Replacement Shocks

A

Archer17

Member
 South Lincs
I am refurbishing my 2003 30 SE sports suspension. It's only done 40k and from it's condition been looked after well. Any MOT advisories have been dealt with promptly.

However to my mind 15 year old shock absorbers are well past their best. I don't want to stiffen the suspension and after reading threads on this forum Bilstein B4's seem the way to go. Whilst I can source rears and front offside ( right) no f/n/s are available in the UK and I was told this afternoon in Europe either. Bilstein Uk main importers are giving the company line of July before any arrive but elsewhere I am being told September ( maybe)

So as the Bilstein B4 is the basic Bilstein maybe I should look elsewhere to another make. Has anyone fitted anything else or tried and been disappointed.

Thanks
 
Hi philbo909
Why people don't mention replacing the Sachs shocks with the same again is the question I asked myself. Most seem to opt for Bilstein B4 if they don't want to lower or stiffen the ride. No-one has mentioned if the OE Sachs are any good, the inference being that they aren't.

Why change if it seems to be handling okay?, over time the internals will start to fail and tolerances widen. Many on this forum have said that when removing old shocks they have been surprised with how little damping remains. Suspension specialists have said the same, albeit they probably wanted to sell me something :D
 
I replaced mine with new Sachs a few months back. A quick simple job and I paid £150 for the pair from Amazon.

The trick was searching Amazon for the part number instead of name and they came up super cheap
 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004A3FD6E/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525383784&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=312467&dpPl=1&dpID=31nbrshFgpL&ref=plSrch

And

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004A3FD5A/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525383853&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=312466&dpPl=1&dpID=31EFFHZJ31L&ref=plSrch

One out of stock currently but they come back in regularly. Cheap as chips and a great replacement
 
Thanks greg81
Can I enquire at what mileage did you replace yours at and if they made an appreciable difference please?

I will look at these now.
 
I got OE Sachs shocks from Euro Car Parts when they were having a big discount weekend and it worked out about £50 cheaper than the cheapest B4s I could find online (eBay from Germany). Big difference with them fitted on a 74k coupe - much less crashiness over bumps and reduced knocking noise.

Chris
 
Archer17 said:
I am refurbishing my 2003 30 SE sports suspension. It's only done 40k and from it's condition been looked after well. Any MOT advisories have been dealt with promptly.

However to my mind 15 year old shock absorbers are well past their best. I don't want to stiffen the suspension and after reading threads on this forum Bilstein B4's seem the way to go. Whilst I can source rears and front offside ( right) no f/n/s are available in the UK and I was told this afternoon in Europe either. Bilstein Uk main importers are giving the company line of July before any arrive but elsewhere I am being told September ( maybe)

So as the Bilstein B4 is the basic Bilstein maybe I should look elsewhere to another make. Has anyone fitted anything else or tried and been disappointed.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with the Oem sachs shocks is that usually when they're knackered you won't see it till they're off the car. Its only then when separated from the springs that you can actually see how inoperational they are. Folks on here and other forums have had them be knackered on a whole range of Bmws at less mileage than your car is and certainly many years younger. The sach shocks used on Bmws of this vintage are pretty notorious for being crap both in the trade and on the net. Ive seen them literally fall apart when taken off on an 80k car.
Bilstein have a reputation for quality, hence why folks on here (including myself) have opted for them over using the sachs again. Apparently the supply problems are being caused by Oem demand for their shocks putting the aftermarket on the back burner.
As an alternative I did consider koni. They're usually pretty good but I have read recently on some Bmw forums that there have been some issues with reliability.
I've paired tge b4 with eibach springs. Not for the additional 10mm or so of lowering but because their initial spring rate is softer than the Oem M Sport ones, making them a bit more compliant over smaller bumps/ruts in the road.
 
philbo909 said:
Seems a bit of a waste of money to change if they are fine, but why not oem sachs suspension again?
Click to expand...

2 of mine were pointed out on the MOT as being past their best...

When I removed all 4, every single one was completely knackered and wouldn't come back up after being compressed.
 
ben g said:
philbo909 said:
Seems a bit of a waste of money to change if they are fine, but why not oem sachs suspension again?
Click to expand...

2 of mine were pointed out on the MOT as being past their best...

When I removed all 4, every single one was completely knackered and wouldn't come back up after being compressed.
Click to expand...
But not after 40,000 miles surely? Mine wore out at 115,000 and it was very noticeable in cornering
 
philbo909 said:
ben g said:
philbo909 said:
Seems a bit of a waste of money to change if they are fine, but why not oem sachs suspension again?
Click to expand...


2 of mine were pointed out on the MOT as being past their best..

When I removed all 4, every single one was completely knackered and wouldn't come back up after being compressed.
Click to expand...
But not after 40,000 miles surely? Mine wore out at 115,000 and it was very noticeable in cornering
Click to expand...
I've seen them knackered at 45,000 on an e46 cab. Initially i was just changing a broken spring but once i took the strut off i realised the shock was kaput. Did the front pair and a few weeks later did the rears. All 4 were screwed to difffering degrees and the car was much better for the new shocks. I've also seen them fall apart on the rear of another e46 cab at 80k. On that one one was leaking but I still didn't expect the thing to separate into two parts when I removed the shock bottom bolt. It literally hit the floor with the car on the ramp.
I understand the disbelief though. You wouldn't/shouldn't expect that on a modern cars, especially premium brands and i totally understand why you woukdnt want to spend serious money on replacing parts on a car you cant tell are screwed. But all i can say based on what ive personally experienced, heard/seen from friends in the trade and seen/read on the net about sach stuff on bmws of this vintage is why I switched to bilstein. mine came in at circa £300 which I seem to remember is what euro/gsf/andrew page etc all wanted for sachs on and that was trade as well.
 
i replaced mine at 60k. Nearside was absolutely fine, but offside suffered at the hands of a massive stone!.

I've has zero problems with the Sachs at all.
 
I had the same issue a couple of weeks back trying to get Bilstein, so ended up getting OEM instead.
My NSF shock was knackered on the compression damping, fine on rebound and OSF was also fine. That was a 63thou car. Rides so much smoother now but wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't had the shocks off to fit Eibach springs.
 
Thanks for all your replies.
The other thing going through my mind was I know front bushes need changing for MOT in July. Having just had alignment done after new tyres in March I am guessing it may need doing again after the poly bushes are fitted. If that's the case I may as well do shocks and springs too. The car is for keeping so it's me who will get the long term benefit.
 
Another option would be if I can't get Bilstein B4's I could go for the B6 which are supposed to be 'better' . My question is will they be harsher than the B4 or is the B6 smoother due to the different construction. I am a bit confused by the whole suspension issue all I am trying to do is improve the ride.
Thanks
 
Search through my posts on here from last week I answered this very question in detail in another thread.
 
Thanks Mack
I found it but am still confused. The Bilstein site says in its information about the B6 " Marked improvement in safety and sportiness without additional spring changes"
The confusion arises because it appears a more high quality shock than the B4 which is the one people suggest as the replacement for the Orem Sachs. If the spring length doesn't need changing surely it's a simple swap? I will be replacing springs anyway. In common with the posts on the previous thread you answered I don't want compromise ride quality on rough roads and don't want to lower either.
Is the B6 the same length as the B4? The Bilstein site doesn't give dimensions I could call them though.

Sorry, I feel as though I am missing something fundamental here, but I feel I need to ask at the risk of appearing a bit dense :wink:
 
It's the most confusing thing ever :lol: MACK explained it well for me. The B6 gives a firmer ride, the B4 rides the bumps and potholes much better.

B4's are the equivalent shocks to Sport ones, although the B6's are actually a bit firmer. That's why I went for the B4's in the end.
 
That now makes sense, thank you both. My original post was due to the difficulty in sourcing the B4, in particular front left. I have even looked at Koni but they don't do their FSD for my model. It looks like oem Sachs or wait until Bilstein decide they can release for after sale which means the summer spent on the existing shocks.
Frustrating.
 
Archer17 said:
That now makes sense, thank you both. My original post was due to the difficulty in sourcing the B4, in particular front left. I have even looked at Koni but they don't do their FSD for my model. It looks like oem Sachs or wait until Bilstein decide they can release for after sale which means the summer spent on the existing shocks.
Frustrating.
Click to expand...

It's is frustrating. I couldnt believe it when I found out about the delays for bilstein. I did consider the koni fsd as well. Like you say they don't do them but they do a non fsd shock for the z4 so that could be an option, especially if you lowering. They even do it as a kit with h and r springs. I'd avoid that if I were you, the h and r lower an addition 10mm over eibachs which are already 15mm lower than m sport, which in turn are 15mm lower than Se spec. All pre facelift 3.0 have m sport suspension as standard though just to confuse things further, so you already sitting 15mm lower than a similar age 2.5 se. The h and r are harder riding than the eibach as well which isnt what you want either and they look too low to my eyes.
 
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