[slegau]

So here's the story: I had a rattle on front left side and took it in to bmw and they advised i change front suspension, left and right.

I had a 2015 328i m-sport with m-sport suspension according to VIN number and report from bimmer.work.

When i got car back from repair, it felt like a totally different car, soft and bouncy, leans hard in corners, kind of cheap feeling, feel every single little bump in road through the floor, and almost a sway when steering back and forth, also sits about 1/2 inch higher now in front. I feel my car has been ruined and isnt fun to drive anymore. I've told them i will pay them 2000 to put old suspension back on but the parts are gone, too bad cause right was still in good condition. BMW insists they put on correct suspension. Ever heard of anything like this before or have any idea of what could've happened? Appreciate any help or insight you may have

[sspade]

Easy enough to check the part numbers to confirm which dampers were installed.

I highly doubt that they knowingly screwed with your car, although mistakes do happen.

Its a pretty cut and dry operation regarding ordering parts at a dealer... they scan your VIN and work with whats presented from there. Very low risk of ordering the wrong parts.

I'd confirm the fronts are correct and then get the rears done as well.

[cfm56d7b]

slegau, can you provide more details about what parts were changed by the dealer and part numbers?

[slegau]

Thanks for the replies everyone, this is really a bothersome situation for me which i am losing sleep over and am now completely abandoned by the dealer.

First thing, i will definitely not be changing the rears to match the front, because i hate the front ones and want the front to match the back. If i do anything i will order new parts myself which are officially m-sport (704) as this is what the report i got bimmer.work states my car had when came out of factory (see attachment 1.jpg).

I believe what bmw did was by the book, so i cannot technically blame them which is why i was willing to pay them to put old ones back on and be done with it, but not an option as they are gone now. The part number generated by the dealer service system and put on my car was 31-31-6-874-370. I learned from https://www.getbmwparts.com/ that this part does fit on my car and description on site is given as "Rwd, without adaptive m suspension, 328i, 320i, 328d, without sport pkg." (see attachment 3.jpg). This does not sound like m-sport (704) which is what was on my car when it left factory according the the VIN. However another strut/spring part '37-11-6-793-865' found on that site also fits my car and is described as "Rwd, with adaptive m suspension, 328i & 320i." (see attachment 2.jpg). i think this is the one my car should have, but i have not confirmed this yet.

I'm starting to think the BMW dealer system generated the wrong part number for my car. Cant blame them for that, but i imagine it should be a red flag if the parts coming off do not match the the one going on and then should've investigated further or at least call me to tell me there's an issue, not just carry out repair because parts were already ordered.

What I'm considering doing next is taking car to another garage and have them check what part numbers are on the rear suspension, and then figuring out what the equivalent front ones would be to go with it. If this does not match then something is wrong and BMW service part ordering system generated an error with my VIN. I would do this check myself but do not have the tools. Unless there is a way to check without taking off wheel?

So all that being said, i cannot blame the dealer as they keep going back to the "we ordered the parts for you VIN from our system" argument. But surely, having two different suspension front and rear is not my fault either and why would i have to pay to get the correct matching ones put in front.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks!

[Orion4]

If your VIN shows m-sport suspension (704), that IS NOT the "Adaptive M- Suspension" . Totally different suspensions.

[slegau]

ok thanks for the info, so what is the suspension on my car originally, what is 704 suspension, or what is the part number for it?

The other thing i've noticed in the car, is that when i put it in sport mode before it would stiffen the steering, tighten up the suspension to the point where it felt very responsive sensitive to bumps in the road. now whether its on sport or comfort mode, it doesnt make much difference at all, although the steering still stiffens up.

[slegau]

From other websites, i have learned that m-sport 704 suspensions are part numbers 3131-6791579-04 and the rear shocks are 3352-6791588-07.

[Orion4]

With the 704 option (M- Sport Suspension), when you select "Sport", it modifies the steering sensitivity (slightly "heavier") for more positive control and changes the transmissions shift points (more aggressive). It does absolutely nothing to the suspension, which is a non-electronic/digital system. You are "feeling" the "placebo effect", nothing more. The adaptive suspesnsion is a different story/

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by Orion4

With the 704 option (M- Sport Suspension), when you select "Sport", it modifies the steering sensitivity (slightly "heavier") for more positive control and changes the transmissions shift points (more aggressive). It does absolutely nothing to the suspension, which is a non-electronic/digital system. You are "feeling" the "placebo effect", nothing more. The adaptive suspesnsion is a different story/

BMW Variable Sport Steering or VSS is a separate option code - 2VL. VSS is not a part of 704 suspension. VSS has been also included as a part of ZTR Track Handling Package.

[casualDIYer]

OP, is it possible to get more details regarding your situation?

1. Where did you get the car? From a BMW dealership as a new car? As a pre-owned from a BMW dealership? As a used car from a used car dealer/private seller?

2. You say you brought the car in with a 'rattle' and BMW advised you change the suspension left and right. Can you expand on this? What was written on the diagnostic report? Generally if a strut fails, the dealer and most indy shops will recommend a left + right replacement of the front struts. It isn't a requirement to replace both but recommended in order to get the same feel left and right.

3. You mentioned the car feels soft and bouncy but you can feel every bump in the road. Typically softy suspensions are meant to soak up bumps in the road. Can you expand on this? If you had a failed strut the car's feel would be a lot worse as any time you went over a bump, without a working damper to control the spring, the car continues to bounce up and down.

4. You say the car rides 1/2 inch higher in the front. The only way to do that would be to change out the springs but this brings the discussion back to what damage was done to the car. Do you have the dealer's diagnostic sheet? You can get a copy from the dealer. Post a pic of it (removing your name and address).

5. You say you will not be changing the rears. Who recommended that?

I have to admit, your disdain and then praise for the dealer is confusing. The dealer ruined your car, but you're sure they did it 'by the book' but the parts system made a mistake. If that last claim was true, complaints would flood in from thousands of customers. I'd advise not making comments about the dealer or systems used by the dealer. This story is about a repair you are unhappy with. I'd focus on that and no more.

Suggest you call the dealer, setup a meeting with the service manager to discuss a repair you are very unhappy with, and go over the work step by step, starting with the car's VIN, diagnosis, then subsequent repair. You say the dealership claims the parts installed match your VIN. Shouldn't be too hard to verify this. Get the dealer to show you how they recovered part numbers for your VIN then check the part number on the spring and strut. It's barely a 5 minute job they can do at no charge. Do not bring up what you saw on bimmer.work. The dealer has access to all the information on that car that is required and isn't going to suddenly recognize a third party to provide information about they products they sell.

I'd be very surprised if a franchise dealership would be unwilling to go over the repair. In the rare case where they are reluctant to help, call your credit card company and ask to reverse the charge. The credit card company won't do that right away but will investigate. The dealer isn't going to screw around with the credit card company over a small repair like this.

[slegau]

Thanks for the response,

Well i believe the system that the dealer uses to look up parts for my car generated an error, which was to put non m-sport suspension on my car which takes m-sport suspension per VIN number. This is why I'm not happy with the repair and dealer. Dealer says they didn't do anything wrong, but if they depend on a system that created an error, this shouldn't be my problem. The issue is to convince them of this, I thought it would be obvious for them what part numbers to put on car as they are the experts, so i never mentioned it. Surely its not expected for the customer to say he wants the same suspension on his that it came out of factory with per VIN build. Either they are playing dumb to cover it up or they just don't know this stuff which would be surprising.

1-I got the car pre-owned from another dealer 4 years ago with 25k miles, never had a problem with it until this.

2- The rattle was due to hitting a sharp bump at high speed, rattle appeared a couple weeks later from left side, they advised to change left and right just so they would match in terms of wear and tear and feel, too bad though because i could've still had the m-sport on the right side for comparison after it was all done.

3-The car feels soft and bouncy due to the change is suspension compared to what I had before, I don't think there is anything wrong with it, just such a difference from what I had before and I cannot stand it. This isn't the suspension I expected to be put on car.

4- I scraped the curb where I parked for 4 years when parking at home, and now since this job, I clear the same curb by about 0.5 of an inch, I have read elsewhere in multiple places that m-sport suspension lowers the car by about 10 mm, so this makes even more sense now why this is happening.

5-Someone on here said I should change the rears to match the fronts as the fronts are new. But I do not like the feel of the fronts and would prefer to have my old suspension back in front even so I will not be touching the rear.

I already did take the car back to BMW and met with manager and mechanic and they said everything looks normal, although they also did insist they put the right suspension on, and at the time I hadn't figured out the part number information yet. It was only after when started researching that I figured this out. I just couldn't accept that this was how the car was going to be now after the last meeting with dealer. So now I know the part number they put on were not m-sport suspension, and everything in terms of performance and feel is also telling me this, as well as the 10 mm rise in the front of the car.

So as I said previously, I would like to take back wheels off and check part numbers of back suspension, this would just be one more way to re-confirm what I already suspect, that the current front suspension doesn't match back because they put the wrong one on. Surely with this mis-match between front and back, BMW cannot come back and say this is normal to have two different suspensions on the car.

Part number installed on car: 31-31-6-874-370 (non m-sport)
Part number that should be on car: 3131-6791579-04 (m-sport)


.

Originally Posted by casualDIYer

OP, is it possible to get more details regarding your situation?

1. Where did you get the car? From a BMW dealership as a new car? As a pre-owned from a BMW dealership? As a used car from a used car dealer/private seller?

2. You say you brought the car in with a 'rattle' and BMW advised you change the suspension left and right. Can you expand on this? What was written on the diagnostic report? Generally if a strut fails, the dealer and most indy shops will recommend a left + right replacement of the front struts. It isn't a requirement to replace both but recommended in order to get the same feel left and right.

3. You mentioned the car feels soft and bouncy but you can feel every bump in the road. Typically softy suspensions are meant to soak up bumps in the road. Can you expand on this? If you had a failed strut the car's feel would be a lot worse as any time you went over a bump, without a working damper to control the spring, the car continues to bounce up and down.

4. You say the car rides 1/2 inch higher in the front. The only way to do that would be to change out the springs but this brings the discussion back to what damage was done to the car. Do you have the dealer's diagnostic sheet? You can get a copy from the dealer. Post a pic of it (removing your name and address).

5. You say you will not be changing the rears. Who recommended that?

I have to admit, your disdain and then praise for the dealer is confusing. The dealer ruined your car, but you're sure they did it 'by the book' but the parts system made a mistake. If that last claim was true, complaints would flood in from thousands of customers. I'd advise not making comments about the dealer or systems used by the dealer. This story is about a repair you are unhappy with. I'd focus on that and no more.

Suggest you call the dealer, setup a meeting with the service manager to discuss a repair you are very unhappy with, and go over the work step by step, starting with the car's VIN, diagnosis, then subsequent repair. You say the dealership claims the parts installed match your VIN. Shouldn't be too hard to verify this. Get the dealer to show you how they recovered part numbers for your VIN then check the part number on the spring and strut. It's barely a 5 minute job they can do at no charge. Do not bring up what you saw on bimmer.work. The dealer has access to all the information on that car that is required and isn't going to suddenly recognize a third party to provide information about they products they sell.

I'd be very surprised if a franchise dealership would be unwilling to go over the repair. In the rare case where they are reluctant to help, call your credit card company and ask to reverse the charge. The credit card company won't do that right away but will investigate. The dealer isn't going to screw around with the credit card company over a small repair like this.

[BMW in NE]

If your ride height has been impacted, this is related to having the incorrect springs installed, not struts. This would also impact the handling of the vehicle like you are describing.