Originally Posted by
edd91
Hi,
I have a 1998 323i - I took to a mechanic to have the front control arms replaced. When it was returned to me, it was obvious the car was very high and wheels would get stuck on end of range turns.
I took it to another mechanic who happened to inspect the car a week prior, who said that the shock absorbers were incorrectly installed (too high up in the clamp). Now, he also says they were not like this when he looked at it a week before.
The steering definitely wasn't a problem before having the control arms replaced. I spoke to the mechanic who replaced the control arms he says "1000%" they did not touch the shock absorbers. He says perhaps the control arms he used are a slightly different shape and combined with the shocks problem it's causing the steering problems.
I personally don't believe the mechanic who replaced the control arms, however I've watched videos of the procedure and it does not seem to require changing the shock absorbers.
Does anyone have any thoughts about how this might have come about? My two theories are: 1) His shop assistant did unclamp the shocks and reclamp them and didn't tell the boss; 2) For some reason unknown to me they changed the shocks. The current ones are Bilsteins which he was at pains to point out, could they have wanted whatever was on there for some reason? I will ask the past owner if he remembers the car having Bilsteins.
Many thanks for your views
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