Replaced X3's struts and springs, things of note

[filter27e]

So my phone died during the job, and I have to start my cross country drive today, so I'm keeping it short and without pictures

I have an 04 x3 with about 110k miles on it. It's a 2.5 and was standard suspension.

Kept hearing a clunk in the rear and I saw leaking fluid from the front right strut, so I ordered a full set of bilstein HD's, eibach springs, and new strut mounts and spring pads. You do NOT need to order the kit that bavauto.com offers that has new boots and bump stops, the bilsteins have their own already on them.
Total was about $1250, but I also ordered the Aux input plug that was around $30 so the total was just shy of $1300.


Front:

First, you can save yourself tools and a headache if you loosen the strut bolt that's in the middle of the strut mount while the car is still on the ground. Don't take it all the way off, I unthreaded mine until the nylon retainer portion was just above the top of the strut. An 11/16th spark plug socket fits this nut if you find it spinning freely, so you can turn the socket with a wrench and fit an allen key down the middle. The nut that comes with the Bilsteins is a 22mm, however, DON'T reuse the old bolt. No shortcuts here, a new one will just spin and spin. Go buy a 22mm socket that has a hollow top that you can fit a wrench on. I found mine as part of an Extreme Access set that Lowes sells. Just look at the sizes carefuly they list english and metric on the same socket. Make sure you use metric allen keys, and I have a metric allen socket set that comes in handy I'd recommend.

The front struts use a pinch bolt and the base of the strut sits in the steering knuckle to hold it in place, all of the cars I had ever done had the two bolts that went through the bottom of the strut and the knuckle. To be prepared for this, ignore the videos that say remove the bolt and then it just "falls out after a couple taps from a hammer." Have a chisel, large flat bladed screw driver, or a small tapered punch is what I used because it's what I had handy. Have some penetrating lube spray handy. When removing the pinch bolts, spray them first, and remove the NUT first, don't touch the other end unless it's spinning freely and you need to in order to get the nut off. If the bolt didn't turn and you got the bolt off, tap it out with a hammer and punch. If you try to turn the bolt before it's free, you'll break it in half inside the knuckle. ASK ME HOW I KNOW. Once the bolt is out, hammer a chisel into the gap on the inboard side of the knuckle between the two halves the pinch bolt held together. Now, after a couple taps of a hammer (use a block of wood against the knuckle) it should "fall out." Keep hammering it out until you can wiggle the steering knuckle and see the strut move independently a little, you want to be able to just lift it out once you have the 3 nuts taken off the strut mount up top.

Obviously you have at least a couple of extra wires attached to the strut as well as a swaybar link. Wires are obvious and easy to take off, just remember which way they wrap around the strut. If you get these wrapped around the wrong way and go for a drive, you can do a lot of damage. The swaybar end link is just a 16mm(?) nut and the other end spins freely. If you happen to have an appropriately sized THIN spanner, congrats. I used needle nosed vice-grips being extra careful to not grab onto the rubber boot.

You just have to play with angles to get the strut into and out of the knuckle once you have everything unhooked, but be careful to not pull the front axles out of their socket by moving the front end around too much. I did this, and was able to get it back in by jacking up the knuckle until the axle had a straight shot, spinning the rotor/hub until the boot wasn't twisted anymore, and wiggling it back into place.

Even ordering replacement parts, there is still a top spring perch that comes off the old strut assembly, and a metal grease shield on the bottom of the strut top mount that the new one did not come with. Make sure you have the strut in a spring compressor safely before removing the old top hat before you finish removing that nut that you loosened earlier. Clean all old parts thoroughly before putting them on your new assembly. Make note of the way the old springs sat on their perches.

Rear:

Rear is mechanically stupid easy compared to the front. The only hard part is getting to the top of the struts... although for what it's worth, my rear shocks which were original to the car were still in decent shape. But if you're putting bilsteins on the front, I wouldn't leave stock on the rear.

Struts are 3 nuts up top, one bolt at the bottom. Remove both sides at the same time, saves you from having to disconnect your sway bar to get the springs out. Both of my springs were broken, yours probably are too.

The interior trim: Remove the plastic upright pieces that follows the back pillar of the car behind the tail light and nearest the trunk opening. Remove both access panels. Lift the piece that follows the back quarter window with vent holes in it, it doesn't have to be removed all the way, just enough to get the wheel well cover to lean out. You also have to pull out the padded cover that goes between the rear seat and the door to gain access to a screw there. The only parts that get completely removed are the aforementioned uprights and access panels that just open out. There are screws all the way around that hold these parts in place, look around as you're removing stuff and be careful not to break any plastic tabs. Once you can pull the wheel well cover out enough that you can reach the bolts it's good enough!

For the springs it was more or less brute force, they're easier to get out with the shocks off of both sides, i just pushed down on the trailing arms while pulling it out. Obviously put the new springs in before putting the new shocks on...

Putting the shocks back on, I did not have a helper. After finishing up the new assemblies (a couple of metal cups you have to take off the old shocks) I put them roughly into position and bolted up the bottom first, leaving the bolt a little loose. I then jacked up the rear trailing arm as I looked inside (position the jack so you can crank the handle while leaning inside to re position as needed) and turned and wiggled the top mount until it lined up with the holes, jacked it into place and tightened down the three nuts. If you have a helper, have them hold the shock in place while you hand thread on the nuts just so it doesn't fall out when they let go, then use the jack to line up the shock bolt to the trailing arm.

Summary

Rides nice... my car is a WRX though so to me the X3 has always felt smooth, until the aforementioned parts broke. Handles much more safely. My wife, who I did not tell that I was lowering the X3 with the eibach springs and she is not a car person at all, reports "it's much easier to drive, but feels lower when I get into it!"

So overall a nicely paired setup IMHO, keeps the feel of the X3 though and does not turn it into a racecar. As far as the drop goes, somebody on here has pics but it lowers the front about an inch noticeably, but the rear I had broken springs so it looks like the same height to me lol

Feel free to update, correct, add pics, but I won't have time to look at this for a while. Have fun and be safe.

[manni006]

you have pics of the set up and installation?