[BMW DIY Guy]

Hey yall!

I have one small step left to finish my suspension subcomponent thread, but I was able to install my new coilovers!

I couldnt find any guide, video or DIY that fully documented the process, or showed the tools or torque values etc, so I created one!

VERY long day with a couple of the pieces giving me fits but successful, and now amazing post alignment and full balance.

Any questions give me a shout!

[xpro]

Nice job...

Ps: I did notice that you didn't mention, or maybe you have done it, but rear damper needs to be torqued only after the full load has been placed on the axle, which means with the wheels sitting down. Otherwise the rubber bushing in the shock can get damaged due to over twist.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by xpro

Nice job...

Ps: I did notice that you didn't mention, or maybe you have done it, but rear damper needs to be torqued only after the full load has been placed on the axle, which means with the wheels sitting down. Otherwise the rubber bushing in the shock can get damaged due to over twist.

can you explain more of your point? I didnt see any guidance like this from Bilstein or any other source. If there is something I missed, I would absolutely want to get that added.

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by xpro

Ps: I did notice that you didn't mention, or maybe you have done it, but rear damper needs to be torqued only after the full load has been placed on the axle, which means with the wheels sitting down. Otherwise the rubber bushing in the shock can get damaged due to over twist.

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

can you explain more of your point? I didnt see any guidance like this from Bilstein or any other source. If there is something I missed, I would absolutely want to get that added.

BMW recommends not torquing the lower bolt on the rear damper till it's in the normal position. This means in the position it's in at static ride height to reduce the max torsional load on the bushing through the typical rotation. It's not super critical, and usually I just jack up the corner till the weight there isn't supported by the jack stand/lift anymore and then torque the bolt. It's close enough to the normal position.

[xpro]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

can you explain more of your point? I didnt see any guidance like this from Bilstein or any other source. If there is something I missed, I would absolutely want to get that added.

^^ The man above has it all covered already..


But yeah, here's the extract from Bilstein aswell.
As Farkle said, this is not super critical, but if the car is lowered a lot, there will be additional torsion on the rubber bushings which will increase the wear.

*All rubber- mounted strut/ damper attachments must not be fully tightened until AFTER the suspension system is loaded (wheels on the ground). Other mounting fasteners (for example brackets) must be securely tightened BEFORE load is placed on the suspension system*

[CrushJelly]

This is a quality YouTube channel.

I'm not sure if you mentioned this, but Bilstein front coilovers are not "handed". There is no left and right version. They give two left hand side shocks.

With cars with Adaptive suspension, the right hand side endlink won't work. You need an extra left hand side endlink.

More info in my post (re: B14 but same same).
https://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122206

[itsrichierich]

Originally Posted by CrushJelly

This is a quality YouTube channel.

I'm not sure if you mentioned this, but Bilstein front coilovers are not "handed". There is no left and right version. They give two left hand side shocks.

With cars with Adaptive suspension, the right hand side endlink won't work. You need an extra left hand side endlink.

More info in my post (re: B14 but same same).
https://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122206

Thanks for the heads up!

[cfm56d7b]

Great job and thanks for sharing!

How would you characterize handling: neutral, slight oversteer / understeer?

[G80S58]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Great job and thanks for sharing!

How would you characterize handling: neutral, slight oversteer / understeer?

Wanted to piggyback off this question. I know OP you've had the sway bars done as well. With these coilovers installed, did your car become too stiff?

I'm thinking of adding either Dinan or H&R sways soon, and I plan to get coilovers down the line, however I am worry that my car becomes too stiff and annoying to drive.

thoughts?

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by Shield_F32

Wanted to piggyback off this question. I know OP you've had the sway bars done as well. With these coilovers installed, did your car become too stiff?

I'm thinking of adding either Dinan or H&R sways soon, and I plan to get coilovers down the line, however I am worry that my car becomes too stiff and annoying to drive.

thoughts?

I am extremely pleased with my upgraded sways. Granted, came from an e46 M3 which are notoriously harsh, the stock setup on my F32 felt like mush.

[itsrichierich]

OP, did you have EDC?

[mk17]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

Hey yall!

I have one small step left to finish my suspension subcomponent thread, but I was able to install my new coilovers!

I couldnt find any guide, video or DIY that fully documented the process, or showed the tools or torque values etc, so I created one!

Any questions give me a shout!

I watched your video with great interest. A really helpful DIY guide which cleared up a lot of questions for me but I'm not sure if you quoted the correct torque for the front 16mm strut top hat bolts.

You say 30nm at 24:22 mins in on your video and list "30nm - front 16mm strut top hat bolts" under Torque info on your YouTube video. I think these should be torqued to 56nm.

According to newTIS.info 30nm is the torque for the M8 bolt [13mm] which I believe are on the F30 as opposed to 56nm torque for the M10 bolt [16mm] on the F32.

Am I right or wrong? Can anyone clarify.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by mk17

I watched your video with great interest. A really helpful DIY guide which cleared up a lot of questions for me but I'm not sure if you quoted the correct torque for the front 16mm strut top hat bolts.

You say 30nm at 24:22 mins in on your video and list "30nm - front 16mm strut top hat bolts" under Torque info on your YouTube video. I think these should be torqued to 56nm.

According to newTIS.info 30nm is the torque for the M8 bolt [13mm] which I believe are on the F30 as opposed to 56nm torque for the M10 bolt [16mm] on the F32.

Am I right or wrong? Can anyone clarify.

If you have checked NEWTIS, then go with what you confirmed for sure. Its possible I read the F30 info. Either way, happy to help.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by mk17

I watched your video with great interest. A really helpful DIY guide which cleared up a lot of questions for me but I'm not sure if you quoted the correct torque for the front 16mm strut top hat bolts.

You say 30nm at 24:22 mins in on your video and list "30nm - front 16mm strut top hat bolts" under Torque info on your YouTube video. I think these should be torqued to 56nm.

According to newTIS.info 30nm is the torque for the M8 bolt [13mm] which I believe are on the F30 as opposed to 56nm torque for the M10 bolt [16mm] on the F32.

Am I right or wrong? Can anyone clarify.

I would say you are right! GREAT catch! I will update the info

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...nting/GaPp5jLV

[FaRKle!]

Actually, you don't use BMW torque specs for the top mount nuts that come with Bilstein shocks and suspension packages.

The 56 Nm / 41 ft-lbs front and 38 Nm / 28 ft-lbs rear torque specs are for the BMW all metal lock nuts. Bilsteins come with nylocks, and if you read the instructions that come with Bilsteins (pg 3) they say to torque the front nylocks to 45 Nm / 34 ft-lbs, and the rear ones to 25 Nm / 19 ft-lbs. Good luck getting those nylocks to BMW all metal nut specs!

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

Actually, you don't use BMW torque specs for the top mount nuts that come with Bilstein shocks and suspension packages.

The 56 Nm / 41 ft-lbs front and 38 Nm / 28 ft-lbs rear torque specs are for the BMW all metal lock nuts. Bilsteins come with nylocks, and if you read the instructions that come with Bilsteins (pg 3) they say to torque the front nylocks to 45 Nm / 34 ft-lbs, and the rear ones to 25 Nm / 19 ft-lbs. Good luck getting those nylocks to BMW all metal nut specs!

Farkle's the man on all of this, so defer to him for sure.

In my case, the 16mm top (hat?) nuts weren't provided from Bilstein, so I reused the existing though newtis suggests replacing them. They seem to have that theme on almost all of the suspension nuts, bolts etc.

[itsrichierich]

Swaybar end links need to be replaced on a certain side correct? For those with EDC suspension. Anyone have the part #? Or which side it is I need to replace.

[gippy]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

Farkle's the man on all of this, so defer to him for sure.

In my case, the 16mm top (hat?) nuts weren't provided from Bilstein, so I reused the existing though newtis suggests replacing them. They seem to have that theme on almost all of the suspension nuts, bolts etc.

well i'm hoping either yourself of FaRKle! can help please.
i'm trying to fit the B14 kit to my F32 440i RWD.

i don't know how you guys are managing to push the hub down enough BMW DIY Guy
i've made a short video...hope someone can help. (time now is 00:56...video should be available to watch in about 15 mins)

footnote to the video below: even keis motorsport's 2 videos, where he's installing sport springs/coilovers, does push down quite aggressively on the wheel assembly......i have pushed down on mine several times but cannot get the clearance. Maybe i'm not strong enough?

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by gippy

well i'm hoping either yourself of FaRKle! can help please.
i'm trying to fit the B14 kit to my F32 440i RWD.

i don't know how you guys are managing to push the hub down enough BMW DIY Guy
i've made a short video...hope someone can help. (time now is 00:56...video should be available to watch in about 15 mins)

footnote to the video below: even keis motorsport's 2 videos, where he's installing sport springs/coilovers, does push down quite aggressively on the wheel assembly......i have pushed down on mine several times but cannot get the clearance. Maybe i'm not strong enough?

You have RWD, so the struts are too long some times to drop the knuckle off of them.

Instead what you need to do is unbolt the strut/top hat assembly from the shock tower, push down on that and pivot the top of it out of the wheel well. Once the top hat is clear of the wheel well, then you should be able to pull the strut assembly out of the knuckle.
I explain it at 9:39 in my video.

[gippy]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

You have RWD, so the struts are too long some times to drop the knuckle off of them.

Instead what you need to do is unbolt the strut/top hat assembly from the shock tower, push down on that and pivot the top of it out of the wheel well.

yeh but.........i cannot just 'press down on it'.
clearly my struts are too long.
There is barely enough clearance at the top to get the top of the strut moved away from the topmount's holes, before it gets wedged in the wheel arch.
You can't 'press down' because its under tension....there's a coiled spring there. I mention that in my video above, i tried doing it that way.

the 'BMW way' that you describe is a bit misleading, because the actual BMW way is to fully disassemble the wheel hub first, which would then give plenty of room to pull the top of the mount under the wheel arch without effort.

somehow i managed to do the drivers side as the wheel hub assembly could be pushed down far enough......but i cannot do it on the other side.
wouldn't surprise me if i've somehow bent the steering rod or damaged that assembly as a result of pushing down on it and forcing it.

the proper way to do this is as per ISTA.

EDIT: see post below

[gippy]

so for anyone else doing DIY, here are my tips to add to here.
I managed to get the strut out in the end, by removing the counterhold nut that connects the track rod to the hub.
That allowed me to rotate the hub completely to the left to clear the track rod, which in turn allowed me to push down enough to get the strut out, without putting pressure on the steering rod.

The tightening torque for it is 175nM.

I'd strongly advise anyone else attempting this, who has the same RWD F32 with m-sport suspension, to do the same - remove the track rod nut first.

The official BMW way is to continue to remove the other two counter holds before lowering the entire strut down and pulling the top of the strut from under the wheel arch.

However this would be an absolute bitch to do, because to undo the counterhold nuts means pulling in the opposite direction to the steering, in turn rotating the entire assembly......and then also having to tighten them again to 175nM.

my way is a small tweak to the methods on youtube. (Unless someone can confirm that it is definitely ok to push down as hard as possible on that steering track rod without doing any damage, in which case maybe with another pair of hands wiggling the strut out, it may be possible)

EDIT: The only downside to this is to then torque the nut back up, i've found it impossible, so i've tightened it as much as possible for it to be driveable, then getting my alignment shop to do it after taking a slow drive there 10 mins down the road.
i guess you'd need a 21mm crowsfeet attachment to a lengthy torque wrench whilst holding the star bolt in place, which i think was a T45.
I had neither so going to let my garage do it and see what they do...

my only other advise to this would be........
- forget the BMW way/trying to pull the strut out top-end first under the wheelarch - absolutely no clearance on my car anyway. Removing steering rod (given the above) and pushing down on the wheel hub to get the bottom-end out first is definitely the way to go.
- get someone to help, doing it on my own was tricky at times.
- after spending £100 in tooling and 2 full days, i sometimes think whether it was worth my time, when i could have paid my indy guys about maybe 3.5 hours in labour ~ £250 to fit. I wanted to do it as a learning experience and because maybe in future i'd experiment with different springs
- double check that the strut has been pushed all the way down through the knuckle....i only realised after dropping the car back to the ground that one side was 20mm higher than the other. Do this before putting everything back on and tightening!
- a quickjack would make life a lot easier.... i definitely need one. if you're tracking your car and regularly changing pads, wheels, springs, and whatever else, the £1k investment is totally worth it in the long run.
- my car on stock M-sport suspension was running 27mm at the front - it's currently sitting 30mm front, with the Left side slightly higher than the right, by about 4mm. I'm putting this down to cross-weight differences and will adjust it again during steering alignment. All of that translates into about 22 counts of thread on the b14 strut from the bottom to the collar. I want to keep stock height so that's where i'm going to leave it. There is a ton of thread left for lowering.
- there's no need to compress the bilstein springs when putting the top mount back on. Firstly, there's hardly any gap big enough for my compressor to have fit in between so wasn't even an option - secondly, you can (as i did) just set the collars low to begin with, put the top mount back on, screw on the nut, then adjust the collar. This saves having to mess about with spring compressors again or having difficulty pushing the top mount down so there's enough thread for the nut.

[BMW DIY Guy]

WD40 is your friend as well.. just sayin. Made all the difference for me on one strut that just refused to come out.