The day after Mother's Day...

[lucas999]

Hi everyone,

My mom came got home today with her new Continental ExtremeContact Sports mounted and balanced, and as I went downstairs to put them on her E61 (the winter wheels were still on), I noticed that the front left corner was lower than normal. I mentioned it to her, and she said she noticed something felt strange when she hit a pot hole on the way back from work. I jacked up the car and removed the wheel, and was surprised to see that the spring had snapped clean off and had been pushed down past the lower spring perch! It also dented the strut body in the process. I took a few photos, and told her she wouldn't be able to drive the car until either I or a shop could replace both front struts and springs.

The town she was driving in has absolutely appalling roads--literally, I frequently have to drive 5mph all the way in the opposite lane on some of those streets to avoid destroying my car. We live in Maine, and our roads are practically un-drivable for if you have a remotely nice car for most of the year. Anyway, we are going to get a couple of quotes, document the pot hole, and see if the town might take any responsibility for negligent road maintenance, or whatever they want to call it. Otherwise, I know what I will be doing this weekend...

I didn't even put the Continentals on because they wont clear the broken spring when it is pushed all the way past the lower perch. I'm thinking Bilsteins might be the way to go, but I have Bilsteins in my E39 and find them a bit too harsh over bumps. I'd rather not tell her to get Sachs just because of their shorter lifespan. Suggestions? Also, is it normal for the spring to push all the way past the lower perch when the bottom coil snaps off? I can only imagine it must have been a pretty hard impact.

-Lucas

(Sorry about the sideways photos...)

IMG_1954.jpgIMG_1953.jpgIMG_1955.jpgIMG_1960.jpg

[JayArras]

I'm thinking Bilsteins might be the way to go, but I have Bilsteins in my E39 and find them a bit too harsh over bumps. I'd rather not tell her to get Sachs just because of their shorter lifespan. Suggestions?

If you want your Mom to have a softer ride, go with the Sachs. Why do you think they have a shorter lifespan? Mine went 115,000 miles.

[lucas999]

If you want your Mom to have a softer ride, go with the Sachs. Why do you think they have a shorter lifespan? Mine went 115,000 miles.

Probably a good idea. Her original ones went out at just under 80k miles, but Maine carriage roads probably don't help. I've also read, in the context of the E39, that the Sachs don't tend to have as lengthy lifespans as Bilsteins, for example (which also have the lifetime warranty), but maybe that is a misnomer. I'll do some more external research. Thanks!

[handyben]

You wrote "It also dented the strut body in the process", if by that you meant the visible flat section right in the middle of the strut body, it came like that originally, at least it was on Sachs.

[lucas999]

You wrote "It also dented the strut body in the process", if by that you meant the visible flat section right in the middle of the strut body, it came like that originally, at least it was on Sachs.

Wow... I had no idea! Thanks for that info! I'll take a look at the other side and compare. Well, I got an estimate for $1,900 for both struts and springs (all BMW parts), but will probably do the work myself. Maybe struts aren't needed thought... although the ones on there do have ~60k miles on them. Thanks!