[REKIII]

So after some debating I am going to completely redo the underside of the 130K mile M5. I've done a bunch of searching and found a lot of useful info.

Over the past 2 years I've done the following regarinding suspension drivetrain:

Freshened trans (replaced every replaceable part on it)
UUC V12 clutch
new guibo
Dinan rear end
KW Var3 suspension
Dinan F&R sways
Brastpower Rear sway brackets

Now I'm planning on doing the following:

Replace all suspension consumables, utilizing a kit like:
BMW E39 540i M5 FRONT REAR Control Arm Suspension Kit - eBay (item 140488484494 end time Feb-07-11 11:29:07 PST)
BBK
New Wheel Bearings
Debating on the F&R monoballs available here and from Dinan
New Driveshaft

Any other recomendations? What are the differences in the ebay kits?
Anyone have a good source for a Driveshaft?

Any other tips, suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[feeblebob]

Very thorough! Like it.

The monoballs, I've looked for these and thought they were no longer available, is this not the case?

 

[chops]

Im think of doing the same with regards to the ebay kit but i had asked on here before and apparently the quality isnt that great.

If i remember correctly i googled the brand and got people moaning about them, i think theres is even a youtube clip of someone showing then thrust arm bent after only 1000 miles or someting like that.

I may be completely wrong and getting mixed up with another brand so please take this with a pinch of salt.

 

[Viperboss7]

what do you think of the UUC clutch? Do you have the lightened flywheel as well? I have 117K on my M5 and have kept it up as well. Not sure yet but I think my clutch may be going and am looking at options.

 

[getbent]

I recently replaced all the links & ball joints

I finished up refreshing the rear suspension about 2 weeks ago (waiting on the weather to turn a little warmer before going after the front end). My two cents:

- I'd stick with Lemforder (OEM) for the links. I've seen some postings about people complaining about other brands failing prematurely. That may just be failure to pre-load the suspension, but I figured the OEM parts were maybe $250 +/- more per axle at worst.

- When ordering up the parts, be sure and make note of which ones use self-locking nuts and order new ones. I basically replace every nut and bolt as well as the links. Maybe overkill, but some of them were pretty crusty and who wants to risk anything for a $1 part?

- Not sure of your mileage, but I was surprised to see both ball joints & the swaybar links were pretty much shot on my car. 56k miles and not a lot of abuse and no track time. There wasn't any visual indication of failure (no obvious leaks or cracks) and I wasn't able to get much movement when hand checking the wheel. That said they were all shot, very loose and wobbled.

- There are a number of DIYs out there and I found that none of this is really that hard to do. I'd recommend getting the actual ball joint tool as I've seen/heard that the C-clamp type ones can be a real pain.

- Don't forget to pre-load the suspension before torquing the final time. You'll kill the joints if you don't.

Good luck.

 

[REKIII]

Viperboss - I love the UUC clutch and yes I have the lightened flywheel. When the car is warm and the car is in neutral with the pedal out, it does sound like a diesle, it is crazy the sound it makes. But if you raise the RPM a bit the sound goes away entirely. It grips good and has really good feel. My stock clutch lasted 110K, so I was in the same place you were.

getbent - Thanks for the tips. i've been reading a lot of the DIY's here and pretty much deceded on the lemforder bits. You think pelican is the best place to buy them? Also, I have the balljoints on my list now. I was debating based on the difficulty, but decided I should just do it. Thanks for the note on the bolts. i probably would have forgotten about them, but agree, replacing them makes life a lot easier. Did you do any additional greasing or antisiezing during your reassembly?

Thanks!

 

[mattmartindrift]

eactuning.com and autohausaz.com have great deals on lemforder arms, too.

 

[M5 London]

REKIII : As mentioned above by getbent, buy ONLY Lemforder. Leave the imitation arms and bushes to the 523i E39

Lemforder is part of the ZF Group, along with Sachs and Boge so you can try to buy through them directly, or anyone who supplies Lemforder really. When you buy Lemforder arms you can sometimes actually see they have scratched out the BMW logo.

Try this : WebCat 3

 

[jgfabs]

REKIII : As mentioned above by getbent, buy ONLY Lemforder. Leave the imitation arms and bushes to the 523i E39

Lemforder is part of the ZF Group, along with Sachs and Boge so you can try to buy through them directly, or anyone who supplies Lemforder really. When you buy Lemforder arms you can sometimes actually see they have scratched out the BMW logo.

Try this : WebCat 3

Cheers for the Webcat3 link!

 

[getbent]

I bought most of the stuff from pelican when I did this

...but shop around. I've bought stuff from eac, autohaus and pelican - no problems with any of them so probably just see who has the best price on the various bits. And yes, definately do the ball joints at the same time since you'll have all the stuff apart anyway.

 

[getbent]

Oh and no, didn't use any anti-lock or greasing

For the most part I found that the nuts & bolts came off with a breaker bar and correct size sockets. A lot of guys will say not to put anything (thread lock or anti-lock) on any of the threads as it tends to mess up torque values. If you end up using new fasteners they you really won't need it. The really large nuts (the one that goes thru the balljoint & integral link) are fairly easy to get a torque wrench on so just follow the specs and you'll be fine. Unfortunately there are some places like the swaybar nuts where you just have to try and remember how hard it was to undo and then tighten that much by hand.

The two hardest things to undo for me were:

- swaybar nuts - they were pretty rusty so had to soak w/ PB Blaster. Also need two thin 16mm wrenches. One to undo the nut and one to counterhold the threaded part of the link (otherwise it just spins). There's maybe enough room for 1/8 turn at a time so takes a while.

- snap rings on the ball joint. Both were pretty much fused on there. Again, soaked w/ PB blaster and then used a thin screwdriver to get them started and vise grips to rip them off (you'll destroy them taking them off, but the ball joints should come with new ones).

 

[magisnyc]

Stupid question regarding pre-loading the suspension... for those of us without access to a lift, is it sufficient to have the car on ramps when tightening suspension components?

 

[getbent]

Typically you use a floor jack

Before you take the car apart, have a couple friends sit in the front seats, one in the back and toss your clubs in the trunk. Then measure from the bottom of each wheel hub to the fender lip. After you have the parts in and loosely bolted, take a padded floor jack and jack up under the swing arm until you get the same measurement (or as close as you can). You will find that the car side you are compressing will probably lift off the jack stand on that side (please use wheel chocks to be safe).

After you're done you'll need an alignment. Not sure how anal you want to get, but using this method I was able to get both sides within 1/16 inch of the original measurements.

 

[REKIII]

Thanks for all the great tips and suggestions.

I recently put on Dinan Sways, so those bolts should be good. Do I need to drop the rear struts for any of this? I really don't want to tear apart my rear interior again (after the KW instalL).

Any suggestions on driveshafts?

there are the 2 places I was looking at:

BMW replacement driveshaft, remanufactured BMW driveshaft, BMW drive shaft

Driveline Service - Driveshaft Specialists

Not sure if there are differences, or just go with the one that has the better deal (not looking to get off cheap on any of this, but if the stuff is exactly the same, why not save a few bucks).

Thanks again, you guys are awesome.

Bob

 

[getbent]

No need to mess w/ the struts

Assuming you're not replacing them (and certainly doesn't seem like you'd need to). They won't be in the way when you are doing the links (at least for the rear that is).

Not sure on the driveshaft. You sure that's what your issue is and not something else (flex disk, center bearing, etc).

 

[czarmar]

Thanks for all the great tips and suggestions.

I recently put on Dinan Sways, so those bolts should be good. Do I need to drop the rear struts for any of this? I really don't want to tear apart my rear interior again (after the KW instalL).

Any suggestions on driveshafts?

there are the 2 places I was looking at:

BMW replacement driveshaft, remanufactured BMW driveshaft, BMW drive shaft

Driveline Service - Driveshaft Specialists

Not sure if there are differences, or just go with the one that has the better deal (not looking to get off cheap on any of this, but if the stuff is exactly the same, why not save a few bucks).

Thanks again, you guys are awesome.

Bob

I've used Driveline Service with success. They offer a good service for the price.

 

[REKIII]

Not sure on the driveshaft. You sure that's what your issue is and not something else (flex disk, center bearing, etc).

I replaced the guibo last summer along with every serviceable part in the trans. When everything went back together I had a vibration. It is most certainly the center bearing or wheel bearings. I figured the 120K driveshaft couldn't hurt to be replaced and I'm doing the wheel bearings. It seems that a full driveshaft replacement makes more sense in my instance than just a center bearing swap.