[ty666]

I bought a set of kw v1 coilovers for my bmw f30 328i xdrive (with no EDC). I bought the coilovers used. The seller bought the wrong ones for his 335i & installed them for a month before realizing it's not the right set for 335i & selling them to me.

I got them installed on my car a couple of weeks ago & I still haven't done the alignment as I know there's something wrong & don't want to do alignment until I'm sure no more work needs to be done. The mechanic installed the front coil-overs wrong the first time. (right/left, left right) but then he swapped them. I have also verified with KW that this is the right set for my car.
The problem now is that the car drives like crap. It's stiff & the ride is harsh, you can literally feel every little imperfection on the road. Also when I go over certain bumps/pot holes I hear some noise coming from the front like a clunking noise.Th weather has been brutally cold this week so I can't really lift up & the car & good look at it, however I noticed today that there was a very thin rubber unit that should've been cut off the stock dust cover & used with the new springs has not been installed in the front, therefore the spring is sitting straight on the strut mount. I doubt that the harshness & the sound is because this little rubber thing is missing. it's very thin maybe 2mm or less

I tried to get my phone under the wheel well as much as I could without lifting the car & snapped a few shots & i can see that the spring might have been compressed to the max & perhaps touching or chaffing at certain bumps (because there are some scratches on the yellow plastic cover of the spring as shown in the picture below) maybe that could explain the cluncking noise that I sometimes hear when driving over certain potholes. (The sound doesn't always come, only with certain bumps/potholes)

I no longer trust my mechanic after he installed the front coilovers on the wrong sides the first time, I have a feeling that he screwed up somewhere because the ride is very harsh & I can't figure out what's wrong (except that the thin rubber piece is missing). I just spoke to the guy who sold me the coilovers & he told me that for the short time he used these on his car, the ride was very comfortable.

Any ideas???




That's how the car sits now (that's at the highest setting)












KW instruction manual says to cut the dust cover at the top & use the top rubber unit under the spring






At some point I thought maybe the bump stop wasn't installed (although I don't know what it really does) but the pic shows it's there




This is what came with the coilover set:




Any ideas??

[cfm56d7b]

This thread contains a lot of helpful information, including posts about others experiencing the same symptoms.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1041823

Apparently, the rear perch thread is a bit short, where at the highest setting the clearance is only one finger. KW can supply a perch with longer thread (as one forum member indicated).

Based on your pictures, the rear of the vehicle sits too low.

[ty666]

Yeah it's a little too low in the rear especially that in spring I will put my 19" wheels with wide tires - 275-35-19.
I got 30 mm spacers for the rear but havent installed them yet, want to to get to the bottom of the issue wit the front ones first.



The thread you linked to I've seen it before. The issue was not resolved, track warrior ended up going back to stock

What really bothers me is not the noise as it would only come 2-3 times in a 20 km trip. But the harshness of the ride is what really bothers me the most. The ride feels like an old civic.

So far what I have found from other people that:

1- Sound/stiffness is worse in cold weather (I did notice that)
2- Spring rubber silencers MAY help with the noise
3- Strut mount bearings cap maybe damaged

Any other ideas??

[cfm56d7b]

KW V1 coilovers do not offer rebound or compression adjustments.

Did you have a chance to take a look at KW Street Comfort coilovers?

[ty666]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

KW V1 coilovers do not offer rebound or compression adjustments.

Did you have a chance to take a look at KW Street Comfort coilovers?

Yes I know KW V1 has no dampening adjustments but this one feels like crap, something is definitely wrong, it should not feel this way. The challenge is to figure out why this is happening

[Drlu23]

You may want to find out if there is a washer missing from the strut mounts. I remember when I changed my e84 struts, I had a nocking sound whenever I went over bumps and then realized that the missing washer created a gap (height) difference which made the nocking sound. I learned my lesson quick on that excursion.

[ty666]

Reading further more about the issue I have a few more possible reasons for the noise & harshness:

1-Factory washer between top strut & strut mount bearing (missing)

2-Top hat strut nut not torqued to spec. ( I believe bmw torque spec is 44 nm & KW recommends 40 which is close) please correct me if I'm wrong

3-front top hat 3 bolts holding the strut mount to the chassis are torques wrong. I read somewhere that if they it could be due to over torquing them. I think the right torque should be 28 nm (please correct me if I'm wrong)

4-Adjustable coil collar not torqued spec (I don't know what the right torque spec is supposed to be) Also can someone confirm if by adjustable coil collar they mean the spindle where the strut slides in in the front?

[ty666]

Originally Posted by Drlu23

You may want to find out if there is a washer missing from the strut mounts. I remember when I changed my e84 struts, I had a nocking sound whenever I went over bumps and then realized that the missing washer created a gap (height) difference which made the nocking sound. I learned my lesson quick on that excursion.

Thanks Drlu23, yeah that makes sense. To check if the washer is there, does the coilover need to be taken off the car or would it be visible just by removing the nut & looking at the top of the upper strut mount?

I'm hoping it would be the nut not torqued properly or a missing washer

[ty666]

Here's a pic of the upper strut mount, I don't see any washer under the strut nut.

Is that where the washer is supposed to be or is it at the bottom of the strut mount?

[M-terkait]

Originally Posted by ty666666

Here's a pic of the upper strut mount, I don't see any washer under the strut nut.

Is that where the washer is supposed to be or is it at the bottom of the strut mount?

try to put force on the chassis from top of the right/left side and see if the strut screw goes up through the camberplate.
if it goes through then the washer is missing, because it should prevent the strut from going up instead of compressing..
I had that thing when the !@#$ garage didn't install the washers..

[ty666]

Ok so I did put force on both sides & there seems no play whatsoever. However today all of a sudden ride became very comfortable just perfect. So I started thinking what could have been the problem. I came to a conclusion that it was the cold weather. Last week it was super cold (-25 Celsius) & the day after installing the coilovers the car went in to the dealership for faulty speed sensors & the car was washed twice at the dealer, a high pressure washer was used under the wheels wells to break loose any stuck-on snow/ice so I guess there was very thick ice buildup on the strut itself from washing which became rock solid extreme low temperatures & I think that is what was making the ride feel very harsh. Also I havent driven the car since I got it form the dealer as the ride was harsh.
However today the weather was good, it was only -4 Celsius (that's considered good weather up north in Canada lol) so maybe the ice around the strrut starting thawing.

I also confirmed with my bmw dealer that there should be no washer under the strut nut.

Also I thought why not make sure that that the strut nut & the 3 bolts holding the strut were all torqued to specs as I had a feeling my mechanic didn't do it right & just winged it. So as per bmw's specs & using a torque wrench & starting with the first bolt, I loosened it first & then was trying to tighten it to 21 lb/ft (28 NM) and the bolt just broke off. Are these bolts supposed to be replaced every time a strut gets replaced as the bolt has been screwed in & out about 4 or 5 times so far.

Now the other part of the bolt is still attached to the strut mount & the strut is attached to the frame using only 2 bolts.

Is there an easy way to extract the broken bolt from the strut mount?
I think I'd need to drill in to the broken bolt & then unscrew it reversely?

What kind of bit do it need for this & do I need a special drill or a regular 12v cordless screwdriver/drill would work?

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by ty666666

Ok so I did put force on both sides & there seems no play whatsoever. However today all of a sudden ride became very comfortable just perfect. So I started thinking what could have been the problem. I came to a conclusion that it was the cold weather. Last week it was super cold (-25 Celsius) & the day after installing the coilovers the car went in to the dealership for faulty speed sensors & the car was washed twice at the dealer, a high pressure washer was used under the wheels wells to break loose any stuck-on snow/ice so I guess there was very thick ice buildup on the strut itself from washing which became rock solid extreme low temperatures & I think that is what was making the ride feel very harsh. Also I havent driven the car since I got it form the dealer as the ride was harsh.
However today the weather was good, it was only -4 Celsius (that's considered good weather up north in Canada lol) so maybe the ice around the strrut starting thawing.

I also confirmed with my bmw dealer that there should be no washer under the strut nut.

Also I thought why not make sure that that the strut nut & the 3 bolts holding the strut were all torqued to specs as I had a feeling my mechanic didn't do it right & just winged it. So as per bmw's specs & using a torque wrench & starting with the first bolt, I loosened it first & then was trying to tighten it to 21 lb/ft (28 NM) and the bolt just broke off. Are these bolts supposed to be replaced every time a strut gets replaced as the bolt has been screwed in & out about 4 or 5 times so far.

Now the other part of the bolt is still attached to the strut mount & the strut is attached to the frame using only 2 bolts.

Is there an easy way to extract the broken bolt from the strut mount?
I think I'd need to drill in to the broken bolt & then unscrew it reversely?

What kind of bit do it need for this & do I need a special drill or a regular 12v cordless screwdriver/drill would work?

Sorry to see you go through all this. Please ask the shop where coilovers were installed if the mechanic used an impact wrench instead a torque wrench. If yes - ask for a refund.

[ty666]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Sorry to see you go through all this. Please ask the shop where coilovers were installed if the mechanic used an impact wrench instead a torque wrench. If yes - ask for a refund.

Yeah that sucks. Mechanic is taking 2 weeks off for xmas & the new year so I either have to extract the broken bolt myself or take it to someone else.

[Mario_Kart]

Originally Posted by ty666666

Yeah that sucks. Mechanic is taking 2 weeks off for xmas & the new year so I either have to extract the broken bolt myself or take it to someone else.

if someone worked on my car and left it in that condition. I would be giving them shit, ask for a refund and never let them touch it again.

[ty666]

Originally Posted by Mario_Kart

if someone worked on my car and left it in that condition. I would be giving them shit, ask for a refund and never let them touch it again.

The thing is I'm not sure if I have to blame the mechanic for that, as I was the one who broke the bolt, although I didn't over torque it. It could be that the bolt was fatigued from previous tightening I don't know.

I ordered a new bolt today so I will either take it to another mechanic to extract the remaining piece of the bolt or just go to Canadian tire or Lowes & pickup an extracting bit & do it myself.

[NWest]

Originally Posted by ty666666

The thing is I'm not sure if I have to blame the mechanic for that, as I was the one who broke the bolt, although I didn't over torque it. It could be that the bolt was fatigued from previous tightening I don't know.

I ordered a new bolt today so I will either take it to another mechanic to extract the remaining piece of the bolt or just go to Canadian tire or Lowes & pickup an extracting bit & do it myself.

When I bought new top hats from my local BMW dealer for my coilovers, they also sold me new nuts to go with them. When I asked why I needed them, he said they were recommended to use new nuts with a new hat install.

[cfm56d7b]

I selected KW Street Comfort coilovers to upgrade the suspension in my previous vehicle, 2013 BMW 335i xDrive sedan. KW installation instructions warn against using impact drivers (wrenches). I am sure it's the same for other coilovers.

[ty666]

Originally Posted by NWest

When I bought new top hats from my local BMW dealer for my coilovers, they also sold me new nuts to go with them. When I asked why I needed them, he said they were recommended to use new nuts with a new hat install.

I also recall reading somewhere that they should be replaced with the struts. I guess they're not strong bolts.

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

I selected KW Street Comfort coilovers to upgrade the suspension in my previous vehicle, 2013 BMW 335i xDrive sedan. KW installation instructions warn against using impact drivers (wrenches). I am sure it's the same for other coilovers.

I'm not even sure if my mechanic used a torque wrench or an impact driver.


I picked up a new bolt from bmw dealer today & the bolt looks a bit different than the ones I have on the car & the guy at the dealer told me that sometimes bmw changes bolt designs. So I'm thinking maybe the old bolts were weak & they made new ones. I attached a picture of the bolt I bought, Although it turns out they gave me the wrong size. They gave me M10-30mm bolt I believe its supposed to be M8-30mm. I picked up a few from Lowes form 30 cents each vs $8 at BMW.

I went to a couple of mechanics to have the broken bilt extracted & I was quoted $200 & one said there's a chance the strut mount needs to be replaced.

1- I find they're charging way too much for bolt extraction.
2- There are many options to deal with the broken bolt. Either to drill in it & use a bolt extractor & try to extract it. (I bought the extracting bit & will try to do it tomorrow myself) The challenge is to get drill a hole that's 100% perpendicular especially that the bolt is sitting at a slight angle. Second option, if I couldnt extract the broken piece is to drill a bigger hole & then create new threads using a threading tool & screw in a bigger bolt.

Last resort is to replace the strut mount which will be the most expensive option as the strut will need to be removed too, so there will be labour + the cost of a new strut mount.

[ty666]

OK, so final update.

1- Tried to drill in to the broken bolt, but it wasn't broken piece wasn't flat so the drill bit kept moving. So while trying to hit the broken piece with a pointy screwdriver to create a small dot for the drill bit to sit in the broken piece just fell off from the bottom of the strut mount & the threads of the mount were somewhat damaged. So I used a longer bolt with a washer on top & put a nut at the bottom. Problem solved.

2- Installed the spacers in the rear, gained an extra 15mm in height which I found to be perfect especially for with my 19" summer wheels which will add an additional 8mm in added thickness to the wheel so basically the extra 15mm of height I added will be less (it'll be only 7mm which will be perfect IMO)

3- Got a 4 wheel alignment

4- Tomorrow I"m buying 4 piston M sport brembo front brakes + pads & rotors & 1 piston M sport painted blue rear calipers + pads with 330mm rotors.

These will go on the car in the next few weeks!

Here's a pic showing the height of the car in the rear after the 15mm spacers were installed, btw, from this angle the gap in rear looks a little more than what it actually is