INSTALL FRONT SUSPENSION
1. Raise the front of the vehicle and place on jack stands at the jack points. Remove BOTH front wheels.
2. If you are working on the right side of the vehicle and you have Xenon headlamps, be sure to detach
the leveler switch. Use 2 10mm wrenches to remove the nut and pull the bolt out of the switch lever (Photo A).
3. Use a 17mm wrench to remove the anti-roll bar linkage from the shock (Photo B). You will need to use
another wrench to hold the nut behind the shock as you remove the outside nut.
4. Place a jack under the control arm to keep it from dropping too far. Remove the 18mm nut from the lower shock
clamp (Photo C).
5. Grab a hold of the spring on the shock and twist it back and forth to work it out of the lower clamp. It
may help to spray some lubricant down into the clamp to help it work free. When it does, the entire brake/spindle
assembly will drop fast, be ready for it (Photo D)!
6. I used a bungee cord to hold the spindle up in place to keep strain off the brake lines.
7. Open the hood. While your assistant holds the shock, remove the 3 13mm nuts from the shock tower
and remove the entire shock assembly (Photo E).
8. Now, we disassemble the shock. Attach spring compressors and compress the spring to relieve pressure on
the shock assembly upper mount. This can be very dangerous as these springs are under considerable pressure. Be
EXTREMELY careful here (Photo F)!
9. Once the spring is able to move about the shock will some free play, remove the 21mm nut from the top of
the shock (Photo G). If you did not compress the spring enough, this nut is all that is keeping the shock from
flying apart with severe force. Once you have the nut removed, you can pull the shock cover off and remove the spring.
10. Place the spring in a vise and slowly remove the compressors, you'll need them for the new spring. Once
removed, you will see how much those OEM springs were compressed and why it is dangerous to remove them.
11. Reattach the spring compressors on the new Bilstein spring. These springs are much smaller and barely need to be
compressed at all, but it helps. Again, make sure the Bilstein lettering is upright.
12. Mount the new shock (make sure you use the correct new shock - left/right) into a vise and place the
compressed spring over the shock. You should have already installed the lock nut, spring plate, and blue plastic
ring on the shock in pre-assembly. If not, do it now before you install the new spring. Again, the lower the spring
plate nut on the shock, the lower the car.
13. Replace the rubber insulator and spring cup (Photo H). Then install the washer, bearing cap, and swivel cap.
14. Line the spring up with the indent in the rubber insulator and indent in the spring cup. The new shock
comes with a 22mm nut to replace the OEM 21mm nut. Tighten to 47 ft-lbs.
15. Slowly begin to loosen the spring compressor and make sure the spring end stays in the indent as you go.
Here is a finished shock assembly with a closeup of the indent (Photo I).
16. Remove the shock from the vise and return it to the car. Have your assistant push the assembly back up
into the shock tower and loosely reattach the 3 nuts.
17. Using the jack to raise the control arm, slide the shock into the lower clamp. Make sure it seats all the
way down into the clamp. The end of the shock should barely come out of the bottom of the clamp.
18. Making sure the anti-roll bar linkage mount is vertical with the car, insert the clamp bolt back thru
the brake line holder and into the clamp and tighten it down.
19. It will be easier to return the anti-roll bar linkage to its mount once you have completed the both sides.
20. Tighten the 3 shock tower nuts and you can start the other side (Photo J). Tighten to 18 ft-lbs.
21. After both shocks are installed, fasten the anti-roll bar linkages into place. Tighten to 44 ft-lbs. Also, be sure to reattach the Xenon leveler switch if needed.
If you have the PSS9 kit, your adjustment knob will stick out below the lower clamp (Photo K). You can adjust as
desired. Be sure to replace the protective boot over the knob to keep dirt out.
Here is my 330i right after the PSS9 install (Photo L), and here she is with the 18"s, SWAY BARBARIANS, and
after alignment, balance, and tuning (Photo M).
If you have any questions about this install, feel free to
EMAIL ME.
