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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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#211 ·
Thanks for the appreciation guys!

OK, did another 100 miles today and everything still going well. Did some serious hard driving over some of the bumpiet and twisty country roads I have ever been over - brilliant.

If these things don't leak you guys are going to be very very happy.

Sal
 
#212 ·
600 miles done.

No leaks but I've got a small issue which has been there from the start but I thought it might be in my head.

When going right hand bends the car seems to roll more than when going round left hand bends. It just seems to be flatter on lhd bends.

It could just be me!

My springs are brand new on all four corners.

Is there a certain way up the springs need to be? I might well have put one the wrong way round when putting the suspension back together.

As far as the dampers themselves are concerned there are no issues so far. That's not to say they will last as long as the brand new ones, only time will tell that.

As far as the short term is concerned it's all looking good.

Sal
 
#213 ·
Good stuff Sal, I think I remember reading that the springs should only be fitted one way round, although I could be completely wrong. Glad to hear the dampers are going well, any observations on the difference between p & s ??
Regarding longevity, I don't see why they wouldn't last as long as new oem units if the original failure is due to a blown seal as I would imagine Mikes guy uses good quality seals / components so, hopefully they're as least as good as the boge equivalents.
keep on trucking......
 
#214 ·
The rears are still fine too. As for longevity, the seals are far superior than the stock units so leaking units should be less of an issue than with stock units (with the exception of the 1995 units which had similar seals to the ones now being used)
 
#215 ·
Phil,

The difference between s and p mode is substantial.

Over the last few months I haven't driven my M5 and have been driving other cars with quite stiff suspension, I'd forgot how soft the P mode was and in S mode it's almost too hard over uneven surfaces.

I'm still anxious to find out if the springs need to be fitted in a certain way.

As for the seals, when I went to pick up the dampers the company rebuilding them showed me how the origional top metal cover trapped alot of crap and this could have damaged the seals. The new cover (Which is screw on) should keep that area alot cleaner which should help protect the seals.

As I said, only time will tell but I myself am confident these will be good.

Sal
 
#218 ·
Could someone please tell me if the springs need to be fitted a certain way up because I need to look into this.

Also, is there anyone inbetween Luton and London who has a car with good EDC which I can compare against? Preferably a car with 18" MP's.

Sal
 
#233 ·
Could someone please tell me if the springs need to be fitted a certain way up because I need to look into this.

Also, is there anyone inbetween Luton and London who has a car with good EDC which I can compare against? Preferably a car with 18" MP's.

Sal

I think I live a bit too far north of Luton, to make meeting for a short roadtest sensible. I have Absolutely no idea if my EDC are good or not. There is a noticable difference between P and S, but.....I have driven any others, so have nothing to compare to.

Still, if I can help, PM me.
 
#222 ·
800 miles done now.

No leaks.

I really need to drive another M5 to see if the damping is similar.

So far I can only comment on leaks. I need some sort of comparison to see if the damping is the same.

The first set of dampers had the completely wrong damping so we really need an idea if these are upto scratch in this area.

Sal
 
#223 ·
To find out what the shocks are like we need 20 -30 cars fitted with the re-builds.

Just one or two cars as samples are pretty much meaning less.

I might take a long bend with 50 mph and recon the shocks are fine, when one of you lot takes the very same bend with 75 mph and find the road holding is pure.

You may have the saloon, where I have an Touring..

The list could go on and on.

So the only way to find out is to have loads of cars going around on these re-builds.

Then the feed-back could give some pointers if as an example 50% report a harsh ride or something like that.

Just my 2 cents

Regards

Raz
 
#224 ·
It's harder than we think!

To find out what the shocks are like we need 20 -30 cars fitted with the re-builds.

Just one or two cars as samples are pretty much meaning less.

I might take a long bend with 50 mph and recon the shocks are fine, when one of you lot takes the very same bend with 75 mph and find the road holding is pure.

You may have the saloon, where I have an Touring..

The list could go on and on.

So the only way to find out is to have loads of cars going around on these re-builds.

Then the feed-back could give some pointers if as an example 50% report a harsh ride or something like that.

Just my 2 cents

Regards

Raz



I think there's merit in Raz' argument...though i don't quite agree that the current experiment with our willing "guinea pig" Sal is meaningless....Raz don't forget that these guy's are taking their valuable time and resources to help solve the never-ending damper issue :byebye: .

There are numerous issues involved in using a wider sample grouping, issues that may not be right to thrust on Mike..i don't really know:dunno: ....just my thoughts from a far off land.

Whichever way it goes, once again you're all doing a great job on this :cheers:

Erik
 
#225 ·
It was never my intension to discount the afford and time spend by Sal in any way. :cheers:
We as M5 Drivers know only too well how difficult it can be just to source some minor parts, and the EDC issue is causing problems (for many of us) since years.:sad3:

BMW is happy to re-build some £130 worth of Water pump.

To re-build a £600 rear shock is not possible.

Considering that just 6 or 7 of our cars produced a turnover in excess of 1Mio. German Marks for BMW at the time, we get treated like (insert as required)..:grrrrr:

Regards
RAZ
 
#226 ·
It was never my intension to discount the afford and time spend by Sal in any way. :cheers:
We as M5 Drivers know only too well how difficult it can be just to source some minor parts, and the EDC issue is causing problems (for many of us) since years.:sad3:

BMW is happy to re-build some £130 worth of Water pump.

To re-build a £600 rear shock is not possible.

Considering that just 6 or 7 of our cars produced a turnover in excess of 1Mio. German Marks for BMW at the time, we get treated like (insert as required)..:grrrrr:

Regards
RAZ

your answer is in the text. why Füäögg customers over once when you can do it twice? :thumbsup:
 
#228 ·
I have to agree with both Raz and Erik - that the sample size is small albeit it needs to start somewhere and we're all thankful for Sal's and Mike's time and effort:M5thumbs:

As mentioned in my previous posting - I've a well-worn spare set lying around (front and back) awaiting rebuild and don't mind being a guinea pig here for the North American side of things!


Anyhow, lemme know?


Best Regards,
Mark
 
#229 ·
Each and every rebuilt damper is tested on a dyno so the damping is going to be exactly the same. If a damper does not meet the standards set then it doesn't go out.

The amount of oil or what ever goes inside is gong to be exactly the same (otherwise this would also show in the dyno results).

We then just come down to oen factor - the seals.

I do not think these seals are going to leak and will last as long as the origional ones if not longer.

The above is as I understand it, I might be missing something out.


Sal
 
#230 ·
No, that's correct. The fronts are tuned until they match the damping rate of the good low mileage unit you provided, the fluid level/air gap is the same for all units and the units are then run for a couple of hours on the dyno. As for the seals, the ones being used now are a 3 lip design, the stock top seal is a single lip
 
#231 ·
I assume there's not been any leaks since our last update?
 
#236 ·
Great stuff gents :applause:

I've been away from the board for a while as my M5 has been laid up in my garage for the last 18 months awaiting some TLC and a gearbox rebuild.

I'm sure it'd benefit from new dampers too so this is great news!

I have one spare rear damper not showing any leaks if of use?

Cheers,
Bryn.
 
#239 ·
2500 km now completed today.

I am racking up some serious mileage now and have used up nearly 1/3rd of my total allowable mileage under my classic car policy

Driving has been varied, fast motorway, fast A and B roads (very twisty ones) and in town driving.

No leaks, the dampers are working fine and the difference in P and S mode is substantial.

I did have a few concerns in the beginning but these turned out to be nothing to do with the dampers but an electrical fault which was affecting EDC operation.

Thanks
Sal
 
#241 ·
hi all,

first post.
I just bought a daytona violet Touring. It is in good condition, however, I wonder when the suspension components might need to be replaced.

I am glad that I have found this thread and would be more than happy to take the opportunity and have them renewed if needed.

I live in Budapest, Hungary, so the shipping costs might be considerable, still, a lot less than buying new dampers for a fortune.

When do you think you will take orders?

thanks
adam
 
#242 ·
Any updates on things?

I'd love to get my fronts re-built rather than pay big $ for a set of new ones. Especially if these re-builds will be matched and have better seals.

Not to mention the fact that the possibility of different valving sounds great. 10% softer on the soft valving would be quite nice with the less than ideal roads we have around here...
 
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