128i/135i suspension refresh parts list

[hoki06]

I recently replaced the suspension on my 128i and thought I would share my parts list with the community for those looking to do the same suspension refresh. My goal was to replace all wear items (bearings, rubber, etc.) and have everything assembled so I could pull out the old items and drop in the new. I used some Dinan pieces and Koni but those can easily be changed to whatever you want. This will mainly be helpful with all the spring pads and other hardware to pre-assemble the struts. Hopefully I didn't make any errors but let me know if you see one!

Edit: MS Word .doc file attached in post #4

[135ivert]

Thanks for the reference. Could you please post the sheet as an attachment so I can copy/paste rather than retyping?

[asbrr]

Wow this is great, thanks for the list. Just curious, what mileage is your car that you felt a full refresh is needed? I'm at 79K Kms, and thinking to do shocks and springs once winter is over (still considering various combinations of Konis, Bilsteins, paired with BMW perf springs or similar). Trying to determine if I should do the whole refresh at the same time...projected mileage by spring time will be 90K kms....

[hoki06]

I uploaded a .doc file with the Excel table pasted into it. Give it a shot and let me know if it works.

Originally Posted by asbrr

Wow this is great, thanks for the list. Just curious, what mileage is your car that you felt a full refresh is needed? I'm at 79K Kms, and thinking to do shocks and springs once winter is over (still considering various combinations of Konis, Bilsteins, paired with BMW perf springs or similar). Trying to determine if I should do the whole refresh at the same time...projected mileage by spring time will be 90K kms....

My car is a 2008 with 95k miles. Upon removing the original shocks, both drivers side front and rear were blown and leaking. I live in the city with horrible roads which might have something to do with that. I tend to be a "do it right, do it once" kind of guy and I'm plagued by the engineering disease since I have a BS in ME. Rubber degrades over time, the spring pads are cheap, and buying all new pieces allowed me to assemble everything ahead of the install to reduce time spent borrowing my friends shop/lift. The bearings, shock mounts, bump stops, etc. are all items that should be replaced when replacing shocks such as this IMO.

[swagon]

Great, thanks!

[135ivert]

I was thinking "this is all common-sense stuff that you might as well replace while you're doing the suspension work." But I priced it out, and save for the shocks & springs - you're looking at $663! That's a lot of jack on top of the main suspension parts.

I'm sure you can save money by buying Lemforder or Meyle (or whomever) but aside from that Gude Support, you won't be saving much. Might as well buy OEM at that point.

[hoki06]

Originally Posted by 135ivert

I was thinking "this is all common-sense stuff that you might as well replace while you're doing the suspension work." But I priced it out, and save for the shocks & springs - you're looking at $663! That's a lot of jack on top of the main suspension parts.

I'm sure you can save money by buying Lemforder or Meyle (or whomever) but aside from that Gude Support, you won't be saving much. Might as well buy OEM at that point.

If you remove the camber plates and go with OEM upper rear shock mounts instead of Dinan, that should save ~$250 pretty easily. Certain items on that list are not necessary and you can reuse the original pieces (front spring plate, rear spring pocket). Like I said originally, I wanted to have everything pre-assembled so I spent some extra on a couple "unnecessary" pieces to make that possible. But everything in that list that is rubber I would definitely replace if you're at the mileage I'm at.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by hoki06

If you remove the camber plates and go with OEM upper rear shock mounts instead of Dinan, that should save ~$250 pretty easily. Certain items on that list are not necessary and you can reuse the original pieces (front spring plate, rear spring pocket). Like I said originally, I wanted to have everything pre-assembled so I spent some extra on a couple "unnecessary" pieces to make that possible. But everything in that list that is rubber I would definitely replace if you're at the mileage I'm at.

Also, Lemforder front top hats are the identical part to OEM BMW. ~$50 instead of $180. Think you did that in your write up though, yes?

[hoki06]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Also, Lemforder front top hats are the identical part to OEM BMW. ~$50 instead of $180. Think you did that in your write up though, yes?

Correct. I have Lemforder in the list and that's what I used.