E53 front struts failure? Anyone?

[semcoinc]

For me replaceable wear parts on my vehicle with 80-100K miles on them don't owe me anything and are probably, in my humble opinion, near end of life.

Examples for me are: belts, hoses, water pump, thermostat, alternator, idlers, pulleys, tensioners, shocks, struts, brake pads, ball joints, rotors, bushings, CV joints/boots/axles and such. Essentially anything on the front of the motor that turns or carries fluid and the working suspension components.

I take a "Touch It Once" attitude when I am refurbishing an area.

I am currently in the starting phase of a rear suspension makeover (front makeover was last month at 100K) replacing shocks, upper arms, ball joints, subframe bushings, CV axles, shock mounts, and lower control arm bushings.

The pressure difference to compress the new KYB shock and the Factory 2002/100K mile shock is significant.

If budget and time allows, you will appreciate not having to go back into an area to replace old components that "looked" OK when you did the broken/failed one

IMHO, those struts have given above and beyond the call of duty.

Mike

[oldskewel]

Update - after a brief test drive, with the new struts it drives very nicely ... and exactly as it did before, on the 180k/16-year original ones.

So maybe it's nice to know I'm now good until 400k miles, and it was fun and not too expensive to do. But now that I've done it, I know that these struts I removed were just fine and could probably have gone a long way further.

Just offering a data point for others who may one day be in a similar situation.

The takeaway for me is to not underestimate the quality of some components on these trucks.

Also, I've got the BMW 19" standard wheels, 285/45/19 and 255/50/19 tires.

[srmmmm]

Mine show no evidence of wear at 320,700 miles. I think bushings are the components to pay attention to.

2002 X5 3.0 320,700 miles
2014 428i 26,200 miles

2004 325i sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i sold at 66,000 miles

1970 Firebird - Under restoration

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by srmmmm

Mine show no evidence of wear at 320,700 miles. I think bushings are the components to pay attention to.

2002 X5 3.0 320,700 miles
2014 428i 26,200 miles

2004 325i sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i sold at 66,000 miles

1970 Firebird - Under restoration

Have you owned the X5 since new? If not, how many miles did it have on it at time of purchase. Some clues of worn suspension are unusual tire wear, unable to have vehicle aligned within specs.

[srmmmm]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

Have you owned the X5 since new? If not, how many miles did it have on it at time of purchase. Some clues of worn suspension are unusual tire wear, unable to have vehicle aligned within specs.

Bought it with 53,000 miles. It was a lease return from North Carolina so I had all the maintenance history on it and it had no winter salt exposure. At about 240,000 miles I replaced all rear suspension bushings and ball joints, front tension struts and lower ball joints to correct tire wear and light vibration when braking. Had alignment done to minimum rear toe-in specs and everything has been perfect since then. In fact, this set of Yokohama YK580s has now gone over 70,000 miles with 7/32 remaining.

[bcredliner]

Certainly a good find that has served you well.

[Blackjetvette97]

Hi all,
To those who have replaced Front struts(and rear at same time or at diff time), could you please list out all other components(with correct name! LOL) that you changed out to new as well? I have a leaking front strut at 187K miles and will be doing a refresh(I have standard sus and will be doing Bil Touring) on the front, so I want to knock out everything that should be replaced all at once. Gonna hit the rear soon too, but am curious to compile a list of the "must change" items(rubber/plastic/etc) people found as they did swap during refreshes. Anyone change out the springs(is it necessary?)? Thanks for any input/advice/etc


Steve

[ID4.8]

I have a sport front left strut with 8k miles on it if you're interested.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Xoutpost.com mobile app

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by Blackjetvette97

Hi all,
To those who have replaced Front struts(and rear at same time or at diff time), could you please list out all other components(with correct name! LOL) that you changed out to new as well? I have a leaking front strut at 187K miles and will be doing a refresh(I have standard sus and will be doing Bil Touring) on the front, so I want to knock out everything that should be replaced all at once. Gonna hit the rear soon too, but am curious to compile a list of the "must change" items(rubber/plastic/etc) people found as they did swap during refreshes. Anyone change out the springs(is it necessary?)? Thanks for any input/advice/etc


Steve

I replaced everything in the suspension when I replaced the struts. Spring replacement is not necessary. I also replaced the rear subframe bushings.

[semcoinc]

There are a number of experiences posted here:

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-much-diy.html

and here are some experiences on the rear lower swing arm bushings:

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...swing-arm.html

Mike