Need Shock advice......for 95 m3

[M3D]

How do I tell if my shocks are shot......I can easily push the front of my car down with my hands.

Also can anyone recommend a stock set up for my 95??
My local guy is recomending bilsteins..


Thanks guys.

[JSN]

your springs are fine, which on my 95 M3 @ 78K are at about 80%. go with Ground Control rear shock mounts

[Balthazarr]

Shocks and struts are likely dead.
Mine need replacing (rr's done) and I can hardly get the front end to move downward.
I don't bottom out even at 90K, but they need replacing
once i get my strut reinforcement plates from MRob (MPact M/s).

The springs are probably doing all the work at this point in your case.

[Johno]

I did spring and struts after hearing mine were "dead" at 69,000 miles.

Now the car is tighter and has less roll, but the difference is very subjective in my opinion. Yes it is a clear difference, but it is more of an apples and apples difference, vs. and apples and oranges difference, if that makes any sense.

The challenge is you don't know if your suspension is truly worn out. For someone here to say it is shot for sure is nothing more than speculation.

Here's an idea: You can very easily remove your rear shocks and check them out. It's a good time to beef up the RSMs with some Z3 plates for $30. Maybe put in some E46 M3 RSMs.

I should have checked mine first, because they were not dead.

That said, I will be keeping the car for 150,000 miles plus, and I am set for a long time from now. (Freaking H&R spring issues aside.) The shocks would have likely not lasted much longer, based on wht people here say. But to simply assume yours are shot just because somebody says they are without examining them is not a safe bet.

best,

JO

[Balthazarr]

Just because the rr's are gone doesn't mean the struts are and vice versa.
My rr's were in bad shape. Hardly any resistance at all when i took them off and pushed on them.
Although impulse dependent, they didn't firm up appreciably regardless of how fast i applied the force.
The new konis made all the difference in the world at full soft which is where they are set for the time being.

[e36m3_858]

go with H&R coilovers, after putting those in i cant even get my car to push down or have any kind of body roll, but yeah if you can to yours its definitely time for new suspension.. another good way to find out is a brake test, when u going slow and u slam your brake, if your car feels like its about to flip forward and then rocks back and forth for half an hour then yeah, u need shocks... and of course since u replacing that go with the billet alluminum shock mounts..

[caldweb]

Just because you can push the bumper down doesn't mean they are blown. Observe if it bounces after pushing it down. The m3 chassis is pretty good at hiding blown shocks struts. At 70k mine were completely shot, but the ride wasn't all that bad. It seemed pretty rough over large bumps since the shocks were doing any dampening, but overall it still handled well. To test out the rear shocks just unbolt the bottom bolt and seeing how easily they compress by hand. There was absolutely no pressure in mine. I could compress them with one finger and they would decompress if I just left them hanging there.

[xjeeper]

What exactly does the z3 reinforcment plate look like? are these something i can make myself?

[tybmw]

You can just buy a rear strut bar, well most of the rear shock mounts have reinforcement plates on them

[Johno]

What exactly does the z3 reinforcment plate look like

It's shaped like the shock mount. It's brass-colored, and about 1/4 inch thick. Oval. Big hole in the middle. Two holes on each end of the oval that the shock mount bolts insert rhrough.

It is shaped a lot like a thermostat gasket for an old car -- such as a GM 350 engine. But thicker.

I just put a set on my car, and it was easy. It looks like the mounting point will be much more secure now, because there is a 1/4 inch plate to absorb force, vs. body sheet metal with holes in it. Making them yourself would not be time efficient unless you have access to machine tools.

They cost $30 a set at the dealer, and it would be wise to call ahead to see if they are in stock.