80k miles Inspection II and stock suspension is still excellent?

[racea911]

So I have been socking away money for a while, getting ready to do all the suspension stuff suggested on the Edge Motorworks 75k miles list.

I recently took the car in for my Inspection II at 80k miles and asked them to take a close look at all the suspension stuff. I mentioned all the stuff that I was thinking probably needed replacing, all stuff from the list. The owner asked me why I thought it needed all that. I said well isn't it totally common for all this stuff to be completely shot by 75k miles? Aren't the factory shocks junk by 30k miles etc? he just laughed and told me I "read too much stuff on the forums". His experience from working on BMW's everyday was very different.

I asked him to take a close look at everything anyway. I should mention at 60k miles they replaced my RTAB's with stock RTAB's and TC Kline shims. The ONLY thing he said was even questionable suspension wise right now was the RSM's so he put in new JT Designs RSM's.

Other than that he said my car is in excellent shape and the suspension feels great. This is a well respected shop in my area and they are very race focused. He said that his philosophy is if something is even close to needing replacement he pushes for you to do it.

I called another local shop after this and asked the owner the same questions about suspension. He's another racer and he said that he has experienced the same thing with stock BMW suspensions as the shop I took it to. They are much longer lasting than I had come to believe.

I'm sure upgrading the suspension with aftermarket stuff would be an upgrade, but my reading led me to believe I was driving a severely suspension compromised BMW because of the mileage I was at.

BTW the car feels great. YMMV....

[MIMI1]

i thought my suspension was great with 75k miles on it


once you change it you will know how wrong you were

[Eric98Sedan]

i thought my suspension was great with 75k miles on it


once you change it you will know how wrong you were

EXACTLY!!

Well said.

[racea911]

Are you guys talking once I upgrade it, or are you talking about replacing stock with stock?

[HBpredhunter]

if you change it to performance stuff.....

the stock stuff feels like junk compared to race stuff anyways...

if its visually ok (no cracks in the bushings, no leaks from the shocks, no play in joints) then its gonna drive fine for a standard driven car.

its 90% in your head. i did some upgrades on my suspension (bushings) and did a skid pad test on my car and didnt come up with any better g's. granted tires stayed the same (the biggest factor)

fact is 98% of people dont wanna replace stuff. only a few of us "forum maniacs" will do it. i do shit on my car i wouldnt dream of recommending to my customers. (sythn oil changes at 3, for example) i also wouldnt dream of telling some young chick with a 325ci at 75k she needs a new set of shocks.

not gonna happen, she will think we are crooks. you gotta take that edge list with a grain of salt, and understand its meant as a checklist, and that the stuff they say is worn out may still be in the 8/10ths of its life.

[racea911]

if you change it to performance stuff.....

the stock stuff feels like junk compared to race stuff anyways...

if its visually ok (no cracks in the bushings, no leaks from the shocks, no play in joints) then its gonna drive fine for a standard driven car.

its 90% in your head. i did some upgrades on my suspension (bushings) and did a skid pad test on my car and didnt come up with any better g's. granted tires stayed the same (the biggest factor)

fact is 98% of people dont wanna replace stuff. only a few of us "forum maniacs" will do it. i do shit on my car i wouldnt dream of recommending to my customers. (sythn oil changes at 3, for example) i also wouldnt dream of telling some young chick with a 325ci at 75k she needs a new set of shocks.

not gonna happen, she will think we are crooks. you gotta take that edge list with a grain of salt, and understand its meant as a checklist, and that the stuff they say is worn out may still be in the 8/10ths of its life.

Which shop do you work at? I'm in OC too.

[Eric98Sedan]

Are you guys talking once I upgrade it, or are you talking about replacing stock with stock?

Even replacing with new BMW parts will make a dramatic difference, especially the struts and fcabs/rtabs. Rear shocks tend to last longer than the struts.

I did the whole nine yards at 65k and noticed a big difference in comfort, mainly. Smooth and tight and quiet WITH proper M3 handling.

You have to remember that regardless of your mileage, every original part on your car is 10+ years old. Rubber parts and seals just don't last forever even if not used. Would you use an orginal set of tires from 10 years ago?? Hell no. But will they work? Of course they will, just not at the level they would if new(er).

[scoutmasterdave]

I can guarantee that at least your shocks and struts are dead or very close to it. Every car I've ever owned, BMW or not, needed shocks/struts at 75k. At 96k, the pistons of my M3 struts fell into the housings under their own weight (that's bad, mmmmkay?).

[Dreamer99]

I had my car in at BMW before I did a driver training event and they said all of my components (including the shocks and struts) were in great shape. I did not believe them so I ordered new shocks and struts and had them installed anyway.

When the old ones were pulled out they did not have any compression left in them. Oops! The new (stock) ones feel great.

[FastAlpine]

On my 1997 M3 at 60k miles I removed the stock struts and shocks and the front struts had zero compression left. Added Koni's and never looked back.