Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: Rear Bilstein Shock Fix

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Liberal Loontown, CA
    Posts
    2,658
    My Cars
    Cool Volvo, Ugly BMW

    Rear Bilstein Shock Fix

    Long story short - had a set of revalved rear shocks on my 840. They went bad about 3 years down the line. Olin mentioned he was using off the shelf rears with revalved front Bilsteins and had no issues. I am running rear reinforcement plates top and bottom with longer 30mm bolts.

    Went to install new rear Bilsteins and immediately noticed the difference in the shocks:

    20180324_142926.jpg

    All is well and perfect until I drive it. There is a strange knocking, but not like a bumpstop hitting. Two weeks transpire and I go back in to do some inspecting. Finally notice there is play in the bottom bolt that connects the shocks to the large wishbones that hold the rear springs. This is annoying oversight that shouldn't really exist. Engineered a backyard solution:

    1. Neoprene washers for each side of the bottom bushing. 4 total:

    Ebay item: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Neoprene-Ru...72.m2749.l2648

    2. Copper crush washers under the head of the lower bolt and the nut on the other side. 4 total:

    Stolen: from a box in the garage.

    3. Klapton tape wrapped around each of the lower bolts. Just enough to where you have to drive them in with a mallet to get them in the other side and the threads started. Suppose you could use heat shrink as well. Whatever will hold up. Klapton does.

    Borrowed: from a box of specialty tapes in the garage.

    4. Large neoprene washers to go under the retaining metal washers on each side of the rear shock mount. This acts as an extra cushion between any contact with the rear shock tower reinforcement plates and inner sleeve of the rear shock mounts. Most other cars and even BMWs of this era use this sort of setup. Odd the E31 does not. 4 total:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Diame...72.m2749.l2648

    Bonus: Made a set of noise covers for the top of each mount using some speaker baffles attached for easy removal and closed cell foam. Attached with butyl tape for easy removal. I may be back. Original covers were just pieces of some rug at this age. I don't shop at Walmart:

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Design-En...&wl13=&veh=sem

    Overall result: Much better ride quality and no more strange noises. Very happy for about $10 and 2 hours. Spent more time jacking up car and removing trunk panels than anything else.

    Drive tastefully.


    What "thumbs up" really means




  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Iceland
    Posts
    4,675
    My Cars
    BMW 850
    Great Job as always
    I ditched my bilsteins for Trw and am super happy

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Mundelein, IL
    Posts
    837
    My Cars
    840Ci/6 528iT Europa TCS
    I also ditched my Bilsteins for the "Hyper Method" using CSI shocks in the rear in 840. I bought used front shock tubes to expand for the Konis and then put my rear Bilsteins and original front shock tubes with Bilsteins on the shelf. Just in case.

Similar Threads

  1. FS: MRoadster rear Bilstein shocks and sport springs
    By tonym in forum BMW Parts For Sale
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-04-2005, 01:22 PM
  2. WTB: Rear Bilstein Shocks, Fog Lights, Pass Fender.
    By Kavkazia in forum BMW Parts Wanted
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 06-20-2005, 02:19 AM
  3. WTB: Rear Bilstein Shocks for M3
    By tommymats in forum BMW Parts Wanted
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-05-2004, 01:00 AM
  4. FS: E36 M3 Rear Bilstein Shocks
    By mrclam in forum BMW Parts For Sale
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 02-25-2004, 08:58 PM
  5. E36 Non M3 rear Bilstein shocks 10K miles
    By NoShoE46Grl in forum Suspensions, Springs & Shocks
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 11-21-2002, 11:12 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •