I'm replacing the front and rear shocks and springs on my E30. I decided to tackle the rear first... The speed sensor has been disconnected, the diff has been lowered, the shock-to-trailing arm bolts have been removed, the stabilizer link has been disconnected, and the exhaust brackets/hangers have been disconnected. I've applied downward force on the rear brake/trailing arm in the attempt to take the rear spring out, but no luck. The springs are original and only have 56k, so maybe that's why they're difficult to remove? Any words of wisdom? I hate to have to bust out the die grinder and hack the spring in two... Thanks and happy turkey day! Pat
are you pushing down on the trailing arm yourself? try having someone else stand on the hub, that's what someone on the 318ti forum did when he couldn't get his springs out, the ti and E30 rear suspension is nearly identical so that should apply to your car too
I got it. I released the parking brake and the diff just dropped and removing the springs was a breeze. What was the real pain was fastening the muffler straps back on. Now, onto the fronts. Pat
The Bentley manual has good description how to do both front and back. (And I recall "101 Projects" as having major errors regarding removing the fronts.) Congrats on the rear. I used spring compressors when I did mine. You will definitely need spring compressors for the front and an impact wrench to get the top nut back onto the shock: http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4097
