E46 Suspension install - did I do something wrong?

[Sammo 2544]

So a friend and I installed my new suspension in the E46 yesterday.

• AP Suspension front struts / rear shocks
• AP Suspension lowering springs - 40mm front / 20mm rear (Having Msport springs, expectation was of a 20-25mm drop in front, marginal in rear)
• New Lemforder strut and shock mounts and strut mount reinforcement plates with new Msport bumpstops.
• Meyle HD control arm bushings
• Re-used stock spring pads as they were good and did not change my swaybar endlinks.

Car had old Msport shocks and springs in (front springs red and white stripe / rear three white stripes)

The new springs didn't seem any shorter but wasn't concerned as they were progressive with an overall higher spring rate. Confirmed product numbers correct.

Anyways, long story short, the car is no lower in the front than before (about 3-3.5cm wheel gap with slightly oversized tyres) - the rear ironically is a little lower which is the opposite of what I had wanted / expected and now rubs a little in the passenger rear (18x8.5 ET30 with 235/40).

I've put about 75km on them waiting for the mythical 'settling' but wondering if I've done something wrong now?

Also noticing some light clicking noises from the front (upper I think) on undulating roads this morning - so I pulled the wheels off and rechecked my bolts and the strut tower nuts - all good.

Little concerned I've done something wrong, or perhaps just being paranoid and I should drive it a week and see the height and noise settle?

• Should I have used shorter endlinks / 'preloaded' the sway bar?
• Should I have 'trimmed' the bumpstops?
• Possibly seated the springs on the perch incorrectly? - (pics below)
• I'm looking to take the car to the shop to do the RTABs (above my paygrade) so can have them check everything over.

Will be pretty annoyed if this is just the new ride height though - been planning this pre lockdown!

Car does feel good though, flatter and stiffer and rides better - not a massive improvement but definitely better.

[M3AN 4016]

27 minutes ago, Sammo said:

...

Little concerned I've done something wrong, or perhaps just being paranoid and I should drive it a week and see the height and noise settle?

• Should I have used shorter endlinks / 'preloaded' the sway bar?
• Should I have 'trimmed' the bumpstops?
• Possibly seated the springs on the perch incorrectly? - (pics below)
• I'm looking to take the car to the shop to do the RTABs (above my paygrade) so can have them check everything over.

...

With my rather uneducated eye, I've only replaced e36 suspension, I can offer:

• Use the same endlinks and no preload required on the swaybar. You will get a clunk if your endlinks are stuffed or not bolted up real tight.
• Bumpstops look fine, you'd only need to trim them if you hit them too often, regardless they won't cause a noise.
• I don't think those springs look seated properly. In pic 1 the spring needs to rotated clockwise until the end of the coil (bottom) rests up against the step in the perch. On pic 2 it almost looks like the spring or perch is installed upside down because you can't rotate the spring to sit against that step... are the springs asymmetrical, is it even possible to install them upside down?

FWIW.

[Sammo 2544]

@M3AN cheers Dave....

Sooo... about the spring seating - I was wondering about this as we couldn't get the springs to line up the way the stock ones did in the lower perch.

The perch is 'egg' shaped and the spring had a pronounced 'egg' shape at one end - so installed them that way - with the point of the egg aligned on strut and spring, rather than the end of the coil sitting in the indent he factory spring left.

Upon reviewing my pics however I just noticed the spring writing is upside down the way I did them ?

[M3AN 4016]

@Sammo NP.

Don't get to hung up on the writing... it took twice as long as it should have to install the Eibach springs on my M3 because I was convinced the writing should be the "correct" way up... it's isn't, the writing is "upside down" and they're installed correctly.

Can you link to the shocks you got? The only AP's I can find (here) have an integrated lower (captive) spring perch, painted the same colour as the shock, yours (the silver bits) look like they're added on... can you confirm?

Edited August 2, 2020 by M3AN

[Sammo 2544]

 

These ones here - the strut perch is silver but the springs had a noticeable point to the egg / oblong shape vs stock springs

https://www.ap.de/shop/_/-/-/21320041

Could misalignment on the spring perch cause 20-25mm impact to ride height?

[Sammo 2544]

@3pedals thank you - we had aligned it that way as it wasn't possible to align both 'point' of the egg / oblong in the spring and perch and the end of the spring in the factory location - the new springs were about two inches shorter there so didn't wrap all the round.

I'll have a pro check it out this week, assuming its safe to drive for a few days given they are at least secure.

[Eagle 1662]

Were they fully seated down into the clamp\pinch bolt? Hard to install them incorrectly otherwise when using old pads. Your install looks fine, the spring doesn't rest against the stop unlike the top and is mostly inline with the indent.

Id give them more time. I drive around for at least a week to ensure thing are settled before going for a proper alignment.

[Eagle 1662]

Doubt you could install them upside either with the bottom being eggs shaped

[Sammo 2544]

4 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Were they fully seated down into the clamp\pinch bolt? Hard to install them incorrectly otherwise when using old pads. Your install looks fine, the spring doesn't rest against the stop unlike the top and is mostly inline with the indent.

Id give them more time. I drive around for at least a week to ensure thing are settled before going for a proper alignment.

Cheers mate - yeah, had read about the knuckle, so made sure it aligned with the pins and got the strut seated in all the way.

Good idea, will drive the car and get them looked at while I'm at the shop having the RTABs done.

[Sammo 2544]

@B.M.W Ltd Cheers Glenn - bugger - will get it sorted

[Eagle 1662]

Haha looks obvious now. I had it in my head they were L or R like the E39's, everything else is shared.

Guessing these aren't marked L\R like OE stuff is.

[M3AN 4016]

2 hours ago, Sammo said:

These ones here - the strut perch is silver but the springs had a noticeable point to the egg / oblong shape vs stock springs

https://www.ap.de/shop/_/-/-/21320041

Could misalignment on the spring perch cause 20-25mm impact to ride height?

Cheers and no, not 20mm+. The perches don't rotate do they? Or are removable?

1 hour ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

The front coils are handed left and right and should be installed correctly The OP's are fitted incorrectly

I wondered that but if you look at the link Sammo provided both front springs are the same. I'm not saying you're wrong, or that the picture is accurate, but it does create some confusion (in my mind at least).

[M3AN 4016]

6 minutes ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

All the best getting this sorted Sam. If I can help at all give me a PM

What's your view on the springs appearing to be the same Glenn?

[Eagle 1662]

I read Glenns post as front struts are either left or right, not the actual springs. They would have to be labelled if they were somehow specfic.

[Sammo 2544]

@3pedals Pic 1 is the passenger side, pic 2 drivers side - different angles though, should have taken more / better pics.

I'm confident the pads are right as they have the alignment mark to match the strut perch best shown below.

[Eagle 1662]

34 minutes ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

The springs are too

 

Not saying they arent and OE ones could well as you say but i had a quick look and cant evidence of them being side specific, esp aftermarket stuff

These picture angles are messing with me 

Edited August 2, 2020 by Eagle
confusing pictures

[Sammo 2544]

23 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Not saying they arent and OE ones could well as you say but i had a quick look and cant evidence of them being side specific, esp aftermarket stuff

These picture angles are messing with me 

These are more similar angles of left and right side (note the notch on each perch)

[M3AN 4016]

Yeah, have you adjusted them since your first pics? As @3pedals says, they now both look almost right whereas pic #2 in your first post is way off.

I don't think the springs are handed and you have the shocks on the correct side because of the swaybar link tabs.

See if you can compress and twist those spring around a bit (to the steps by the tabs) to seat perfectly then wait a week and see what happens. The springs themselves may compress a little under sustained load and settle lower than what you have.

Based on your most recent pics I wouldn't be taking anything apart.

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by M3AN

[Sammo 2544]

17 minutes ago, 3pedals said:

Okay so now they look pretty good except the springs need to be rotated so they sit against the end stop - if you look at that it is about the thickness of the coil wire so correctly seated they should drop the vehicle 12 - 15mm in the front possibly a bit more  as there will be less pre load.

 

Those early images are deceptive - is there a ledge with a step at each end ?  because now it is quite clear the springs pads and perches are all set in the same direction and not handed. 

OK, this makes sense - there is an ledge / step in the pad at each end - I should be rotating the spring to align the end of the lower spring up against that which would drop the car a little more. 

[Sammo 2544]

@M3AN nope, no change in the pics, just different angles and a poor choice of first pics too.

Compress them while still bolted in an try to twist around? 

[M3AN 4016]

9 minutes ago, Sammo said:

OK, this makes sense - there is an ledge / step in the pad at each end - I should be rotating the spring to align the end of the lower spring up against that which would drop the car a little more. 

Working upward, there's a step in the perch, the step in the pad should align to this, then the end of the spring should rest against this step.

Since you're reusing your spring pads and they will be deformed it may not be immediately obvious how they should be positioned so pay extra attention.

6 minutes ago, Sammo said:

Compress them while still bolted in an try to twist around? 

Yeah, if you can get spring compressors in there, no harm done and less faffing around. It's probably not the BMW way but it's been done before without trouble. Remember that the top hat is (usually) keyed to the spring so make sure that rotates also and you triple check that the spring is properly located at the top before you slowly release the compressors. When the car is jacked up and the front shock is at max extension you won't need a lot of compression on the spring to twist it around.

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by M3AN

[Eagle 1662]

24 minutes ago, Sammo said:

These are more similar angles of left and right side (note the notch on each perch)

Yeah i eventually figured it out. Drivers side spring does appear to need rotating clockwise slightly like others have but is the new spring sitting in the original position of the old spring on the pad? Is the other side the same? 

These lower pads don't have any stops and have some leeway when positioning the spring. When you buy new pads you don't have any reference so they can be clocked slightly either way.  As long as the spring isn't riding up on the inner ledge of the spring pad causing it raise up then i don't see it as a problem.  

 

[Sammo 2544]

@3pedals - will do, If I can get another 10mm or so think I'll be content.

[Eagle 1662]

28 minutes ago, 3pedals said:

Here you go dis-ambiguated - correct position is against the stop - you should be able to do this with the car jacked up wheels clear of the ground and the top mounts should retain correct setting 

 

As i stated lower pads in these E46's like E39's etc don't use a stop. Your photo 'spring end' and the OP photos show roughly the correct position which the spring end actually sits, which inches away from the 'end stop'. There is leeway in positioning the spring also before the spring starts to bind up against the inside lip of the pad  

https://blog.bavauto.com/18698/bmw-how-to-e39-5-series-525i-528i-530i-540i-m5-strut-spring-seat-and-spring-alignment/

[M3AN 4016]

Wow ? I'm glad I qualified my knowledge as e36 only. That's the first time I've ever seen that info, nice one, cheers.