Bottoming out // Strut installation help

[saturnv7890]

Hey everyone! I'm the very proud new owner of an e30 after drooling over them for the past year! The car is a 1989 325i 2 door, and the odo broke at 183k :P

So when I bought the car, the owner included a set of "drop zone" springs that werent installed, a new set of carquest front struts uninstalled. The installed suspension consited of 22 year old front struts, 22 year old springs all around, and a very new set of bilstein OE replacement struts in the rear.

I went in yesterday with the intent to replace the oem struts witht he carquest struts and put in the lowering springs. After hours of running back and forth getting the right tools and busting my knuckle on this and that, I managed to only get the front lowering springs on. Some problems I encountered:

1) I couldn't get the ball joint or the tie rod end off of the strut tower. How do I get those off?

2) I couldn't open the threaded cap on top of the strut housing. It looks like it hasn't seen daylight from 22 years, and is completely fused.
What are my options? Should I try and hit it with a torch and even more PB blaster?


These are problems that I didn't realize I would encounter, but I did. Is there any quirks when attempting the rear springs? Any special tools I should get before I start the job? I have a minimal collection of tools, as I'm 18 and broke!


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Also today when I was driving, the car was very bouncy, which is definitely because my strut is completely dead. Whenever I hit a bump at any sort of speed, there would be a loud THUD. I'm pretty sure that was the oil pan, so I slowed it down over every sketchy area. So now I'm worried these springs (drop zone) are not really that great. So I'll probably need to get better springs. I'm also sure it's bad to have lowered springs on stock struts, so I'll probably need to upgrade my struts from the OE replacements. Also, would bump stops help?

So now my question is, what spring/strut combo is lower, stiff, budget friendly, and won't bottom out! I realize the H&R sport/bilstein combo is popular, but I'd rather avoid spending $700 if I can. Any suggestions? It really needs to be safe from bottoming out.


Thanks in advance!

[Sputnik]

For the strut collars I'll bathe them in pb and heat in repeated cycles. With a screw driver and a big fucking hammer hit it until it gives in.

I highly suggest for you to get a bentley's e30 manual...

Goodluck!

[saturnv7890]

I have the bentley manual, but it only said to remove the tie rod ends, then later on remove the strut housing from the ball joints. They didn't say it would be next to impossible to do!

And thanks I'll give it that a try! Should I use oxy acetalene or propane to heat them?

Any advice on what springs/struts I need to prevent bottoming out?

[Sputnik]

1.Use propane, cuz oxy-acetylene might burn through it.
2.Use your stock springs with your stock struts, because the struts will keep bottoming out with lower springs and end up blowing out your suspension...

patience and common sense goes a long way!

[jlevie]

Separating the ball joints or tie rod ends without damaging them requires a ball joint press.

Heat, PBlaster or Kroil, and a pipe wrench will usually get the gland nuts off, but in stubborn cases an air chisel will get them off.

H&R Sport springs are good chocie for a daily driver. Shorter springs need to be coupled with either Bilstien Sport or Koni Sport Adjustable shocks. Standard shocks don't have enough damping and aren't meant for the higher spring rates and will quickly fail.

[ill4noreason]

take a big pipe wrench to gland nut and find something like a 3f - 4ft length of metal pipe to slip over the handle of the pipe wrench. use as leverage so much easier...
I had a 84 318 that would not come loose with heat pb or anything then i took my pipe wrench with an iron pipe and it came off pretty easily.

[saturnv7890]

So what it sounds like I need is this:

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-4128-e30-318i325i-bilsteinhr-sport-suspension.aspx

Where am I gonna find the best price on this combo?

And after some quick research I saw you can rent the ball joint press from autozone, and I guess I've got everything else!

Thanks for the help guys!

[jclar]

The KYB shock/Vogtland spring combo is pretty popular and not a bad setup. I had KYB shocks before I installed my JOM coilovers and they rode fine. The JOM coilovers are also a pretty good buy right now at 420ish$.

To get the tie rod off of the strut tower rent a pickle fork from your local Autozone or Advance Auto. Same for the control arm.

To get the strut collar off I used PB blaster, had a helper hold the strut tower with a huge monkey wrench, and turned the strut collar itself with a huge monkey wrench, both sides came off pretty easily.

[saturnv7890]

Won't a pickle fork destroy the ball joints though? I'd rather keep them, as they were recently replaced.

And after doing a lot of reading, I guess I'll spring for these (the picture is completely wrong, but the part numbers are right):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KYB-4-SHOCKS-SPRINGS-BMW-E30-325e-325i-325is-85-91-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem48408ea502QQitemZ310320735490QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

The price is right, and a lot of people are happy with them!

[Fusion]

If the ball joints are 22 years old too, you should replace them anyways.
I had to hammer mine out, which of course messed the joint end/threads. I guess if you had something smaller diameter than the thread, you might be able to knock them out with damage only to the center. I'm guessing though.

Edit: that thud you heard could be the control arm bushing (the rubber in circle thing on the end of the arm) or the strut top mounts.
Unfortunately, there's a good chance you'll find many more worn out parts than just the shocks, especially once you take stuff apart and have a good look. As in my case, I replaced more than I thought I would, but I'm glad everything will be A+ once its done.

[saturnv7890]

Thanks for the help! I realize that I'll probably need to replace the control arm bushings. I might go with the m3 bushings, should I spend the ridiculous amount of money to get the pre-pressed ones from turner motorsport, or give it a try myself?