E30 Zone

Hi folks,

Finally found time to work on her and I think I am going mad . I'm in the middle of a front axle refresh and putting the struts back together.

I've purchased B4's and new Meyle mounts (replaced all the washers etc too)

When assembled, I can feel play in the strut mount. Not the bearings, it's between the bushing and the B4 strut. It rocks slightly. It's like the diameter of the strut and mount aren't the same.

Any experience here? Should there be play? I don't think so.

Note: I haven't fully torqued them down/fitted to the vehicle. It was a test fit and wanted to check before continuing to assemble.

I don't think they have ever been the tightest fit between the thread and the bush, when it is torqued down correctly it should be fine.

If you think about it all the forces are up and down and there are no real sideways forces on the strut top.

monkeyboy1979 wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:55 am

Hi folks,

Finally found time to work on her and I think I am going mad . I'm in the middle of a front axle refresh and putting the struts back together.

I've purchased B4's and new Meyle mounts (replaced all the washers etc too)

When assembled, I can feel play in the strut mount. Not the bearings, it's between the bushing and the B4 strut. It rocks slightly. It's like the diameter of the strut and mount aren't the same.

Any experience here? Should there be play? I don't think so.

Note: I haven't fully torqued them down/fitted to the vehicle. It was a test fit and wanted to check before continuing to assemble.

I had a similar issue in the summer when fitting BMW M-tech front inserts on mine (31321130067). They were actually just yellow B6's with a BMW label, albeit 3 x's the price of regular Bilsteins, but they had to come from Germany so couldn't return them.

But either way they did not fit the 45mm strut correctly. Iirc the shape at the end of insert was different to what came out, so I was getting a lot of play and clunking between the insert and the top cap of the strut. In the end I had to put some washers down the strut to make it a tight fit. I never had this problem with a pair of B4's I bought 10 or so years ago, but might be a thing now.

Thanks for this folks - finally got her off the stands and all seems good now. No knocks etc.