gmak: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A journey with my new-to-me 2000 540i

[gmak]

The 540i was put away for the winter last December - On the way, I noticed a funny loud rumbling. I picked the car up this week and at certain times on the highway - between 65 and 75 mph - the rumble is back. When I paid more attention I noticed a VIBRATION (aaaaaaargh) in the steering wheel. When I shifted to neutral at speed, the vibration stayed, so it doesn't appear to be driveshaft related. I did a lot of reading last night - and found the famous Bluebee flowchart for diagnosing vibration. Given how much of the suspension is new, I'm starting with the required visual inspection before hoisting the car and getting more serious.

This AM, I went out and felt around the front tires - they're even. No uneven wear, no bumps, no funny stuff. The springs on the coilovers are tight. The lug bolts were tight, the nuts on the top of the coilovers on the strut towers were tight.

I took a strong LED light and looked around the inside of the rims - and I noticed that one of them had NO little weights. How likely is that? :shrug: I also noticed an area on the other wheel that may have had weights on it - but none now.
I suspect that I lost some. I've decided to get a road force balance on the front wheels (the back ones were done when I put on new tires after a flat in one). I had purchased the wheels from a forum member in 2015, IIRC. And he said they were balanced at the time - and they drove well on the car. Since this vibration only showed up late last year, I have to hypothesize that something may have happened to undo or upset the wheels' balance.

I really hope that this doesn't turn into one of those epic sagas where the entire car is rebuilt from the ground up and the vibration remains. :

It's a place to start.

[gmak]

Got the two front wheels re-balanced. They were perfect already. But, it turns out that the RHS caliper was seized and this was causing the problem. We were able to easily rotate the LHS front wheel on the hoist, but one of the guys was able to actually hang from the RHS front wheel and it didn't move.

I've ordered an ATE brake caliper up here in Canada, and I'll be good to go by next weekend. It should be a snap (famous last words) to paint the new caliper the same colour as the others to protect from brake dust and snow / salt / ice. It's nice to finally catch a break on one of my cars.

[gmak]

Decided to take the RHS front caliper off to prep for when the new one shows up. For those who haven't done it before, this is a pretty good DIY with photos. I used an 18 mm socket for the big bolts holding the bracket to the steering knuckle, 7mm allen socket for the slide pins (or whatever they're called), and 14 mm flare nut wrench for the brake fluid hose running into the caliper. I pinched off the brake hose to avoid too much air in the system, and fluid loss. I rotated the caliper to remove it, in order to avoid kinking the hose and possibly damaging it. I think that I have a couple of stainless steel brake lines lying around in the parts cupboard. Maybe I'll put them on in case this whole issue was due to something in the hose.

Now, it's just a waiting game.

[gmak]

As I mentioned before, my front RHS brake caliper had seized in the full out position to where you could hang off of the wheel with the car up on a lift and do chin ups - and the wheel wouldn't move.

I ordered the ATE (OEM) caliper which was very reasonably priced and shipped free from a Canadian source. For some reason, it was cheaper than the price in the USA (FCPEURO). Anyway here is a picture of the old and the new side by side. See the difference in colour? The brassy / gold one is the old one and it was aluminum silver just like the other one. In fact the caliper paint that I used is that same silvery colour. This is the effect of the extreme heat from the locked piston on the entire braking system on the RHA, on either the paint or the caliper clear coat that was on it.

20170510 540 caliper 1.jpg


And look what is written on the front of the ATE caliper:
20170510 540 caliper 3.jpg

Here are some pictures of the damaged pistons. You might be able to see the rust inside that led to the seizure. Certainly the rubber boot was damaged and twisted.

20170510 540 caliper 2.jpg 20170510 540 caliper 5.jpg 20170510 540 caliper 6.jpg


I didn't change the brake hose after all. The current one looked fine and I didn't think that I would be able to remove the old one due to rust (yes, I used PB blaster - but those joints are pretty much welded together with the rust.

I bled the front RHS brake.
I took the car out for a ride, and the brakes worked fine; no funny rumbling noise, no vibration in the steering wheel. It's all good again.

[gmak]

This showed up from Schmiedmann. It's a little bit of indulgence for the car. If you don't recognize the shape, it's the M-aerodynamic (m-sport) belly pan for the engine to go with the M5 pork chops. I was surprised to find that it's not thick rubber, but it is actually more rigid plastic - probably ABS instead of poly. The product number is for the "Engine compartment screening, front" for vehicles with "M Aerodynamic package". I'll put it on tomorrow and see if it fits etc. The top of the last picture is the flap for where the oil drain plug is located. This piece looks like it will hang down lower, like the pork chops. I might have to be careful pulling into parking lots and driveways.

It seems to be quite well built with a number of existing "big" screws to attach it in its position under the engine.

20170519 540i m-sport engine cover 1.jpg 20170519 540i m-sport engine cover 2.jpg 20170519 540i m-sport engine cover 3.jpg

[dannyzabolotny]

Funny how you bought a new one— I usually just remove mine as soon as I get the car. I hate belly pans, they add an extra step to working on the car and they hide all the leaks.

[gmak]

If I were tracking the car, I would keep the FA 500 coilovers. But, given the deplorable state of the roads around here, I'm getting tired of really feeling the road with ordinary driving. I've decided to go back to the m-sport level I that was part of the original car... with a couple of differences.

1. I'm going with Bilstein B6 HD shocks and struts. Found here. and here.
2. I' m going with vogtland springs - they lower a bit (30 mm), but not to where I'll be 'bottoming out' on big bumps. Found here
3. I've already bought all of the fiddly bits (picture below)

20170604 540i suspension fiddly bits.jpg

[auaq]

If I were tracking the car, I would keep the FA 500 coilovers. But, given the deplorable state of the roads around here, I'm getting tired of really feeling the road with ordinary driving. I've decided to go back to the m-sport level I that was part of the original car... with a couple of differences.

1. I'm going with Bilstein B6 HD shocks and struts. Found here. and here.
2. I' m going with vogtland springs - they lower a bit (30 mm), but not to where I'll be 'bottoming out' on big bumps. Found here
3. I've already bought all of the fiddly bits (picture below)

20170604 540i suspension fiddly bits.jpg

Yeah, I've been thinking about switching back to normal shocks for quite a while. There are some nasty roads here too that I often drive on and these FA 500 coilovers is tiring me. I still have that nasty thud coming from the rear end even after upgrading the springs long time ago. For track use, I would definitely keep these but not for everyday DD anymore. I still like 'em in how they handle some of the road bumps and some mildly bad roads but my car now sounds like its made out of tin foil rather than steel. The whole cabin is just making noises here and there. Feels like driving an old 'merican or an old asian car. I've been thinking of going Koni yellows with either Eibach springs or H&R springs. I want some of the comfort back but retain some of the sportiness as well.

[bluptgm3]

If your going with lowering spring, match the coil height with sport shocks that feature shorter shock shafts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gmak]

If your going with lowering spring, match the coil height with sport shocks that feature shorter shock shafts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I spoke with the Vogtland seller and they say that the Bilstein B6 HD shocks are fine. We'll see soon enough. If they're lying, then I'll just make a paypal claim and fire them back. Then I'll go with whatever non-lowering springs I can find. I'm no longer interested in having a "sport" shock or strut unless tracking.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, I've been thinking about switching back to normal shocks for quite a while. There are some nasty roads here too that I often drive on and these FA 500 coilovers is tiring me. I still have that nasty thud coming from the rear end even after upgrading the springs long time ago. For track use, I would definitely keep these but not for everyday DD anymore. I still like 'em in how they handle some of the road bumps and some mildly bad roads but my car now sounds like its made out of tin foil rather than steel. The whole cabin is just making noises here and there. Feels like driving an old 'merican or an old asian car. I've been thinking of going Koni yellows with either Eibach springs or H&R springs. I want some of the comfort back but retain some of the sportiness as well.

What I found was that putting in the GAS monoball really improved the handling - very tight steering - very strong tracking, like on rails. If you're going to do this too, I hope that I get my FA 500s sold to some track star first.

[computiNATEor]

I spoke with the Vogtland seller and they say that the Bilstein B6 HD shocks are fine. We'll see soon enough. If they're lying, then I'll just make a paypal claim and fire them back. Then I'll go with whatever non-lowering springs I can find. I'm no longer interested in having a "sport" shock or strut unless tracking.

- - - Updated - - -



What I found was that putting in the GAS monoball really improved the handling - very tight steering - very strong tracking, like on rails. If you're going to do this too, I hope that I get my FA 500s sold to some track star first.

I'll preach it until the days stop coming, but I love the Koni FSDs. They provide great handling with an improvement in ride quality vs OE Sachs sport shocks. They're sold with the Eibach Pro-kit, so I'd imagine they're fine for most lowering springs.

[gmak]

Some more parts for the strut / shock re-do. I found a great ball joint separator by Schwaben that has jaws that go from 20mm to 80mm. ESCTuning is having a sale (or was) on these for about $50- if I'm allowed to mention this. The Schwaben part number is 008958SCH01A. I feel confident that the jaws have enough clearance even for tie rods. Hopefully, I won't have to cut the top off of any ball joints in the future.
20170610 ball joint jaws.jpg
The Vogtland springs arrived as well. Now, I just need the Bilstein dampeners to get here. I'm not sure that they have even shipped from Bilstein to the distributor yet.
20170610 vogtland springs 540i.jpg

[peter540]

I, too, am regretting going with the FA coil-overs, first because the same thunk (from bottoming out) persists in the right rear (after upgrading the rear springs to 7k) and second because the ride is too harsh over broken pavement. Fortunately, I'm in Atlanta, where the roads are reasonably good, but when I hit rough road patches, it's not pleasant. If I had it to do again, I'd do lowering springs that get me the height I've set with the FAs (13.5" from fender lip to the center of the M-Par wheels front and rear) along with some Koni shocks.

Alas, I can't afford to deal with the suspension bits from scratch again. Even if I sold the FAs, I'd likely still have to come out of pocket quite a bit. So I may go ahead and upgrade the rear springs one last time (to either 8k or 9k), spending the $200 it will cost to get the shocks revalved by FA (plus shipping; FA will provide the springs at no charge).

Auaq, looking forward to hearing how you like the new setup.

--P

[gmak]

Here is a picture of all the parts I have now. The Bilstein HD shocks and struts have arrived. In mocking the front struts, its seems that there is no room for the bump stop and its cap as shown in parts #11 and #12 in this realoem.com diagram. In fact, the mounting instruction diagram that comes with the shocks doesn't seem to have this component at all. Is there any insight on this from the incredible knowledge and experience on this forum?

Here is all the stuff.
20170625 540i shock and strut parts.jpg

[gmak]

Interestingly enough, when I put the rear shocks all together, there is no pre-load on the spring. I'm hoping that this will be provided by the Swing arm. But, I have an email into the place that sold me the springs and said that they were good to go with Bilstein HD

[peter540]

Eager to hear how you like this new setup. Also, eager to hear where your ride height lands relative to the FAs. For example, like Auaq, I have the FAs set up at a ride height of 13.5 inches from the top of the fender arch to the center of the wheel (18" M-Parallels). I definitely wouldn't want to go any lower than that; would you be willing to provide a measurement once your car's all together, on the ground and fully settled?

--P

[gmak]

I have the FAs ride height set to the sport height in the Bentleys. I believe that the ride height with these Vogtland springs is 30 mm (1.2 ") lower. Once I get replies back from Vogtland and the Bilstein distributor about my "no pre-loading on rear springs" and "no room for the bump stop and cap on the front shocks" issues, then I'll be able to decide if I'm going ahead with this or returning some parts.

When I have the final system in place, I'll take measurements with my 17 inch wheels and post here.

[peter540]

Sounds good! I'll stay tuned...

[computiNATEor]

I have the FAs ride height set to the sport height in the Bentleys. I believe that the ride height with these Vogtland springs is 30 mm (1.2 ") lower. Once I get replies back from Vogtland and the Bilstein distributor about my "no pre-loading on rear springs" and "no room for the bump stop and cap on the front shocks" issues, then I'll be able to decide if I'm going ahead with this or returning some parts.

When I have the final system in place, I'll take measurements with my 17 inch wheels and post here.

When you say "no room for the bump stop and cap on the front shocks", what does that mean? I can go take a look at my (crashed car's) FSD's bump stops if you'd like.

[auaq]

I can't even recall during spring upgrades if FA's have bump stops in them or not. I was thinking about it a couple of days ago if that's one of the reason why my rear end 'thuds' so loudly.

[gmak]

When you say "no room for the bump stop and cap on the front shocks", what does that mean? I can go take a look at my (crashed car's) FSD's bump stops if you'd like.

The part of the stem or spindle that sticks up out of the shock has several intervals on it denoted by increasing thickness. If I put on the bump stop and the cap, then the support bearing / upper spring seat can't go down far enough (it hits the cap) to expose the thread for the nut. Everything above (in space) #11 sits too high to be able to put the nut #4 on the thread of the spindle of the shock.








































S

[peter540]

I can't even recall during spring upgrades if FA's have bump stops in them or not. I was thinking about it a couple of days ago if that's one of the reason why my rear end 'thuds' so loudly.

I don't think mine did, but that still doesn't explain why BOTH of us only get the thud on the rear right. Still think the 7k springs are the problem.

[auaq]

Mine will thud on either side. Have no idea why and where is it exactly coming from and why?

[gmak]

Heard back from the Canadian distributor.

The bump stop is internal in those struts

. trying to find out if this is the case for the rear shocks as well before I put everything together.

Still haven't heard from the Vogtland seller.

[gmak]

Rear shocks are pretty much done up like the OEM set up. Still not crazy about the looseness (off the car) of the springs in the rear.

Guys: I don't have the clunk in the back over bumps. IIRC, when I changed springs, I found that the 5K ones were not snug and pre-loaded, that the rings had loosened - and this was leading to the clunk.