Changing springs on E36 struts & shocks

[Lorn]

I have read several threads for changing out springs, however, can anyone point me to a good visual, step by step link, I find pictures easier since I am a little unfamiliar with the terms for parts.

[tigerclaws]

Rear one or front?
The rear one is much easier than the front. Rear one takes you ~ 30 minutes for the coil spring

[Manolito]

Even the fronts are very easy on an e36 compared to most cars.

Use a good spring compressor and follow its directions and use the safety clips!!! A spring compressor that pops off can/will hurt you badly. I am a big fan of Harbor Freight tools, but this is not a good place to scrimp.

An electric impact wrench (Harbor Freight OK) will save you a lot of time cranking the spring compressor up and down.

[Duke4AZ]

I believe that the 101 Projects book covers the replacement of struts and shocks, although, while the process may be the same, the pictures are of an e30. On the other hand, I will be doing the same task this weekend and if you don't have your repair planned until later, I will be documenting the process and will be most happy to send you the pics and the writeup. Just send me a private email and we can coordinate.

I have done this on a couple of different cars but never my bimmer. The only concern I have is whether or not the springs need to be compressed prior to removal of the strut assembly from the car. If they don't, it makes it much easier and based on my experience with BMW's I would assume that the entire strut assembly can be removed without compressing the springs.

As for spring compression, the Harbor Freight set ($10) works pretty well. A bit sloppy but if you are careful, they will work. And by all means use the safety clips. Those springs loaded scare the heck out of me. An air powered ratchet is a good tool to have as well.

Let me know if you have already done the job or if you would like the documentation I put together for the job.

Duke.

[coolbear1]

Once the springs are compressed, the rest is easy. Be careful with those springs while they are compressed.

[Duke4AZ]

Just completed 4-corner shock/strut replacement on my '98 e36. Biggest hassle was removing the trunk liner to replace the rear shock mounts. As mentioned in the 101 Project book, the speakers had to come out. Not a big job but sort of an inconvenience. As it turned out, the entire strut assembly can be removed from the car without compressing the springs. Obviously they will need to be compressed before disassembly, but they can be removed from the car. According to the 101 Projects book, this is one difference between the e30 and e36. I understand the e30 must have the springs compressed prior to removal.

A couple of points of note:

As mentioned in the 101 Projects book, an impact wrench is key to removing the nut on top of the strut that holds the entire assembly together. Care will need to be taken when tightening that nut back on the new assembly as the upper spring seat and the rubber insulator like to move around a bit. It worked having two sets of hands at this part of the procedure. In fact, having two sets of hands was a nice feature for the whole job, a luxury not always afforded this home mechanic.

The second is that a floor jack located under the control arm is a huge help for both removal and installation. Again, a second set of hands was a big benefit.

Final note: Huge difference in ride. I had about 110K miles on the old set of Bilsteins. This new set put a new handling car under my throttle foot. WaaHoooo!!!!

[Duke4AZ]

The question of alignment.

It was my understanding that with a strut replacement, a front end alignment should follow . However, when I was examining the mechanics of the suspension system on the front, it is not clear to me how changing struts will change the alignment beyond the tolerances of the interface points on the strut and steering arm. All of the attachment points, with one exception, are tolerance holes, not slots. The only slotted attachment hole is where the top of the steering arm bolts to the strut, and that appears to be to accommodate tolerance stack-up between the steering arm and the strut. So, aside from any tolerance stack-up, where does the misalignment come from? The only caveat to this is that I did replace the upper shock mounts, but the distance from the shock mount to the lower steering arm mounting bolts is so long that I can't see how a small difference in the location of the top of the strut could be significant.

What is the consensus on the realignment after strut replacement?

[Jeron]

I have replaced springs without realignment.

Toe is the only thing adjustable and it is not effected.

If you lower the ride height with shorter springs then toe will change a very small amount you will gain some steering responsiveness in exchange for tire life.

[Chilly]

Had mine aligned after changing struts and LCA. I suppose if struts are all you change you'd likely be OK, but because I change LCA too I figured I'd do the dew. Now I need to change springs and may have front end aligned again. Lower springs may change toe. Probably lose some toe when the front end squats down but I'll have to look at the geometry again before making any predictions.

[Jeron]

The problem still remains that the only adjustment is toe. But if you change the LCA's I can see that the toe may be thrown off completely.

[Duke4AZ]

Sort of what I thought. Did the lowering thing long time ago and the alignment was done then. I see no difference in steering or handling, other than that afforded by the new struts and shocks so I am going to forgo the alignment for now. Thanks for the response.