Shocks on a 330D - which brand?

[djbunker8]

Hi all

My F31 2013 plate 330D Touring apparently needs all its shock absorbers replacing. Par for the course really as its just clocked up 100K miles.

I'm told this is going to cost a pretty penny - somewhere in the regio of 1700 quid! Do any of you have recommendations here? If I say nothing I am sure I'll be fitted with standard BMW kit, but is there anything to gain from going with Bilstein, Koni et al?

Cheers

[danb79]

I run Bilstein B4s shocks (the correct ones for an M Sport) with Eibach pro kit springs. Fitted them as part of a full suspension overhaul (every part) and they're a good upgrade

Work well with the progressive Eibach springs; aren't stupidly firm and don't sit the car too low either

On its 18" winters:



On its 18" summers:



Sourced the shocks and springs via Autodoc as they had the best prices listed; would highly recommend them

However, is your F31 RWD or xDrive?

[rottenegg]

Yup, genuine dampers are very expensive and only last 60-70k miles. The gas had escaped from all 4 on my 2016 F30 by 70K. They weren't leaking oil, and could have gone on for a bit longer, but I prefer optimal over sub standard

If your car is RWD and non-EDC, I can highly recommend these as they are a lot better than the standard M sport dampers - https://www.evolveautomotive.co.uk/products/evolve...

xDrive ones are in development.

If you have base suspension, then those would be an even better upgrade.

[The Conflated Outlier]

Stick with original equipment Boge Sachs. About £300 the set plus another £50 or so for bump stops and protection tubes. If the top mounts aren't rattling they'll go again - give the front ones a shot of grease though. F31/31 rears are very easy as BMW finally redesigned the top mounts to be accessible from under the arch. Top mounts aren't too dear - 70 odd quid for the rears and 150 for the fronts.

M Sport specific dampers might be a bit more.

[rottenegg]

They are. You can't get OE equivalent M sport in the aftermarket, which is why I went with Bilsteins. BMW's are unbranded, so BOGE or SACHS is just speculation.

Lemforder top mounts are definitely OE though as both use the same Rollax bearings.

[danb79]

The Conflated Outlier said:

Stick with original equipment Boge Sachs. About £300 the set plus another £50 or so for bump stops and protection tubes. If the top mounts aren't rattling they'll go again - give the front ones a shot of grease though. F31/31 rears are very easy as BMW finally redesigned the top mounts to be accessible from under the arch. Top mounts aren't too dear - 70 odd quid for the rears and 150 for the fronts.

M Sport specific dampers might be a bit more.

They're not Boge Sachs; they're made by Monroe. I confirmed that with a few folk I know that work at BMW. That's why they had issues with them

The Bilsteins are much better made and their damping suits the F31 much better

And why the feck would you reuse old top mounts when it's all got to come out anyways; it makes more sense to replace the lot, it's done then and you won't have to go in again to redo the job because something failed not long after fitting it all back...

[Pica-Pica]

danb79 said:

They're not Boge Sachs; they're made by Monroe. I confirmed that with a few folk I know that work at BMW. That's why they had issues with them

The Bilsteins are much better made and their damping suits the F31 much better

And why the feck would you reuse old top mounts when it's all got to come out anyways; it makes more sense to replace the lot, it's done then and you won't have to go in again to redo the job because something failed not long after fitting it all back...

Odd. I know Ford used Monroe, but AFAIK only in the US.

[rottenegg]

danb79 said:

The Conflated Outlier said:

Stick with original equipment Boge Sachs. About £300 the set plus another £50 or so for bump stops and protection tubes. If the top mounts aren't rattling they'll go again - give the front ones a shot of grease though. F31/31 rears are very easy as BMW finally redesigned the top mounts to be accessible from under the arch. Top mounts aren't too dear - 70 odd quid for the rears and 150 for the fronts.

M Sport specific dampers might be a bit more.

They're not Boge Sachs; they're made by Monroe. I confirmed that with a few folk I know that work at BMW. That's why they had issues with them

The Bilsteins are much better made and their damping suits the F31 much better

And why the feck would you reuse old top mounts when it's all got to come out anyways; it makes more sense to replace the lot, it's done then and you won't have to go in again to redo the job because something failed not long after fitting it all back...

Ah well that explains a lot then

Providing the rubber part of the mount hasn't collapsed, you can re-use the mounts with new bearings......if you can get them!

But given even genuine mounts are only £100 each, it's not a major expense imo. My old MK5 Golf ones were £150 each!

[The Conflated Outlier]

danb79 said:

The Conflated Outlier said:

Stick with original equipment Boge Sachs. About £300 the set plus another £50 or so for bump stops and protection tubes. If the top mounts aren't rattling they'll go again - give the front ones a shot of grease though. F31/31 rears are very easy as BMW finally redesigned the top mounts to be accessible from under the arch. Top mounts aren't too dear - 70 odd quid for the rears and 150 for the fronts.

M Sport specific dampers might be a bit more.

They're not Boge Sachs; they're made by Monroe. I confirmed that with a few folk I know that work at BMW. That's why they had issues with them

The Bilsteins are much better made and their damping suits the F31 much better

And why the feck would you reuse old top mounts when it's all got to come out anyways; it makes more sense to replace the lot, it's done then and you won't have to go in again to redo the job because something failed not long after fitting it all back...

Righto.

[The Conflated Outlier]

Pica-Pica said:

danb79 said:

They're not Boge Sachs; they're made by Monroe. I confirmed that with a few folk I know that work at BMW. That's why they had issues with them

The Bilsteins are much better made and their damping suits the F31 much better

And why the feck would you reuse old top mounts when it's all got to come out anyways; it makes more sense to replace the lot, it's done then and you won't have to go in again to redo the job because something failed not long after fitting it all back...

Odd. I know Ford used Monroe, but AFAIK only in the US.

Look on an F30 F20 damper and they are made in Poland where ZF (who own Boge Sachs) have a factory making them.

Monroe stuff is made in Arkansas.

[djbunker8]

danb79 said:

I run Bilstein B4s shocks (the correct ones for an M Sport) with Eibach pro kit springs. Fitted them as part of a full suspension overhaul (every part) and they're a good upgrade

Work well with the progressive Eibach springs; aren't stupidly firm and don't sit the car too low either

On its 18" winters:



On its 18" summers:



Sourced the shocks and springs via Autodoc as they had the best prices listed; would highly recommend them

However, is your F31 RWD or xDrive?

Looks well smart. Mine also has black wheels but with the M Sport brake kit (red calipers). Mine is RWD and with 19s.

Edited by djbunker8 on Saturday 15th March 20:18

[danb79]

djbunker8 said:

danb79 said:

I run Bilstein B4s shocks (the correct ones for an M Sport) with Eibach pro kit springs. Fitted them as part of a full suspension overhaul (every part) and they're a good upgrade

Work well with the progressive Eibach springs; aren't stupidly firm and don't sit the car too low either

On its 18" winters:



On its 18" summers:



Sourced the shocks and springs via Autodoc as they had the best prices listed; would highly recommend them

However, is your F31 RWD or xDrive?

Looks well smart. Mine also has black wheels but with the M Sport brake kit (red calipers). Mine is RWD and with 19s.

Edited by djbunker8 on Saturday 15th March 20:18

Thank you

Mine has the Brembo 370/345mm set up also; in the OEM blue colour still. They work well with the ferric grey 405Ms

[djbunker8]

Just been quoted £2.1K to have this done, with 700 quid for the shock parts alone, and 5 hrs of mechanic time. Does that seem fair to people?

[danb79]

djbunker8 said:

Just been quoted £2.1K to have this done, with 700 quid for the shock parts alone, and 5 hrs of mechanic time. Does that seem fair to people?

No! Laughable price

The F3x series is easy to work on as the top mounts are very easy to get to (under the bonnet for the fronts, and the rears you access from underneath)

If you get all the parts ahead; they can be built up on the bench, so to speak, and then swapped out at a corner at a time

Find another good garage and get a quote from them

Get the Bilstein B4S shocks and use them with your current springs, or get new OEM springs / Eibach pro kit springs etc

For OEM BMW parts; speak to Cotswolds BMW as they offer BMW forum discounts

[rottenegg]

As above, that is a ludicrous price.

By 'shock parts', I assume you mean top mounts, bump stops, bolts etc etc? All 4 M sport dampers would be a lot more than £700.

F30s are easier to work on than a Golf, so paying that sort of money for bread and butter work is just ridiculous.

[Shedding]

djbunker8 said:

Hi all

My F31 2013 plate 330D Touring apparently needs all its shock absorbers replacing. Par for the course really as its just clocked up 100K miles.

I'm told this is going to cost a pretty penny - somewhere in the regio of 1700 quid! Do any of you have recommendations here? If I say nothing I am sure I'll be fitted with standard BMW kit, but is there anything to gain from going with Bilstein, Koni et al?

Cheers

I think I'd be a bit sceptical that all 4 shock absorbers have failed at the same time. Fair enough if you want to change them but that doesn't sound to be the case.

[rottenegg]

Depends on how you define 'fail'. Most people define it as visible oil leaks, but the gas pressure escapes way before that, which is still a fail.

All 4 of mine had no gas left at 70K, so it's not unusual.

[djbunker8]

Yeah latest healthcheck report from the garage said all 4 shocks were 'weak' and there was a leak from one of the rear ones... think I'm gonna have to suck it up! I've looked into geting parts directly from Bilstein and complained to the garage so they are offering a 10-20% discount on parts... ultimately I don't have a mechanical bone in my body so would rather entrust it to people who know what they are doing!

[RSTurboPaul]

There were a couple of positive comments on the E91 Bearding thread WRT the Birds suspension setup - it looks very reasonably priced if OEM BMW parts are 1700 quid fitted and the improvements are as good as the reviews say they are.

https://www.birdsauto.com/tuning/search?s=59928&am...

[mmm-five]

Bilstein do a B12 Pro-Kit for the F31 330/335D (non-EDC) or about £900...
https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/bilstein-...

If you want adjustment/lowering, then the B14 kit can be had for about £1200...
https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/collections/bmw-1-...

If you just want OE replacement struts, then the Bilstein B4 is available in both non-EDC non-Sport (F: 22-220066 / R: 19-220079) or non-EDC Sport (F: 22-220080 / R: 19-220093) versions.

Non-Sport:
Front (£125):
https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/bilstein-...
Rear (£108):
https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/bilstein-...

Sport:
Front (£130):
https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/bilstein-...
Rear (£90):
https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/products/bilstein-...