), topmounts (lemford), then Meyle HD lollipops, front drop links and rear trailing arm bushes. Then a geo by someone who knew what was what.
The difference was night and day, tram lining disappeared and generally felt more planted and dealt with the many many imperfections in the road a lot better.
 
I can recommend fitting the M lollipops, I swapped to them after replacing just about everything and they made a noticeable improvement
 
bearded_ed said:
Forgive me for being dumb. But which bit are the lollypops?

The circle with bushing and two holes on the stick bit?
Click to expand...
This is a 'lollipop' front lower control arm bushing 20190814_224207.jpg
and its location on the rear end of the control arm20190814_224526.jpg :thumbsup:
 
Davz said:
You will need to replace the front top mounts, mine were completely shot, with about 2mm play in the bearings, that is at 53k miles, yours at 90k?
The rears on mine were ok but I still replaced them...rubber does perish with time.
Click to expand...

I did my front suspension yesterday, and the top mounts were in great condition, pretty much like the new ones. The bearing should have some play, as you may have noticed with the new top mounts. The shocks though... they were beyond gone. 83k Miles
 
On a related note - roughly how many miles do you allow for the suspension to ‘bed in’ before getting Hunter alignment done?
 
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