I think you should order and make the detailed DIY before me;) haha. I am still on the fence about installing it myself. I am replacing all of the front end bushings at the same time. So, the X is basically getting a face lift. Cant wait!!! I'm just not sure that I am interested in working in my garage when it is 110 plus. I live in Phoenix and it is the heart of the summer. It might be worth the money for my comfort just to have my shop install the parts. I am replacing all the bushings. I am using Lemfoerder, Febi, and meyle HD bushings for the thrust arms (all ordered from autohausaz.com). My lower control arm bushing on the drivers side is completely shot so I figured it would be worth while just to do everything at once.

LOL!! Sounds like you know about parts though. I don't know half of what you just said. :) I know those Phoenix summers are "tourch"er! I lived in Tempe/Mesa/Chandler for 16 years before moving to El Paso. You can come here help me with mine and then I will come there and help you with yours. We are only 7 hours away. :)

Front Air suspension
 

This is exactly what happens to mine.

Here's another thing that makes me curious. Ok, so I know I have a leak on my front eft since I did the soap and water test. It so happens that something triggered the "SELF LEVEL SUSP INACT" error. I have a GT1 to reset this but i decide to just leave it there. With the self level suspension inactive, it seems my suspension does not fall overnight as it does when self level is active. I've left it for a week sitting in the garage and there is no noticable hat gives?

I just got the X back!! I had a local shop install all the parts. I replaced the front left air strut with a refurbished one from Arnott. I also replaced all the bushings up front. I used the meyle HD bushings for the thrust arms. The X definitely needs an alignment. So far, it drives like brand new!!! I cant wait to get a true feel for how it drives after the alignment.

Second day of new air strut and all front end bushings. I took the X to the dealership for an alignment this morning. The front end definitely feels tight and responsive!! However, i feel like when the car is tracking straight the steering wheel is slightly to the left. I am going to drive the car for another day or two and see if anything changes with the parts breaking in. Or it is possible that it still needs further adjustment. Anyone have similar experiences to this after replacing front end bushings?

do you have a link to the bushings?

I went back to the dealership this afternoon to have it put back on the rack to re-align it. They fixed it and the car is aligned now. Both the wheels and steering wheel. They said the machine needed re-callibration??? I don't know if I believe that... But either way the X is back and drives great!!!

I bought all bushings from autohausaz.com
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It is my understanding that you need to depressurinzing the air strut before removing the strut for replacement. How does one go about depressurinzing the air strut? Unfortunately the arnott site doesn't have any instructions on the x5.

Ambro.

I ordered the air strut from arnott for my right front. The front left i previously ordered and installed a month ago was in perfect condition. This one for the right side that arrived today is in unsatisfactory condition. It has rust all along the bottom, sounds like there is water in the air strut cylinder and the top mount plate is entirely different. It looks like it was fabricated and does not have a guide pin and it has a different outlet for the air supply hose. Has any one experienced this with their air struts from arnott? I am going to have them send me a new one and send this one back. I am not comfortable installing this one and am a little surprised they sent it to me in this condition.

AZ keep us updated on how arnott handles this very unsatisfactory condition. I need to replace my left side strut but now I am having second thoughts about them after your post. My car only has 46K miles on it and doesn't have a spec of rust. I can't imagine replacing my almost new (with the exception of the leak) with a strut that has many more miles and is not in similar condition. This is the reason why I was actually considering shipping them my strut, having them repair it and shipping it back to me.

Ambro