Dinan Strut Tower Brace Install - 4.8is

[jsears]

All of you guys rock!

Item #2 is the one in question.

[jsears]

Originally Posted by jsears

Didn't even think about that. So, now I have 2 VM's out. One to the Dinan technical support and one to the Dinan Authorized Dealer in my area. See who calls back first!


Follow the link and it says its for the 4.8is.
http://www.dinancars.com/store/produ...cat=379&page=1

Heard back from the Authorized Dealership in my area. They say I am good to go. Hopefully I will hear back from Dinan today!

[X5 Meister]

Yeah you're right, for all the "many hours developing the brace" they sure could have spent a couple more minutes re-writing the installation instructions. At first I thought they meant that the strut tower brace needed to be cut, but it seems the instructions are saying that it is the windshield washer fluid reservoir "brace" that gets cut. They couldn't use a different word then brace!? Geez. (I guess if that reservoir now fails, it won't be covered under warranty since it's modded!?!) Anyway, it is also strange they didn't include any 2006 model in the instructions, then again it could be just an oversight given that the instructions were last revised 6/16/2005 which is before the 2006 models were introduced (9/2005). I wonder how some others got away without cutting it? Hopefully they installed it right.

Anyway, find out about that air suspension thing and also about screwing up your camber/caster settings, etc. I'm curious to know.

[jsears]

Heard back from Dinan Technical Support. I have the correct Strut Tower Brace and he was just saying that the instruction have not been updated in a while. Obviously if last revision of 6/16/05.

He said that every application of the brace he has seen you have to cut the reservoir, and that I would see it once I get under the hood. I am going to try to not cut it, and see where that ends up.

The strut bar is compatible with the air suspension, and won't screw up the camber/caster settings. He said when installing it make sure the X5 is at the normal ride height, and not on the lowest or highest suspension setting.

Thank you everyone for all of your help! I will be sure to post any issues I run into especially for the next guy doing this project!

[zerochief]

Lets us know if you end up trimming the tank.

[X5 Meister]

Take a bunch of photos when installing and make a nice write-up for the home page. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Maybe we can even convince them for a little price break on a group buy?

Originally Posted by jsears

Heard back from Dinan Technical Support. I have the correct Strut Tower Brace and he was just saying that the instruction have not been updated in a while. Obviously if last revision of 6/16/05.

He said that every application of the brace he has seen you have to cut the reservoir, and that I would see it once I get under the hood. I am going to try to not cut it, and see where that ends up.

The strut bar is compatible with the air suspension, and won't screw up the camber/caster settings. He said when installing it make sure the X5 is at the normal ride height, and not on the lowest or highest suspension setting.

Thank you everyone for all of your help! I will be sure to post any issues I run into especially for the next guy doing this project!

[X5 Meister]

This part is specific to the X5 and was developed with the car to adjust the front suspension. Call me a cynic, but given that a dealer will loosen those same bolts that are used to adjust the suspension I don't understand how loosening them in the garage oneself won't affect the suspension settings even just a little bit? In addition, how does a dealer fit this tool to do alignment if a strut brace is present. Seems to me it would be in the way?

[jsears]

Here are the instructions I did to install the Dinan Strut Tower Brace (Part Number# D180-0530A) on my 2006 X5 4.8is with air suspension.
Items you will need are:
Torque Wrench that does 18 foot-pounds
½’’ socket and ratchet with extension
10mm socket and ratchet with extension
Crescent Wrench
Set of Allen Wrenches
Razorblade/Dremmel

1.Unpack everything from the box. Check and make sure all of the necessary hardware is there, and test and make sure everything fits.
2.Park your X5 on a level flat surface. I laid out all of the pieces on the ground of how they would go.
3.I started with the driver side strut tower, the tower is unobstructed and easy to get to and get for your initial attempt to get this project started. There are 3 nuts that you have to remove from the strut. Use a ½’’ socket to remove them. If you are facing the engine the 3 nuts towards the back of the engine is hardest to remove. I had to remove a ½’’ box-end wrench to remove it, but if you have a 2’’-3’’ socket extension it should be no problem.
4.After removing the stock set of nuts set them aside. Place the driver side endplate (has 1 cut out) over the strut tower and install the supplied flange nuts loosely of the endplates.
5.Slide the center section behind the washer fluid reservoir, and do a mock placement of how it is going to sit. This will tell you if you need to trim the piece of plastic to allow the bar to set correctly.
6.The washer fluid reservoir has to be removed to access the 3rd nut on the passenger side strut tower. There are two plastic nuts to have to be removed (save them to replace the reservoir), one is near the passenger fender and the other is back towards the windshield. Use a 10mm socket to remove these, it is a tight squeeze but if you have an extension it will make it easier. I didn’t fully detach the reservoir because there was fluid still in it and I didn’t want to potentially leaking all over my engine.
7.If you have to trim the plastic piece of the reservoir now is the time to do it. I used a razorblade to remove it. It will take some a lot of work to cut into the thick plastic; if you have something that works better I would use it. I got it cut down to be flush with the tank.
8.Install the passenger side endplate using the same method that you used to install the driver side endplate. Loosely fasten the nuts at this time as well.
9.Screw the 2.8-16 nut onto each rod-end (at this time use the thicker “regular nuts), leaving approximately ¼’’ of the thread exposed between the nut and the head of the rod-end. Then screw both rod-ends into the brace but to the nut. One rod end is shorter than the other; screw the shorter rod-end into the passenger side of the brace.
10.Replace the washer fluid reservoir without the nuts and do a trial run to make sure it all fits correctly.
11.Remove the washer reservoir and tighten the passenger side endplate. Use a torque wrench and tighten each nut to 18foot-pounds. (You may need a second person or a screw driver to gain some leverage on putting the endplate on.)
12.Replace the washer reservoir to its original position and tighten down with the 2 plastic nuts that you removed earlier.
13.Place the center bar behind the ear of the passenger side end plate and loosely bolt into place.
14.Place the center bar in front of the ear on the driver side and loosely bolt into place. Everything should be installed in the correct position now with only the passenger side endplate nuts fully tightened.
15.Tighten the driver side endplate at this time. Tighten each of the nuts to 18foot-pounds. (You may need a second person or a screw driver to gain some leverage on putting the endplate on.)
16.Once all end-plates have been secured tighten the ears. To maintain the finish on the ears, hold the flanged nuts with a wrench while tightening with the Allen-head bolts.
17.You are now done, clean up, take it for a test drive and then have a beer.

Time to Complete Project: Approx. 2.5 hours
Technical Difficulty: 2-3 out of 5.
Modification Worthiness: out of 5.

So far I have notice no issues or weird noises. Overall I am completely happy with this modification. Before the install, the X5 felt slow to switch lanes or to take a corner, that you had to move the steering wheel more than you really should. After the install it feels like when you move the steering wheel to go in a direction you go in that direction. I haven't noticed any enhancements with braking that some individuals are reporting.

[chykneestweakr]

Does anyone know what makes up the hardware kit? I'm looking to get a used dinan strut bar but it does not come with the flange nuts. Anyone know what I could get from Home Depot to install the strut bar properly? Since this is discontinued, Dinan does not have any of the hardware needed to install the bar.

[monster79]

X5 Meister, You Rock!! Thanks!