Rear Air Spring Replacement - with photos

[amor]

Follow x5kiwi instructions . It is not too difficult I changed my rotors and my break and checked on air springs . I purchased mine at Arnold as well . They are very courteous and helpful . Take your time and spare the whole day for it if you have not used any tool before. My air spring was the first time to dismantle my car. I do not like to time any job but I am willing yo let you experience it . By the way, when you remove the black pouch to get access to the air spring you will see 2 gold or gray clips to unclip by pushing them out. My advice is to put a soft cloth around the area cause inside there is a hole in case your clip is popped out too hard and can get lost in the hole . Pass your finger around u will see it cause I lost one clip and I had to order a new one . Last on , there is a clip a the bottom of the air spring u wil need a screw driver to pull it out that is the hardest one because of his location. Have gun it is your x5 you will not break any thing. Trust your gut

[Kjon4]

amor, Your advice and also this forum has given me extra confident in DIY. I'm ready to take on the world now. haha.

[e30cabrio]

Thanks for the write up & info.

I got suspension inactive when I started the X last night. "rebooted" & it went away I searched & found this thread.

The link to the bags was dead so I looked and found the new link:
Arnott® - Replacement Air Suspension

You have to put in your vehicle to get to our bags.

[e30cabrio]

Went out for lunch and my X was sitting down on the driver side. Started it up it pumped up. Parked at restaurant it's sitting normally. As I assume something must be wrong I ordered a set from an ebay seller for 89.xx each shipped. I added a message asking he ship adsp he responded with a phone number in his signature so I called. FedEx was there so the shocks are on their way.

[e30cabrio]

It was still pumped after work & is still fine now. Is it normal for the bags to leak then stop leaking?

I will replace them this weekend, it just seems weird.

[Ricky Bobby]

If they are leaking they should do so pretty consistently.

So it stayed at the same height over night, you didn't drive it after work at all?

Did you measure the height from ground to fender to double check (even 1/4" of height loss over night is not good)

[e30cabrio]

I did not measure it.


I drove it at 5:00pm after parking it about 1:00pm. It stayed back at or near normal height after being down at 12:00.

I parked it at 5:50 last night.

As it sits now:

Passenger (unaffected side)



Driver (bad side)

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by rogerkiu

The Arnott spring costs $100 each, plus shipping cost, the total cost will not be cheaper than the OEM. In Hong Kong, each side brand new spring costs $160 (not from BMW official dealer but some automobile retailer), one pair costs $320. If I order Arnott spring, one pair costs $200 plus around $50 shipping cost, total cost is $250, only $70 difference between oem and Arnott. In this case, I will rather lean to oem, unless the product quality of Arnott is much better than oem. Anyone can shed some light on this decision please?

With all those knock off products floating around in China and Hong Kong I would be a little wary of buying parts from a Non BMW official dealer.

At least the Arnott is assemble in the Good Old US of A.

[Ricky Bobby]

Assuming you are on level ground it looks alright to me.

Sometimes the leak is slow, have you went behind the wheel and looked with a flashlight for leaks? Usually you'll see cracking near the base of the folds of the bags.

Regardless at your age of the vehicle for $180 bucks its not a bad idea to replace them, the rubber is not too hardy on the OEM bags.

[e30cabrio]

I did not look at them. Inactive has not come back since it was low. I drove 30 miles it looks fine to me.

Bad side



Not bad side