New Jersey BMW CCA

About to replace struts and rear shocks on X3 (incl strut caps and RSM's) with Bilsteins. Any hints/tricks for this job? Car does not have self leveling, I don't have Bentley. Thanks.

Bob

Sorry bob i have no tips. Haven't worked on a bmw newer than 1991

The X3 suspension is pretty straight forward. No electronics or self levelling. Just watch, if it has HID lights, there will be an electronic module off of the sway bar for the light adjustment. That should be it.

Tim

Tim,

Thanks for your help! I see that the struts are clamped into the spindle, rather than bolted or integral like I'm used to seeing on my antiques. Is it difficult to separate the strut from the spindle?

I was planning to spin off the upper strut nut before lifting the car, and then to disassemble from underneath - is this OK?

Thanks for the advice.

Bob

m20power wrote:Tim,

Thanks for your help! I see that the struts are clamped into the spindle, rather than bolted or integral like I'm used to seeing on my antiques. Is it difficult to separate the strut from the spindle?

I was planning to spin off the upper strut nut before lifting the car, and then to disassemble from underneath - is this OK?

Thanks for the advice.

Bob

Strut should come out of the clamp relatively easily. Not familiar with the clearance on an X3, but it might be an issue if you disconnect the upper nut first. On an E46 you either have to compress the springs in place or disconnect all the lower suspension bits to get them out.

Bob,

I wouldn't remove the upper strut nut until I had the assembly on the bench. On the awd X3, strut removal is complicated by the limitation of rebound travel caused by the drive axle, so you don't want to do anything that will lenghten the strut in place.

Vic

Thanks all for the advice - much appreciated. One last question - anyone have the torque specs for the hardware? I'm mostly concerned about the M12x1.5 collar bolt that clamps the strut tube into the front hub carrier (using new nut). Also the M12x1.5 lower bolt for the rear shock.

Any help appreciated. Thanks, Bob

Hey,

I am in the NCC chapter but noticed your post about the x3 and struts. Like you i am a e30 guy (but only one:-( and hope to change that) and don't wrench in the new stuff too much.

Can you share some tips on how changing the struts went on the x3? a buddy in philly needs it done and traveling up there to help him. I understand the collar bolt holds it in, but don't know how much suspension drop there is to slide out the struct. I hope you did not have to remove anything but the strut!

Any insight would be appreciated!

thanks,

Hi Jared,

I wish we had the Bentley manual for this job, and now understand that the E46 manual that covers the Xi is a good reference - I suggest that you have this at hand.

I think we missed the mark by not disconnecting the lower control arms to allow enough movement to free the struts from the spindle. Without doing this, we over-extended the half shaft on the driver side, damaging the CV joint.

Next time, I would remove the LCA bolt and also pop the inner CV joint from the front diff. Aside from this, the fronts were pretty straight forward - I was surprised that the struts were easy to separate from the spindle (using a floor jack under the strut tube to raise).

The rear shocks, however, were a bitch...there are a million plastic trim pieces, each held by invisible, custom, never-seen-before hardware (exaggerating). You know if you break a clip on one of these, it will not look the same. No manual, just a good tool set, mirror and flashlight. Ended up fine.

HTH, have fun! Bob

Thanks for the heads up. I have the e46 Bentley for our car. Based on your descriptions he might want to come down here were the tools are.

Thanks

Jared
E30<-- so simple and reliable.