E39 restore entire suspention on 80K miles

[champaign777]

Hi folks
I recently bought 2001 E39 525i with 80K miles . Car is in good order and was taken care .It has new tires, new brakes, engine is fine , so far looks good. It has also all history records from day 1.The problem is only suspension (all suspension parts from day 1 ) which I feel on different kind of vibration . This required some attention and $-value .
Finally step by step I decided to replace all parts - the $-value of this project is ~3K , depend of labor.
This what was already done :
New Lemfoerder Front STRUTS with bushing - CARX(have friend there)
New Lemfoerder Front WISHBONE - CARX
New Lemfoerder Front STABILIZERs - CARX
New OEM Shaft Drive - CARX
New Boge rear Ball Joints - did replacement myself
New Lemfoerder rear stabilizers - did replacement myself
New Sachs rear shocks + mounts - did replacement myself

This plan to do soon :
New Sachs front shocks absorbers + mounts
Power steering rack - bought from car with 30K miles

My feeling after every replacement
less noisy
less vibration
less knocks
car more stable ( i really like it now )

I can say that after every replacement car drive much better
I still feel some front vibration ( 60-80 MPH ) which i hope will be solved with a new Steering Rack
and New Front Shocks. Of course I did balancing and alignment ( twice ), keep PSI 36 front, 38 rear .
I try to use only OEM parts in all replacement.
Why i am doing this ? I think any BMW more than 80K miles need a new suspension and this what is doing BMW an ULTIMATE Driving Machine no ?

Any help what need to be done more ?

[Bonswa]

Congrats on the ride

do you have OEM wheels?

either way, many have been reporting how their 70mph vibration/shimmy has gone away completely by getting their wheels "road force balanced". that could be a VERY simple and inexpensive solution to your vibration.

[kaptom540]

that is alot of work .. probable feels like a brand new car .. is your wheel out of round?

[champaign777]

thanks guys
ya lot of work but result is amazing

ya i have OEM wheels and in very good condition . Car also was never been cracked
I am doing replacement of steering rack because i have some click inside
I dont like any clickes on my car ... together with front shocks replacement and what i already did i think all front - end should be fine . no ?

[teedub21]

I think $3-$5k is about double the actual cost, unless you had the dealer do the job. I've got most of the parts waiting in my garage to go on with the new struts. Already did the rear shocks. I, too, am anxious to get this done. At 101k miles my stock suspension is shot.

[champaign777]

nothing free in our life the only OEM Shaft Drive with labor cost me 1K. The life of enjine is also 300K so 80-100K is not an age for this car . The question is - doing this and spending some small money ( according how much a new car cost ) you actually can be owner of car which will drive like a new . This is what i try to do . Any suggestion ?

I also feel on steering wheel some engine vibration even when i dont drive .
Is it common for BMW ? Maybe need replace engine mounts too ... ?

any comments guys ?

i need help please - some suggestion what need to be replaced more for 80K miles ??

[jieg]

i also think is an expensive project, it is probably the labor.

someday I will do the same, i calculate arms, links, ties, struts and shocks at about 1500-1700 using lemfoerder, trw and sachs parts

how about your paintwork?
are you following your work with pictures?, compare the old and new parts as you replace, that would be of great use to spot shot bits by naked eye

[champaign777]

Just doing replacement of Front Struts and Steering rack now
Yffff to take the steering rack out is a big ...... pazl and the front struts the same headake
It's so cold that a cant do any pictures , sorry but you are wellcome with any questions

[jnyost]

Front struts and all misc pieces will be nice.

Have you done the front tie rods?

Jared

[DHoang]

I also feel on steering wheel some engine vibration even when i dont drive .
Is it common for BMW ? Maybe need replace engine mounts too ... ?

Don't know if this applies, but It's been mentioned that some tires when new with deep treads develop a temporary flat spot from being parked over time. They regain circular shape once car gets driven.

[champaign777]

Finally it’s done yfff spend 2 weekends on it . Some comments
*** For the tie rods the tool from AutoZone is NOT APPLICABLE
I succeed to take tie rods out but it can be much easy if you will work with BMW special tool as all these
from AutoZone are too short and you need some modification to work with them
*** For the steering rack need to count left and right side and set it correctly before put it in . I didn't so my friends from CARX fixed it "on the fly" in 80$
*** With spring shocks you need to play some time ( open / close ) to release them correctly.

Finally car is done and almost all front - end is new.
Night and date difference I feel that I work not for nothing J
I also like a new struts – car is really stable on the road now
Still have very light vibration on the steering wheel after 70MPH , will try to do "road force balanced"
Tires have only 10K miles but bad bushing / bad suspension parts make some damage on them ..
Will see maybe will buy a new set

About photos
*** For rear Ball Joints / front / real struts I used this links beisansystems procedurs
*** For steering rack I used Bentley Manual

Most of my vibration / knocks of these 2 projects was solved by
Front :
New steering rack
New front arms
Rear :
New Shaft Drive
rear Ball Joints - one was really bad in my case

My next poject will be :
Engine mounts
Front - Rear Sway Bar Bushing

Really small after what i already did a ? hehe

[champaign777]

Any time when i try to put some photos i have this stttttuppid message ...

Sorry... at this time you are currently not allowed to post URLs, images or smilies.

[quickjoe1961]

Any time when i try to put some photos i have this stttttuppid message ...

Sorry... at this time you are currently not allowed to post URLs, images or smilies.

Quite frankly 80k is NOTHING unless you take the car offroading. The claim that you HAVE to do suspension work to be an Ultimate driving machine is baseless as well. I think ODO was rolled back in your car or You are making stuff up. Go on ebay invest in cheapo-PASOFT 1.36 do scan on IKE, EGS, EWS and LCM module also pull out the cluster and check if there is a paper security label and whether it looks like it was tempered with. If mileage doesn't match or label was unglued, congrats you bought a car with rollback.

[jnyost]

Pretty doubtful the odo is rolled back. Not the easiest thing to do without setting off the tamper light.

[quickjoe1961]

Pretty doubtful the odo is rolled back. Not the easiest thing to do without setting off the tamper light.

Hope you are kidding, currently i can fix that under a minute... plus the tamper light, the red dot, is not because mileage doesnt much but because coded VIN in the cluster doesn't much the one in LCM(if someone buy a cluster off ebay with less miles and puts it in,
a) temper light, vin mismatch
b) DSC/Traction control light will turn on due to incorrect steering column sensor position.

[jnyost]

If mileage in dash is more than 100 miles different than LCM then the tamper light will come on. May not be 100 miles but it is something like that.

[quickjoe1961]

If mileage in dash is more than 100 miles different than LCM then the tamper light will come on. May not be 100 miles but it is something like that.

Nope not true, i know, i did this more then once so can we just please not argue about it ?

[champaign777]

Hey hey hey don't know what you talk about which ODO was rolled back? maybe your, not my .
My car has now 85K miles and I am sure that its original .
I have access to AutoCheck and its show the full history . BTW if somebody need AutoCheck I still have access for 2 month so welcome .
Its also very dependable where car was used - my in IL where roads are really bad. 80K absolutelly require a lot of suspention work ... i am BMW suspention king now
I aslo drove couple of cars wth more than 80K miles in this area to see what is the difference - all needed suspention work ... these car like good roads
BTW yesterday I replaces both motor mounts with EOM from dealer - no more engine vibration
I will also replace transmission mounths soon .

[blatant]

Nope not true, i know, i did this more then once so can we just please not argue about it ?

I believe Jared is correct. The mileage is stored in different locations and the speedo pr cluster checks with it to see if the number is within a certain amount. Maybe you are talking about a later model chevy.

[quickjoe1961]

I believe Jared is correct. The mileage is stored in different locations and the speedo pr cluster checks with it to see if the number is within a certain amount. Maybe you are talking about a later model chevy.

Or maybe you don't know and I do. I have done this before, and maybe you shouldn't confuse other members with your incorrect beliefs ? RED DOT is an indication that VIN ( last 6 digits to be exact ) in LCM (light module) is NOT the same as in IKE ( cluster ). HAS nothing to do with different mileage recorded in IKE, EGS, EWS, LCM or your key. IKE will always display mileage thats in IKE, the other places, EGS, EWS, LCM mileages can be 'corrected' if one chooses to.

[Orxan4ik]

Or maybe you don't know and I do. I have done this before, and maybe you shouldn't confuse other members with your incorrect beliefs ? RED DOT is an indication that VIN ( last 6 digits to be exact ) in LCM (light module) is NOT the same as in IKE ( cluster ). HAS nothing to do with different mileage recorded in IKE, EGS, EWS, LCM or your key. IKE will always display mileage thats in IKE, the other places, EGS, EWS, LCM mileages can be 'corrected' if one chooses to.

maybe u should be more polite or simply stfu, maybe?

[quickjoe1961]

Or people simply don't have to argue when they are WRONG. That will work too don't you think ? Or is every one is too sensitive with their feelings. Don't comment and argue if you don't know. Be sure or ask, that's what i do. You don't see me questioning what people are telling me about my suspension question do You ?

[Orxan4ik]

Or people simply don't have to argue when they are WRONG. That will work too don't you think ?

so why are you arguing then? you are WRONG

[quickjoe1961]

so why are you arguing then? you are WRONG

Read 1. in the pics you pasted, not once, not twice, but until you understand what you pasted. Great one.

vehicle ID, are last 7 chars of vin....

[Orxan4ik]

Read 1. in the pics you pasted, not once, not twice, but until you understand what you pasted. Great one.

i think you're retarded

edit: and so IS TOTAL MILEAGE