E46 rear coil springs/ how difficult to do

[TJC46]

Hi guys just had an oil service at my local indie and the car came back with a few advisories. All the pads front and rear need changing within the next few months, no probs with this as a diy job, just which pads and where from? cost etc. Offside rear spring is broke so need to replace as a pair, How difficilt is this job? Again parts where from and how much? thanks Tom.

[pstruck]

I recently paid about 60 quid for a pair of rear springs for my E46. About an hour on the driveway with just a jack, axle stands, 18mm socket and ratchet and a long lever arm and job done.

It's very simple and merel involves jacking it up, removing the wheel, removing the bottom shock absorber bolt. Then pull/puch/lever down the hub assembly until the old spring can be removed. Reverse this procedure for replacement with new spring, making sure the upper and lower rubber spring pads go back how they were.

The levering takes a bit of force, as you're working against the ARB.

[sonnyb]

Last week I had an oil service at a BMW dealership, and guess what, my rear offside spring was broken! They wanted £200 to replace it!
I am not a competent mechanic, but not stupid enough to pay £200 either, so I went to my local garage and had it done for £80.

[pstruck]

If you do get your spanners out and do it yourself, don't get the springs from the dealer. When I phoned they quoted my £190 for the springs alone!

[Craigwww]

Just done both mine at the weekend, adjusting height on aftermarket springs but the process is the same.

It's easy to do but you really need two people, purely to get enough weight/force to push the wishbone down low enouogh to remove the spring. I didn't and struggled for ages before getting inventive and using the BMW scissor jack (in boot) to very good effect. Just becareful if you do this as it slipped at one point and nearly took my head off !

Pic..

[TJC46]

Thanks for all the info done the job tonite in little over an hour.Top tip about using a scissor jack to remove the spring, hardest job was tryin to remove the wheels, talk about stuck on! A slight smear of copper grease should help removal next time, thanks again, Tom.

[8Tech]

I recently did this job on my daughters car and used a set of Eibach springs and OEM 20mm Eastern European rear spring pads. The advantage is that you get the quality and spring rate of the Eibachs but retain the stock rear ride height. As the front lowering is pretty conservative with the high quality Eibachs the car sits and handles great, and all for less than the price of a pair of rears only from the stealers.

8Tech.