E87 M Sport Rear Shock Absorbers

[Spinner99 55]

Hello, I'm reaching out to see if anyone has replaced the rear shock absorbers in an E87 with M Sport suspension?  I've discovered today my rear shocks are no good (I've removed one from the car and once compressed it won't expand again).  I'm trying to find replacements but I'm getting super confused with all the cross overs etc. I have like 30 browser windows open right now lol.  If anyone has been where I am and has word's of wisdom I'd love to hear from you please

Here's where I got all confused.  The original part number is 33528036014 which is written on the shock sitting on the desk in front of me right now, which in realoem shows as being "for vehicles with M Sports suspension" https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=UF92-EUR---E87-BMW-130i&diagId=33_1233 - I've noted there are two other options listed which have different part numbers, there is "Sports Suspension Settings" (33526771559) (yes it's different to M Sports suspension) and what I'll call "standard"  (33526771555) .  The 803 6014 part number is only for the E87 and isn't listed for any other vehicles.

I've been trying to find a sachs replacement, and I can't find one that cross references to the msport part number.  I have found the sachs 310 984 but on the zf website it says that's for the standard suspension models https://aftermarket.zf.com/en/aftermarket-portal/services-and-support/catalog/#/article/310+984?languageID=4&brandID=14,22,32,35,68,126,161,294,8888&countryID=AUS  .

I have found some Sach's shocks for sale on ebay (note I'm not an ebay fan for car parts) that are allegedly for M sport models https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173133653180  , but the Sach's part number in the picture seems to point to the 311 410 https://aftermarket.zf.com/en/aftermarket-portal/services-and-support/catalog/#/article/311+410?languageID=4&brandID=14,22,32,35,68,126,161,294,8888&countryID=AUS which has a whole lot of BMW part numbers but none of them are the part number listed for my car in realoem.  I looked up some of the part numbers and they came back to E90's.

At a dead end I thought I might check out Bilstein B4's as an option as I'd seen people talking about those, but from what I could see on the Bilstein catalog they cross back to the BMW part number 33526771559 ("Sports Suspension" rather than "M Sports suspension") .  The Bilstein website seems to list a B8 Performance Plus (24-115957) "for vehicles with M-technology" which I'm assuming is M Sports, but sadly when I click on it it doesn't show any BMW part numbers it crosses back to. 

I don' t know a lot about shocks, so I'm wondering if I'm being way to fussy on making sure it's the right part number, and any of these options will actually be fine? Or are they physically different (e.g. I think the M-Sport E87 sits a bit lower, so maybe the shocks could also be a bit shorter?)

I'll go put this shock back on the car now and I can move it.
Thank you.

[Eagle 1680]

It appears Sachs dont make an specific aftermarket msport version as far as i can tell. Aftermarket Sachs do some weird chopping and changing sometimes, once size fits all types deals included (maybe why E90 are coming up since they share a similar rear design)

I can only see 2 types of Sachs - 'Standard' and 'Sport suspension' versions. Sachs 310 987 appears to be the sport version

Bilstein B4 are typically made with standard and sport versions also. 19-144238 appears to be the B4 sport version. B6's and B8's are their upgraded units over Sachs, B4's etc really generally used for lowered cars. 

I dont know about the E8X cars but older models sport vs m-suspension was usually a little lower, firmer with bigger sway bars. The sport shocks will work fine regardless, I doubt you would notice any difference putting the sport versions on coming from worn shocks. If you are really fussy you can go genuine BMW Sachs at some crazy price no doubt.

[Danch 35]

Just out of curiosity, how much are those different shocks?

[Eagle 1680]

7 hours ago, Danch said:

Just out of curiosity, how much are those different shocks?

Which shocks are you referring to?

[Danch 35]

5 hours ago, Eagle said:

Which shocks are you referring to?

Sachs and Bilsteins?

[Eagle 1680]

Sachs are €51 each and Bilstein are €37 each excl shipping from Spareto. You really need to replace the fronts at the same time if they havent been done before otherwise its going to feel real sloppy.

[Spinner99 55]

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

 You really need to replace the fronts at the same time if they havent been done before otherwise its going to feel real sloppy.

Haha I was just having that thought today as to whether I should check out what state they're in  

[Eagle 1680]

If they are the original units then they are certainly worn. Front gets worked harder than the rear and usually degrades faster.   

[Spinner99 55]

the scope creap here is real  This all started because I set out to replace the bump stops in the rear which had seen better days.  I think that started at $50 or so in parts, nek minit here we are talking about replacing shocks all round (and lets face it there's a few other bits that could do with replacing too while I'm removing the shocks).  This is going to get expensive!

[Eagle 1680]

Indeed. By my rough calculations you are looking around $700 incl shipping for front struts, rear shocks with bump stops\boots and mounts. Not too bad if you can do the work yourself. If you start adding suspension arms, links, bushings etc then it usually ramps up cost to varying degrees depending on the vehicle.     

[Spinner99 55]

Well the 130i got it’s Christmas presents yesterday.

I ended up ordering mostly genuine parts as I got a bit too concerned about after market ones that said they were for multiple versions of bmw originals (e.g. one shock saying it’s both the sports and m-sport equivalent when they are different part numbers from BMW).   I also replaced the rear jack pads as someone had munted them (not a fun job), did an oil change and changed the diff fluid.  After all that I’ve driven the car around a bit today and can report I haven’t noticed any significant difference in the rear suspension 😊  I honestly didn’t think the suspension was bad until I pulled the shocks out last year so I guess I’m not surprised there isn’t a night and day change, but I was still expecting to notice something I guess.  I took the shocks around to show my dad today (retired mechanic) , he described them as “f***ed”.

Anyway I’ve ended up with some spare parts on my journey so a couple of things I’ve noted that are interesting

1. I ended up ordering genuine bump stops even though I already had the Sach’s after market ones.  Once the originals arrived I compared them and there was a notable difference in dimensions between the two.  The Sachs one was generally 1mm too large in all the places it needed to be smaller such as diameter of the hole the shock goes through or overall outside diameter.  It was also about 1cm shorter than the original so I’m assuming that means it would allow the car to sink further before bottoming out. Overall they did the job, they just didn’t fit as well as the genuine ones.
2. I also ordered some Lemforder shock mounts on the understanding what would be arriving was made in Germany, but the ones that arrived were made in China.  Sreten’s mentioned a few times the Lemforder stuff made in China isn’t any good so I took a punt on some “OEM” brand mounts from Pelican and although they didn’t indicate their country of manufacture I could see where they had ground off the BMW logo & part number so I’ve assumed they are the same part that would be sold as genuine.

If anyone needs a set of Sachs 900127 bump stops (one used for 6 weeks, the other was never fitted on the car) or Lemforder shock mounts (33526768544) I have some available cheap 😊

Here’s some photos – the first one is the bump stops – Genuine is the taller one on the left, Sach’s is the one on the right.  They’re quite different. The second photo is the passengers side shock and mounting parts removed along side the new stuff to go in.  I forgot to take a side by side photo of the shock mounts to compare the originals to everything else I got, but if you’re interested you’ll see the cleaned up original one on the left that came out of the car – it has a BMW written in the top left corner and the part number.  The ones in the middle and right of the photo are the new “OEM” brand ones from Pelican.  The one in the middle is orientated the same way as the one that came off the car and you’ll be able to see the top left is ground where the BMW logo would go.

Next job is to look at the front and see what I find!  I might have to let the credit card recover a little first though.

[Eagle 1680]

On 1/14/2024 at 7:24 PM, Spinner99 said:

but I was still expecting to notice something I guess.

Id say you would you will when you do the fronts but many variables at play. I did the rears (new) before the fronts(used) on my friends E36 recently which had done about 110,000km and he couldnt tell the difference on both occasions, some people dont really know, feel or just get used to it i think.

On 1/14/2024 at 7:24 PM, Spinner99 said:

ones that arrived were made in China

Yeah Lemforder stuff made everywhere these days, Turkey is another common place. Their made in Germany these days seems to be from older stock of parts that are less common to replaced\go bad eg Spherical bushing\bearings.

[M3AN 4016]

Actually, you want to keep those shorter bumpstops, they're the ones you should fit. The standard BMW "motorsport" ones are too long, dangerously so some (including me) would say. I'm not sure of the fit of the shorter ones you have but most people recommend the BMW Performance versions if going for OE parts (and guaranteed fit).

Sorry to tell you after you've installed them!

 

[Spinner99 55]

6 hours ago, M3AN said:

Sorry to tell you after you've installed them!

Lol thanks @M3AN  , better late than never I guess