Im pretty anal when it comes to noises and feel when driving any of my cars. I know my 740 is 18 years old now with 80k but I think instead of replacing front control arms and ball joints which have some play im told, I want to in one shot do a refresh kit, which gives me a piece of mind and hopefully a "like new" ride. Ive read good things about Lemforder and fcpeuro.com offers lifetime warranty on these parts with "no fine print, no restrictions, no time limit" I wonder how true that statement is but nonetheless I think the complete refresh kit is a deal and eliminates the guessing game of what suspension parts are due soon and what not.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...iece-l#reviews
ECStuning offers a similar refresh kit but with less parts for a few hundred dollars less.
Does the Lemforder kit cover all of the common suspension/steering wear and tear parts or is there something missing which they are not offering?
Also any additional feedback would be appreciated.
Last edited by geoprz; 05-19-2019 at 10:14 AM.
Looks like it has rear sway bars that are unnecessary for some cars
It doesn't have a rear sway bar it's all the original parts and is a Great kit. I did it on my car and it was tuff doing it on the floor but do-able. You just need to torque it under load with a full tank then get a front end alignment rides like new.........
Last edited by setconstr; 05-18-2019 at 11:06 PM.
My dad just replaced the original front suspension on a buddy's 130k mile E39 540i with the equivalent Lemforder kit from FCP, along with Sachs struts, and unsurprisingly the car drove like brand new afterwards. I replaced the four front control arms and sway bar links on my '98 740iL with Beck/Arnley aftermarket parts and they made a huge improvement in the way my car drove, but I couldn't describe the ride as "brand new". Maybe 8/10s of brand new ride quality but not quite as good as the 540i with the complete 20 piece kit. So, if you plan on keeping the car in the long term I would definitely recommend the Lemforder suspension kit, but since your car has only 80k miles the struts have quite a bit of life left and you'd be fine driving on them for the next 5 years or so. If you're budget conscious or plan to sell the car soon then just replacing the control arms, sway bar links, and maybe steering links gives satisfying results too.
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That's good to hear people have positive experiences with this 20 piece kit by Lemforder. I for sure am keeping this 7 for a long period of time. It will be a nice add on as a collection piece in the garage. So investing in a refresh kit is well worth it. I already have new BC coilovers installed two summers ago so with this new suspension kit hopefully it will feel great again.
I just did a refresh on my front 2001 740i with 115k. For what it's worth I didn't feel any play in the steering center link (TRW-JTY130) or the steering tie rod ends so I opted not to replace them. The steering idle arm also felt rock solid so I left that alone as well. I did replace the suspension stabilizer bushing (FEB-34258) because they were pretty cheap - $6.17 and easy to swap out and the old ones did look worn. Good luck on the refresh
I just ordered an 8-piece set of Lemforder suspension components from fcpeuro; I did have my eye on the 20-piece set, but I am not convinced I need to go all out. I may still have to do more eventually, but I'm cautiously wondering whether some of my suspension noises are related to the front EDC struts. A 20 piece set of Lemforder suspension parts would be wonderful to have installed.
I just did the 98 740il, what a difference! of all the parts lists:
(1) the 98 740il doesn't have the small downlinks in the picture next to the tie rod ends - not sure if that is an "iL" thing not to have them
(2) kit doesn't have trailing arm bushings. if everything else is worn I would do these also. From what I found these require new trailing arms which is $$$ - after a week of looking I found some on ebay that are the right spec - shipped from Taiwan in a couple days! Posted this info for them here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...98-E38-740il-!
also, the sideways ball joint links on the integral link are tough the get out - I have a pretty decent cup collection for the press and ended up grinding a bit of a metal pipe to get the edge thin enough to fit - suspect BMW has a cup with a notch cut out to press these. its very do-able - just takes some effort & two people
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