Rear shock replacement guide

[Bombardino]

I'm about to replace my rear shocks and found this guide online, hopefully it's accurate as I've been told it will test the patience of a saint.
https://www.bmwrepairguide.com/bmw-e85/bmw-z4-rear-shock-replacement/

 

[mjennings23]

Looks pretty accurate. One of the bolts in step 4 is a T30 torx if I remember correctly, only one is a 10mm (or at least in any cars I've seen). Also it may be easier to tighten up the top nut if you have a swan neck spanner, the washer is curved upwards so can make getting a flat spanner onto it a bit tricky

 

[ph001]

They seem to make out that the clips are a complete nightmare but actually I found that doing them from above (reaching in from between the passenger seats with the wind breaker removed) made it a doddle! I can only assume they never thought of that!

 

[Bombardino]

Thanks for that

 

[adam1985]

Looks pretty similar to to what i did for my coupe. Step 15 though when torquing the bottom bolt is ideally done with the car back on the ground. This is not really possible for most cars though as they are too low.

 

[Chrisd928]

https://youtu.be/fU1fhU2zTmA

This is the best video i found, i highly recommend replacing every component, the pinch bolts often get reused which is dangerous. Dealer prices aren't silly when its nuts and bolts. Meyle HD are good OEM Plus quality and inexpensive (top mounts, shock tube, bump stop) and come with new nuts for the top mount.

I'm lucky i have the coupe which is a lot easier to access the top mounts, that bit aside it's easy enough to do. Ideally use an impact gun to release the pinch bolts as they often break with a bar (not as bad as the fronts, they are a nightmare). If your changing for lowering springs (eibach's, H&R etc) or the vehicle came with sport suspension then you must use the shorter shock, the non mSport one is longer and fails rapidly with lowering springs.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e86-z4-3.0si-cou/repair-manuals/33-rear-axle-rear-wheel-drive-guide/33-52-shock-absorbers/FW5gsro

The above link gives the correct procedure, tourque's etc for my vehicle, enter your VIN on the homepage and you will get the correct parts and instructions for your car.
The pinch bolt needs to be torque'd with the car down, so put the wrench on the bolt first, lower it down gently and you can just get enough movement to tighten correctly, then remove the bar obviously.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=DU51-EUR-03-2006-E86-BMW-Z4_30si&diagId=33_1143

 

[Bombardino]

Excellent, many thanks

 

[Bombardino]

Looks pretty similar to to what i did for my coupe. Step 15 though when torquing the bottom bolt is ideally done with the car back on the ground. This is not really possible for most cars though as they are too low.

Just a quick question, I've just finished fitting the rear shocks & springs, I've lowered the car to the ground and it looks like a tractor. Admitely the front is still off the ground so that probably doesn't help. I know the suspension has to settle a little but wow not this much.
What did you experience when you did yours?