Updating front shocks?

[Hypr5]

Hey guys,

I want to update my front shocks (pre 7/90 style with 19mm nut) to the newer style. They seem to be more readily available and replacement upper mounts, etc seem to be cheaper. What is needed to convert over to this?

Just upper mounts or more? Thanks a bunch!

[Hypr5]

Bump :D

[DanH]

I dont think that the price difference between the two type of shocks doesnt make the conversion to be worth the cost. The upper mounts you have probably do not to be replaced. Mine were still good when I replace the shocks at 200k+ miles. And yours is only at 127k.

But, if the upper mounts are trashed then it may be slightly cheaper to convert it over. Although, I'm not sure if you have to change anything besides the upper mount, as long as lower cylinder is the same diameter and length.

Good Luck!

[Kalevera]

Hypr -

thought i'd replied to this earlier...evidently didn't hit submit.

I'm almost certain that the 22mm bilsteins that you're seeing on eBay at a nice price won't work on 19mm cars. I looked into this when I had to replace the struthousings on my car - pre 7/90 build date 1990 535i w/19mm top nut. I ended up buying a set of used struthousings from a 1991 525i that, lucky for me (sarcasm), had the 19mm nut as well.

I managed to break one of the top bolts on the strut mounts during the install - F$#@% - courtesy of my impact wrench (big nono....use hand tools next time ;) ).

I tried to reuse my old strut mount, but noted that the diameter of the hole was smaller than the new 19mm nut, and it didn't fit over the 1991 spec shock, leading me to believe that there are other dimensional differences between the various components.

I ended up knocking out one the bolts in the old strut mount and installing it in the new mount. Got some new self locking nuts and I was good to go.

I could be wrong, and it may be worth a try..but why not just spend the money and do it right the first time?

Good luck!

[Hypr5]

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but there are several suspension kits that I'd like to try that just aren't made for pre 7/90 models. Seems like the extra cash to convert is far less hassle than selling my car and getting a newer model. And then because I am never happy with anything, replacing the components from then on out will be cheaper than the pre 7/90 stuff anyway.

Thanks for the help though. We'll see how this goes.