does anyone have a procedure of doing this calibration or even what other parts that are needed?

You need a GT1 to do ride height calibration.
No other parts needed when you replace the strut, unless other parts are broken, of course.

what is a GT1?

That's the system the dealer uses to diagnose/code/program the X. Now the dealers have a newer system.

Some of us bought the "laptop GT1":

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...aptop-gt1.html

Gotta love this site. Exactly what is happening to me now. Front driver side is low. Help me catch up here - what do I need? I also have full aftermarket warranty let's see how this works. I can bring to dealer but if I know what it is I can have my guy in LI do it. Can someone post the required parts)

you could always trade it for a 3.0...

not sure if that was for me but wasn't trying to go that drastic.. i have an aftermarket warranty i might have them test out..

also curious - its strange that it always seems to be the driver side front - maybe BMW needs to handle that.

I just purchased the Arnott shock.... Will be stopping by the dealer on Thursday

Just found out that our 4.8 has a leaky front drivers side air strut. Dealer wants $3000 to change out both front struts! Glad I checked this thread before agreeing to the fix. I'm going to order up the refurb ones and install myself. Seems like this is a very common problem with the X's. Too bad. You'd think BMW would've used better parts. this is a great forum and a great resource for info. Thanks to all!

Very Very common problem for X5's with the air struts. I replaced my front left last month and now I am replacing the front right. The Arnott ones are great deals. No problem using them!