Shock absorber problem...

B

Bradders75

Senior member
Driving slowly with the hood down yesterday afternoon, I noticed a 'hissing' sound coming from the near side of the car. After quickly ruling out a snake hidden under the passenger seat, I tracked it down to the front NS shock. I'm assuming it's the shock as pushing down on that particular corner causes a 'hiss' where as all the others are fine. Could it be anything else? If the shock is 'shot' (althought the car feels absolutely fine to drive), do I have to replace in pairs? They're £208 each for the M sport dampers - ouch! Any aftermarket recommendations that would work well with OEM springs? The car scrapes occasionally on humps as it is, so don't want to lower it. It's a 2003 3.0i SE.

Thanks in advance

Matt
 
Sounds like the shock, however they can often hiss slightly on the rebound off speedbumps.

Replace in pairs as a minimum and if you change makes replace all 4 else you'll upset all sorts of geometry and steering/braking performance/dynamics.

Never changed mine (same model and year) but I'd stick OEM unless you are very sure that pattern or other brand parts are for the M sport suspension and not generic Z4.
 
cj10jeeper said:
Sounds like the shock, however they can often hiss slightly on the rebound off speedbumps.

Replace in pairs as a minimum and if you change makes replace all 4 else you'll upset all sorts of geometry and steering/braking performance/dynamics.

Never changed mine (same model and year) but I'd stick OEM unless you are very sure that pattern or other brand parts are for the M sport suspension and not generic Z4.
Click to expand...

Thought as much, thanks CJ. The shock is hissing under general driving, not just humps so sounds like it's on the way out. I'll stick to OEM and replace as a pair. If I can find a mate with a spring compressor, I may even have a go myself but it's not going to be a cheap fix regardless. :cry:
 
Do a bit of research Bradders before you shell out. There might be some good avice on the web if you search. Just never heard of anyone on here changing just a damaged shock. E46 forums may be a source as it's largely the same suspension.

You can always speak to a few Kwik Fit places that do them all the time and see what they have and if specific to ///M or generic, etc.
 
Nearly all shocks make a "pss" sound when being quickly compressed, I wouldn't have thought there was a problem... Have you tried the old MOT test of compressing the shock and compare how the car 'bounces' on each side?

It may be worth getting it on a ramp to see if there is any leakage before you go shelling out Bradders. Good luck with it :)
 
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