Noamit 3 Report post Posted April 16 I bought a new set of shocks for my E39 530iA Sedan and while the rear shocks(170 857) seemed right the front ones (556 834) are shorter. I have two questons: 1. Will these be fine, even if the new rears aren't any shorter? 2. I bought these Sachs shocks from Spareto after ckecking the part # on bmwfans. If I got the wrong thing, how can I find the right ones? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1744 Report post Posted April 16 Shorter shafts are usually for sport suspension option which uses shorter springs. If your car doesn't have that then they are the wrong ones, bmwfans etc lists all options and you have to choose the correct one. You usually have to run the vin number to get your car options list to know what you have before hand. Not sure you could even get the spring compressed enough to get the top mount on. I'd sell them and get the correct ones if they are wrong. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mmario 59 Report post Posted April 16 (edited) That is the correct part number I think, installed exactly the same on my e39. The strut is the same for Msport and non MSport but maybe not for all the 530 model years ? https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-strut-assembly-front-e39-w-m-technic-suspension-556-834#fitment Edited April 16 by mmario 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1744 Report post Posted Thursday at 08:58 AM Yeah it looks like Sachs have done the aftermarket special and merged all the versions at some point. Have fun compressing the spring. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olaf 3392 Report post Posted Thursday at 06:29 PM On 4/16/2025 at 12:25 PM, Noamit said: I bought a new set of shocks for my E39 530iA Sedan and while the rear shocks(170 857) seemed right the front ones (556 834) are shorter. I have two questons: 1. Will these be fine, even if the new rears aren't any shorter? 2. I bought these Sachs shocks from Spareto after ckecking the part # on bmwfans. If I got the wrong thing, how can I find the right ones? what year is your car, whats the VIN, and what part number (BMW part number) did you buy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Noamit 3 Report post Posted Thursday at 08:21 PM 11 hours ago, Eagle said: Yeah it looks like Sachs have done the aftermarket special and merged all the versions at some point. Have fun compressing the spring. Yeah I found an older, discontinued part number. I guess this is supposed to be the replacement but I'm new to this and am worried by just how much shorter it is. 1 hour ago, Olaf said: what year is your car, whats the VIN, and what part number (BMW part number) did you buy. It's a 2002 530i and the VIN is WBADT62090CK17096. I don't know what the BMW Part # is, but what came out of my car is 096 858 Now I have a third question... What did I even buy? Can a refreshed model of an old shock drastically reduce in height like this? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1744 Report post Posted Thursday at 08:54 PM I didn't think this generation of BMW's contained them but Sachs aftermarket ones may contain an internal spring. If you secure the strut body and pull on the shaft hard you should be able to overcome some of the spring tension and extend the shaft to some extent. You'd probably need 3x spring compressors to compress them enough, or just pay a shop to do it with a proper wall mounted compressor. As above Sachs are known for combining many versions into one product. I assume they do this for reducing costs but it causes issues like these along with suboptimal dampening being universal(E46 rear shocks being a good example). The genuine BMW unit would match your old one but people generally arent paying the big premium for those. Bilstein B4, Koni SRT or TRW etc have equivalent options to the Sachs aftermarket that work better. Also if you bought new front strut mounts for these then Lemforder\Boge\Sachs one tend to be a newer taller design and increase ride height. Id recommend E90 iX ones which a stronger and lower. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olaf 3392 Report post Posted Friday at 04:58 AM 8 hours ago, Noamit said: Yeah I found an older, discontinued part number. I guess this is supposed to be the replacement but I'm new to this and am worried by just how much shorter it is. It's a 2002 530i and the VIN is WBADT62090CK17096. I don't know what the BMW Part # is, but what came out of my car is 096 858 Now I have a third question... What did I even buy? Can a refreshed model of an old shock drastically reduce in height like this? your VIN gets you this page on REALOEM: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=DT62-EUR-05-2002-E39-BMW-530i&diagId=31_0255 Your mdecoder VIN Decode indicates no special suspension https://www.mdecoder.com/decode/wbadt62090ck17096 your front shock part number is 31311096858 which corresponds with what you pulled. 19 hours ago, Eagle said: Yeah it looks like Sachs have done the aftermarket special and merged all the versions at some point. Have fun compressing the spring. Sure does. that certainly sachs bigtime. The Bilstein Touring equivalent also suggests it's a straightforward fit for sports and standard based on BMW part number equivalents. (From Spareto site) Bummer. See how it goes when you get the spring compressor on them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mmario 59 Report post Posted 3 hours ago From experience I would highly suggest getting a shop to compress the springs Scary as job Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
