[Kailec]

Hey all, my car is currently at 89,000 km. Wondering how much more life I should expect out of my stock struts and springs?

[jdr78569]

+1

[Bestodabest]

Under normal driving conditions, assuming there isn't a horrendous flaw with your specific OEM springs/shocks, they should easily last you above and beyond 200,000km's.

[Kailec]

Originally Posted by Bestodabest

Under normal driving conditions, assuming there isn't a horrendous flaw with your specific OEM springs/shocks, they should easily last you above and beyond 200,000km's.

Ahh okay. Not sure how to feel about that. One the one hand, great that there's lots of longevity. On the other hand I was waiting for it to brake down as a reason to change the stocks to coilovers.. Guess I'll wait.

[7iM3less]

The next question would be how does the life expectancy of the strut change if you install lowering springs.

[Bestodabest]

Originally Posted by KC328_F30

The next question would be how does the life expectancy of the strut change if you install lowering springs.

The further away from the stock spring properties you get, the faster you'll wear out the shock.

[Kailec]

Originally Posted by Bestodabest

The further away from the stock spring properties you get, the faster you'll wear out the shock.

Well I was going the coilover route so that's a moot point anyways. I'd rather pay a few hundred more and be guaranteed that the strut and spring work perfectly together. I read other using the B8 and H&R Sport Springs together and they weren't compatible, with the top hats biting the bullet after a pot hole. I also see people mention ACS and Eibach but when BC Racing or Bilstein B14's can be had for around $1700, why chance it? But again, was trying to justify it to the wife once the old ones were worn out.. Lol

[CJ421]

It depends on the roads, but my experience is that shocks on factory cars lose most of their effectiveness/power by 40k miles (64k km). The springs are springs ...

Test drive a new 330i xDrive and see what that feels like if you want to understand how much yours are worn. That won't be a perfect comparison since the tires may be different, but you'll get an idea.

Always get a matched shock + spring set.

Charles

[Bestodabest]

Originally Posted by CJ421

It depends on the roads, but my experience is that shocks on factory cars lose most of their effectiveness/power by 40k miles (64k km). The springs are springs ...

Test drive a new 330i xDrive and see what that feels like if you want to understand how much yours are worn. That won't be a perfect comparison since the tires may be different, but you'll get an idea.

Always get a matched shock + spring set.

Charles

40k miles? Good luck getting your dealership to warranty that repair.

If the bushings are intact, shock isn't leaking, and (if a strut assembly) the bearing isn't worn, then you'll have a hard time convincing anyone to replace their shocks.

My .02 dollars.

[CJ421]

Originally Posted by Bestodabest

40k miles? Good luck getting your dealership to warranty that repair.

If the bushings are intact, shock isn't leaking, and (if a strut assembly) the bearing isn't worn, then you'll have a hard time convincing anyone to replace their shocks.

My .02 dollars.

Shocks are generally wear and tear items, the vehicle warranty generally doesn't apply to them unless there are defects. So no, I wouldn't expect the dealership to do anything, nor would I ask them to.

Edit: The OP asked for opinions on how much life is remaining in his shocks. I left my experience as only that, my experience, not as a stated fact. I know shocks can go longer than 40k miles, but as I said, in my experience, they're not too effective beyond that mileage and I [personally] replace them at that point to maintain ride quality. Nothing makes a car feel more like new than new shocks (and tires).

Charles

[Bestodabest]

Originally Posted by CJ421

Shocks are generally wear and tear items, the vehicle warranty generally wouldn't usually apply to them unless there are defects. So no, I wouldn't expect the dealership to do anything, nor would I ask them to.

The OP asked for opinions on how much life is remaining in his shocks. I left my experience as only that, my experience, not as a stated fact. I know shocks can go longer than 40k miles, but as I said, in my experience, they're not too effective beyond that mileage and I [personally] replace them at that point to maintain ride quality. Nothing makes a car feel more like new than new shocks (and tires).

Charles

You said "lose most of their effectiveness/power"... to me, that description is synonymous with a defective suspension component if it fails within 40k miles.

A fairly expensive wear and tear item if you're replacing them that often.

[Lysol]

*my 2cents:

As CJ421 mentioned, component wear will depend on your road conditions...in my case, I bought my car from Indiana, USA (lots of epic potholes) with ~51,500 km (32,000 mi) and noticed the car seemed to 'wallow' over bridge expansion gaps after putting some mileage in.

I went ahead and replaced the whole spring/strut assy w/ Bilstein B14 on a hunch the stock struts were blown...and boy were they. After getting everything apart, I was able to fully bound the struts by hand (and then watched them take ~15 seconds to re-bound). I assume my car's previous owner hit some pretty sweet jumps during his commute...

Anyway, just some food for thought.

[Kailec]

Originally Posted by Lysol

*my 2cents:

As CJ421 mentioned, component wear will depend on your road conditions...in my case, I bought my car from Indiana, USA (lots of epic potholes) with ~51,500 km (32,000 mi) and noticed the car seemed to 'wallow' over bridge expansion gaps after putting some mileage in.

I went ahead and replaced the whole spring/strut assy w/ Bilstein B14 on a hunch the stock struts were blown...and boy were they. After getting everything apart, I was able to fully bound the struts by hand (and then watched them take ~15 seconds to re-bound). I assume my car's previous owner hit some pretty sweet jumps during his commute...

Anyway, just some food for thought.

Thanks for the input. There have never been any reported incidents on this car from reading the car history, all routine maintenance. I guess I would need to compare to another car to really know then. Think it would be bad if I asked dealership to let me test drive with no intention of buying? Lol

[CJ421]

Originally Posted by Kailec

Thanks for the input. There have never been any reported incidents on this car from reading the car history, all routine maintenance. I guess I would need to compare to another car to really know then. Think it would be bad if I asked dealership to let me test drive with no intention of buying? Lol

Nah, test drive anyway.

Or, just bite the bullet and get new shocks put in. I think at your mileage it is probably worthwhile to do that.

Charles

[Lancelot]

Originally Posted by Bestodabest

You said "lose most of their effectiveness/power"... to me, that description is synonymous with a defective suspension component if it fails within 40k miles.

A fairly expensive wear and tear item if you're replacing them that often.

It?s not really about failing at any given point, more like decaying.

[Bestodabest]

Originally Posted by Lancelot

It?s not really about failing at any given point, more like decaying.

The OP asked "how much more life"...

I've yet to come across a customer who's eager to replace shocks before they've reached their end of life (leaking cylinder, etc). People who are replacing their shocks at 40k miles because the ride doesn't feel as tight as it once did are definitely in the 1%.

If you're looking to upgrade, fine. But those shocks still have a significant amount of life left in them.

[Kailec]

Are there usually any takers for used stock struts and springs? Seems like it's going to waste if they have 200,000 km lifespan and I'm not even at the halfway mark.

[Bestodabest]

There's definitely a market for used OEM suspension parts that aren't damaged; do a quick search on Kijiji or in the F/S section on here.

[MacklinUSOB]

Originally Posted by Bestodabest

The OP asked "how much more life"...

I've yet to come across a customer who's eager to replace shocks before they've reached their end of life (leaking cylinder, etc). People who are replacing their shocks at 40k miles because the ride doesn't feel as tight as it once did are definitely in the 1%.

If you're looking to upgrade, fine. But those shocks still have a significant amount of life left in them.

40k does sound early to me. However I will tell you from first hand experience, as will anyone else who has done the work, the rear 704 shocks are done at 50k. I replaced mine with B6's at 55k and they had 0 rebound left, nearly compressing under their own weight. My fronts are soon to be replaced climbing towards 65.

Not a shot in hell the stock 704 shocks last until 200,000km.

[Bestodabest]

Originally Posted by MacklinUSOB

40k does sound early to me. However I will tell you from first hand experience, as will anyone else who has done the work, the rear 704 shocks are done at 50k. I replaced mine with B6's at 55k and they had 0 rebound left, nearly compressing under their own weight. My fronts are soon to be replaced climbing towards 65.

Not a shot in hell the stock 704 shocks last until 200,000km.

I don't know how you guys are driving these vehicles, but under normal wear and tear, there's no reason for average consumers to replace shocks that early. Unless I can physically see the shock leaking or the vehicle's handling is clearly impaired, I see no reason to replace them.

My E90 325i made it to 200k on stock shocks, and my E92 M3 made it to 90k on stock shocks. I'm sure they're still going strong.

Just because you blew your shocks means the entire generation is a write off? You're talking about hundreds of thousands of cars going through shocks in the first 4 years.

I've never heard of shocks going on a 4 year old car. I'm at 70,000km's now on my 4 year old 435iX, and I haven't the slightest inclination to replace the shocks.

[MacklinUSOB]

Originally Posted by Bestodabest

I don't know how you guys are driving these vehicles, but under normal wear and tear, there's no reason for average consumers to replace shocks that early. Unless I can physically see the shock leaking or the vehicle's handling is clearly impaired, I see no reason to replace them.

My E90 325i made it to 200k on stock shocks, and my E92 M3 made it to 90k on stock shocks. I'm sure they're still going strong.

Just because you blew your shocks means the entire generation is a write off? You're talking about hundreds of thousands of cars going through shocks in the first 4 years.

I've never heard of shocks going on a 4 year old car. I'm at 70,000km's now on my 4 year old 435iX, and I haven't the slightest inclination to replace the shocks.

The handling was clearly impaired on my vehicle. Excessive brake dive, and squat under acceleration, both tell signs of worn rear shocks. I had it inspected at my Indy, after taking a look myself, neither of us could clearly tell if the assembly had been leaking, but inspecting while assisted by the spring is not entirely effective. It was only after removing the old that I had an idea of how the shock was actually performing, they simply were not. I could compress both with one arms force on a table, and it took almost a minute to fully rebound. Shot.

The f30 has no shared suspension parts with either of those vehicles, we're as well off comparing my Saab 9000 with 200,000 on the original shocks, too.

Nowhere did I or anyone in here write our cars off, stop being so dramatic. The replacement shocks cost me $200 and an hour of my time, I did not lose sleep over it. I did not tell you your shocks need to be replaced, but OP asked for the lifespan. Asserting opinion based on anecdotal comparisons is unhelpful, even more so that I am the third person in this thread to claim the same lifespan and you continue to rant.

[Kailec]

Originally Posted by MacklinUSOB

The handling was clearly impaired on my vehicle. Excessive brake dive, and squat under acceleration, both tell signs of worn rear shocks. I had it inspected at my Indy, after taking a look myself, neither of us could clearly tell if the assembly had been leaking, but inspecting while assisted by the spring is not entirely effective. It was only after removing the old that I had an idea of how the shock was actually performing, they simply were not. I could compress both with one arms force on a table, and it took almost a minute to fully rebound. Shot.

The f30 has no shared suspension parts with either of those vehicles, we're as well off comparing my Saab 9000 with 200,000 on the original shocks, too.

Nowhere did I or anyone in here write our cars off, stop being so dramatic. The replacement shocks cost me $200 and an hour of my time, I did not lose sleep over it. I did not tell you your shocks need to be replaced, but OP asked for the lifespan. Asserting opinion based on anecdotal comparisons is unhelpful, even more so that I am the third person in this thread to claim the same lifespan and you continue to rant.

Interesting, is there any way to tell if mine are shot without removing them? This is my first car that I care about in terms of performance, so the stuff you're talking about I wouldn't know how to tell by feel. I know in older cars if you could push down the body it was an indicator that you needed to replace shocks, but with newer ones like the F30 that is no longer the case.