Bilstein B14 pro kit

Mtlalex

Legacy Member
Anyone has experience with them on a e9x?
Im looking at a set for my 2007 wagon (touring).
Online im reading good reviews. Most really like them as they are a good upgrade for the price. I was more concerned with is a few talked about blown shocks after 6-7 months and lots about broken studs before reaching recommended torques.
So anyone put them to the test on shitty Quebec roads.
 
Anyone has experience with them on a e9x?
Im looking at a set for my 2007 wagon (touring).
Online im reading good reviews. Most really like them as they are a good upgrade for the price. I was more concerned with is a few talked about blown shocks after 6-7 months and lots about broken studs before reaching recommended torques.
So anyone put them to the test on shitty Quebec roads.
If you need the height acceptable you will be fine. If you are X drive you can't "slam" it always because it will wreck the front axles in quick order. The rear dampers will blow first. Make sure the front swaybr links included are indeed shorter vs OEM. Have a look at the front shock towers and check if theyre mushrooms. Early e90s sure loved to do that.

Broken bolts?

Get new front strut clevis bolts+ nuts and front lower center control arm bolt. Those are always nice and rusty and even if they were in perfect shape are one time use anyways. Only time I've seen broken threaded parts on the rear shocks is when either the lower mount was removed and bolted back in not sitting flat or someone took an impact to tight up the 16mm nut on the damper.

I'd maybe budget a set of rear lower pillow balljoints and new rear upper/ lower mounts. I've seen some hack use pieces of carpet to "make" a new rear upper Mount vs spending the 10$ on a new one. I guess owning an M3 is expensive enough

The biggest issue depending on how rusty your car is will be aligning it afterwards. Tierods are always jammed up requiring full replacement and the rear toe/camber bolts.

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If you need the height acceptable you will be fine. If you are X drive you can't "slam" it always because it will wreck the front axles in quick order. The rear dampers will blow first. Make sure the front swaybr links included are indeed shorter vs OEM. Have a look at the front shock towers and check if theyre mushrooms. Early e90s sure loved to do that.

Broken bolts?

Get new front strut clevis bolts+ nuts and front lower center control arm bolt. Those are always nice and rusty and even if they were in perfect shape are one time use anyways.

I'd maybe budget a set of rear lower pillow balljoints. The biggest issue depending on how rusty your car is will be aligning it afterwards. Tierods are always jammed up requiring full replacement and the rear toe/camber bolts.

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Sorry I should of specified the broken stud seems to be an issue with the rear bilstein shock it self.

Thanks for the input. The car is a 328 xi and will not be slammed by any means, the suspension needs a refresh so I would like it to be a bit stiffer. I was planing on doing a bit more as it was a bit neglected in the past by the PO.

So replacing a few parts was also in the budget.
 
I'm unsure we install many Bilstien dampers on e90s only way they snap the stud is if you go ham with an impact gun or try to reuse the OE nut which isn't the same pitch. The shock will come with a new nylock nut. It doesn't need to be insanely tight like 27ft lbs which is essentially snug hand tight + 1/4 turn . At low values like that don't even bother using a "click type" torque wrench, they act like a breaker bar at very low settings.

The upper nut is the same and tightened with the car back on the ground.



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