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EDC rebuild update

117K views 558 replies 85 participants last post by  AseanAero 
#1 · (Edited)
A few people have been asking me what's going on with this so I thought I'd update everyone

I was sick to death of this on-going EDC drama so a couple of months ago I started to seriously research a solution. After much searching I found a specialist suspension company who had the ability, but more to the point had the will to help us. These guys have many many years of experience with all manner of road and race suspension, they specialise in rebuilding old Ferrari and Lamborghini shocks amongst other things, and the boss is a good guy which is so important in these situations

Bottom line is that he's willing to help us. He currently has 2 front and 2 rear units in pieces and he's sourcing all of the necessary seals and gas sacs. They have the ability to manufacture their own seals if necessary so he's not anticipating any problems. There's nothing complex in the units and he's quite confident he can turn these around for us. Rebuild units would come totally refurbed, repainted and would be tested on their suspension dyno before being released. This is not just a hydraulics company, this is a bona fide suspension specialist who has all of these facilities in house, blast cabinets, dyno etc etc

The plan is the same as it always was, he'll hold a set of refurbed units in stock, people will buy them from him and pay a deposit which they will get back when they return their own units which will be refurbed for the next person

Target price is £100 per rear leg and £150 per front leg inc. VAT :cool:

I should be able to update you again next week. We will need to get him all of the blown units we have as there will be occasions where a solenoid or hardened shaft is too damaged to re-use so he has to salvage parts from another leg. Having said that, they can source the solenoids direct and manufacture their own rods if necessary but it would put the price up dramatically so while there are so many blown units available they might as well be recycled

More info soon :)
 
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#64 ·
Fantastic Mike kinggf

So are next steps that we wait for the guy to post up here, at which point we start shipping the dampers to him??

I also better get searching to find out what else I'll need to refit this to my car - when Kurt put on the AC Schnitzer stuff I think a fair few other bits changed as well .... I know the hubs are different, but I've got the original ones here. Anyway, another thread.
 
#67 ·
I can't wait for longer term real life evaluation. I am very close to doing all this to my "nurburgbooiiiing" suspension.

I have however one very serious question for Mike:

How reliable is this company?
The reason I am asking is that if I go this route, my car will sit on 4 stands while the shocks are being done. I can wait a week or two, but the car is still my wife's daily driver.

Not to sound untrusting, but the Leda thing has left me a bit worried.
 
#68 · (Edited)
I understand your nervousness. There's nothing secret about who is doing it, I just didn't want to announce it until everything was 100% tied up. One of the reasons they are so busy is because they have been lumbered with a lot of the LEDA work after they ceased trading. But they are a very well established specialist suspension company, I spoke to 3 possible companies before I chose them. This extract from their website will give you a bit more of an idea what they are all about

we are the UK sole official sales and service centre for Koni Racing and Special applications dampers and have a fully equipped specialist workshop with factory trained service technicians

They are also based very close to Silverstone and do a hell of a lot of set-up work for race cars

They are the real deal :)
 
#70 · (Edited)
...perhaps we could workout some deal with them where they sell dampers on an exchange basis, assuming they can get a spare set to rotate?
That's exactly what's going to happen, they have several failed units that they are going to re-manufacture for us which will be offered on an exchange basis

I've just got back from a hard 70 mile test drive. I was throwing the car around all sorts of roads in P and S mode. It confirmed my initial feelings yesterday, the car is transformed. The biggest difference is that the P mode now actually works, gone is all of the vague floating, it's now taught and controlled like it should be and inspires a lot of confidence. I had to keep checking what mode I was in :D

As they were rebuilt with the same Boge seals as were fitted originally I'm comfortable that they are going to be ok. I'll talk to the guy in the next couple of days and see what his timescale is for getting a set of fronts done. I can also get my old rears over to him, once this is rolling I'm sure the turnaround time will be very fast as he'll have rebuilt units sat there ready for exchange

Oh, and my front F1's squeal like hell when pushed, can't wait to replace them with PS2's to match the back :cool:
 
#72 ·
I've just done a long email to him, I should be able to update you tomorrow

I'm just trying to nail all the issues before we start so I can do a long post that explains exactly what to do, how to pay, where to send the bits etc etc so it's easy for us and easy for him because he's always busy. If the process is transparent, simple and automated then it will work well for everyone :)
 
#78 ·
This is something great to hear (read), a big thank-you to Mike from Finland too. And while on subject, would it possible to inquire about possibilities of overseas service? I realize that it is far from free to ship all four dampers to GB, but at a cost like this it is almost worth doing.

What it makes is finally worthwhile is the fact that if this rebuild works 100%, the BMW AG has some considerations to do. HAH!
 
#81 · (Edited)
Mike, I have been watching this with great interest and it is great to hear that your guy has come up with the goods. Well done.
I need 2 fronts done, but I do not have old units available, from what you are saying above, I am assuming that without plenty of old doner units it will be hard to get enough parts to service all the rebuilds that may be required??
If that isn't the case what would the turnaround time be to get your own ones rebuilt and returned ? I know you suggested that all things going well, he should have rebuilt ones that would be supplied on an exchange basis - if he doesn't what would the 'forecast' be like?
cheers.
 
#82 ·
No, it won't work like that. You'll order 2 then send your money + £100 deposit per leg. 2 rebuilt units will be sent to you so your car won't be off the road at all. You then quickly fit them and return yours and the £100 per leg will be refunded to you. Your 2 will then be refurbed and sent to the next guy etc etc :)

The idea of getting him lots of units to get started is the more he has the more he can have refurbed sat on the shelf waiting to go out so 2 or 3 people can order at once. There is a degree of trust because at £100 a leg people might not bother to send them back and that would screw it up for everyone, the whole concept relies on a continual flow back to him of blown units. The way to do it is not to order the units until you are ready to fit them so yours can be returned within a week or so to keep the process rolling :cool:
 
#84 ·
As my previous owner removed the EDC i am looking to buy four old legs from Ebay to allow for an exchange. It will be superb to finally enjoy the full M5 experience.

Good work Mike:applause: , i had only briefly considered changing the legs back to EDC but i couldn't justify the cost, I CAN NOW:thumbsup:
 
#90 · (Edited)
This is awesome news!

Finally, this has come to be. Alright, so we're definitely going to do this with the 540i M-Sport's struts, how should I go about this? Contact information?

Thanks a million Mike, you've certainly made quite a contribution to the E34 M5 community with this find!
 
#92 ·
A small update

Not much is going to be happening this week as they are swamped with Le Mans stuff. I managed to have a quick chat to him, he's going to read up on this thread and reply to my long email when he gets a minute free

Repeating what I said before, he's not a great fan of the overpriced basic Boge seals, for the front he's going to try and machine up new seal heads which would allow a 4 lip seal to be used which will be a huge performance jump over the stock unit and make them a lot less prone to going pop. Price guestimates still look just about on-track-ish at £100 a rear and £150 a front

It's a great deal for us all, we're just going to have to be patient for a little bit longer... :)

Oh, and my rears are still perfect after another 100 miles today :cool:
 
#94 · (Edited)
Hi!
I would suggest Mike to be named "M5 community god" hereafter!!!!!! over the avatar

I am located in Norwaym and would very much like four rebuilt ones as fast as possible, I can source 4 used ones and send them in advance if that helps...

Put me down on the waiting list!!!!!

Eternally yours lovelove lovelove lovelove

Sakari
 
#95 ·
Hi!
I would suggest Mike to be named "M5 community god" hereafter!!!!!! over the avatar

I am located in Norwaym and would very much like four rebuilt ones as fast as possible, I can source 4 used ones and send them in advance if that helps...

Put me down on the waiting list!!!!!

Eternally yours lovelove lovelove lovelove

Sakari
ROFL.

I do suggest we compile an 'interested list' though, just so we can give these guys a loose head-count.
 
#97 ·
I breathe a big sigh.. aaaaaahhhhhhhhh

This is wonderful news. If I can help at all I have 5 fronts sitting in my garage at the moment (South coast UK) that have been collected in the last year to try and fix the front EDC. Tip: Don't drive around the Paris ring road at speed with an appartments worth of junk in the back!!

I checked the posting and could not located the name of the company, did I miss this or this intentional to prevent them from being bombarded by pipe smoking M5 geeks?

Regards
Steve Maher
Dec 92 M5 Touring

http://forestlinux.co.uk/touring/
 
#98 ·
This is wonderful news. If I can help at all I have 5 fronts sitting in my garage at the moment (South coast UK) that have been collected in the last year to try and fix the front EDC. Tip: Don't drive around the Paris ring road at speed with an appartments worth of junk in the back!!

I checked the posting and could not located the name of the company, did I miss this or this intentional to prevent them from being bombarded by pipe smoking M5 geeks?

Regards
Steve Maher
Dec 92 M5 Touring

http://forestlinux.co.uk/touring/
Hi

They are close to Silverstone and they are swamped. There's no point anyone contacting them until it's set-up so I was trying to save them the inconvenience until we have the system in place. I'll be talking to him on Monday again if I don't hear before

And my rears are STILL fine :D
 
#99 ·
Ok, sorry for the lack of update but something happened and I wanted to see how it played out before I posted. I've been talking to Jon (Company owner) and we have a way forward

What happened was the rear right started to leak. Last Saturday we were changing front suspension arms and while the car was in the air we were going to visually check over the rear shocks. Now the day before the steering had been a bit noisy on lock and I'd topped the reservoir up a bit but I'd assumed that was just the system still finding it's level. When we put the car in the air there was oil all over the rear right unit and on the inside of the tyre. In these situations what looks like gallons of oil can actually be half a litre that has been flung everywhere by the wheel. The car was still driving fine but the wheel was hanging lower on the ramp than the back left so it was obviously unhappy

Spoke to Jon and we were both mystified as all of the seals were new and the shafts were not worn so it was very unexpected. We decided to keep using the car and monitor it and in the meantime get my old rears up to him. Now this was now about 200 miles ago and the leak seems to have stopped, I have just checked the level and it has not changed at all. Because of the seal design my best guess is that somehow a small piece of crap had managed to get between the seal and the shaft and it's now dislodged itself and the seal is again working

From day 1, Jon has hated the stock Boge seal and I did mention that he was able to upgrade it for us. This situation has forced the issue and will probably result in a better final solution for all of us. He has access to a far more sophisticated 3 lipped design that he uses on WP units. The design means that the higher the pressure the more it seals. He is going to have to machine up new seal heads for the fronts anyway as the old ones will be destroyed so now he is simply going to make new seal heads for the rears which will enable him to use the uprated seals there too. Typically the front and rear diameter differ by 2mm, but it's no biggie for him to manufacturer 2 different sizes

This week he's swamped with Goodwood and next week he's taking his first weeks holiday in 5 years (really :D) so it's still going to be 2 weeks away. But the fronts are being worked on as we speak and he'll rebuild my old rears with the new seal design as soon as he gets back. I know it's a bit frustrating for those desperate for units but this was the purpose of road testing the rears, to deal with exactly the problem that has arisen. In the meantime I'll continue to use the car and keep an eye on the fluid level, but even if they are fine all rebuilt units will now use the new WP design seal. His greatest fear is sending a set out to the States or Oz and them have them fail, he simply doesn't get this problem with the units he builds and getting away from this Boge seal is in his eyes a huge step forward

You can see what's going to happen here, can't you? You'll all be cruising around with your uprated WP units and I'll be stuck with my intermittently leaking Boge seals waiting for them to go pop, bloody typical :D

I'll keep you updated :)
 
#102 ·
It's a pain in the *** but it needs to be right, bearing in mind where they could be sent to. The guy continues to impress me, it's how problems are handled that really shows you what a guy's made of and he's got a 'can do' attitude. Oh, did I mention he's from California? :)

Forgot to mention, prices are getting closer to being finalised, these aren't 100% set-in-stone yet and there may be some slight slippage if more work is needed on either type of leg, but at the moment it's inline with initial estimates at £97.50 per rear leg and £148.50 per front leg, plus vat and shipping per unit, plus deposit per unit until yours is sent back (probably £100 a leg, subject to increase if it's abused :))
 
#103 ·
Awesome news. I'm just glad to see something actually in the works.
 
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