Shock advise - MOT Advisory

[Vijay]

Hi ZedHeads,

Had my MOT done in Dec and had an advisory on drivers side front shock, light misting. He said I shouldn't be too concerned about it, rather to keep an eye on it.

As i'm still on originals, should I look at replacing the fronts now? Was think of maybe getting Bilstein B4's. That said is it worth getting the B12 kit? I don't track so would it be worth the extra outlay?

Also, would it be worth replacing there drop-links and anything else at the same time...?

 

[Zedebee]

Not quite so shocking as the title suggests.

Expect to get lots of advice on here about how the original shockers will be shot, however mine seem fine on 52k so there is an argument to say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

However, if your damping has gone you need to be asking some questions:
What sort of driving do I do?
Do I value handling or comfort?
Do I want to keep my car stock?
How much am I prepared to spend?

Light misting is a minor minor. It is quite common to see it disappear on subsequent MOTs without any intervention, although if you think it’s not quite right you should get it sorted out.

 

[Mr Tidy]

If the car still drives well I'm not sure I'd be buying new parts for a first advisory, just keep it in mind and see if it affects how it drives.

But the Bilstein kits do seem to be good value for money, so if your car has done significant miles you might want to think about a complete refresh to get it back to its best.

 

[jetrep]

If you're happy with how the car currently drives I'd say just go for the B4s. For what it's worth I recently purchased a Z4C with 76k miles and all four shocks were shot. I went with B4s and I'm happy. The ride is already rough enough and I don't do track stuff so improving handling a bit is not worth making the ride worse.

 

[enuff_zed]

I would definitely suggest your shocks are well past their prime.
You could go for B4, or even pop OEM Sachs or similar back on. I've done that on a couple now and the improvement is literally shocking. It's another one of those items that deteriorates gradually so you don't notice how bad it's getting.
I would have a good look around and see what everything else looks like before committing, but as the drop links need to be unbolted from the strut anyway and are relatively cheap it may be worth doing them at the same time. However, they are easy to swap on their own at a later date too.
I suspect that if you see the state of the front shocks coming off then you'll be considering the rears too.
Of course, there are labour charges to consider, but by doing the work myself and looking out for discounts, I manage to swap all four shocks (Sachs), top mounts (Lemforder), bump stops & dust covers (Febi Bilstein) and drop links for around £400, delivered from Autodoc.
If you just have a light misting of oil and have been told it's not so bad then you have time to shop around and get a good deal together.

 

[R60BBA]

Avoid Bilstein.

If your car is an SE, may be worth upgrading to BMW’s Sport suspension.

If not, just replace them like for like, either Genuine BMW shocks or OEM Sachs will do.

Would check your springs, co-axial bearings, bump stops, dust covers, drop links, front wishbone bushes, lollipop bushes, anti-roll bar bushes and engine mounts while you are in there too.

 

[Jfgoldfish]

If your car is an SE, may be worth upgrading to BMW’s Sport suspension.

On balance, I would advise against fitting the sport springs. I am almost tempted to 'upgrade' mine to standard for the extra 15mm of ride height and slight improved comfort.
It really depends what you want from the car. Mine is a daily driver that has to contend with lots of big speed bumps. I scrape the front bumper and aluminium chassis stiffening plate every day!

 

[Vijay]

Thanks for everyones responses here!
The car is on 53.6k miles and is an SI Sports. It's only a weekend car and handling is fine (other than the run-flats which I will replace at some point!) , though as you said EnuffZed maybe I don't know what I'm missing. I'm happy to sacrifice some comfort for improved handling.

Out of interest R60BBA any reason to avoid Bilstein's...?

 

[R60BBA]

2 reasons:

In general, the gas pressure in their shocks is quite high (which makes the car more jittery at low speeds).

They are not very corrosion resistant.

As you have Sport suspension, I would replace with either Genuine BMW or OEM Sachs if you are looking to save some change.

Below pic is Bilsteins after just 6 months of usage.