# Suspension and wheel arch overhaul with Bilt Hamber



## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

One of the jobs on the 'summer list' was to put the new eibach springs in the front suspension. Back in the depths of winter I had a rear coil spring snap which is a common occurrence on the E46 330, fortunately they are a piece of cake to replace and so the job was done on a freezing Saturday afternoon in February. Not wanting to freeze any further, I decided to put the front back until summer.

After seeing the state of the rear shock bodies, the job of painting the shock absorber bodies was also added to the summer list.

The suspension is in a good condition, with the shock absorbers working perfectly and so I decided not to renew them just yet and instead, derust and paint them.

So the first part of the job was to replace the front springs and being a detailer at heart, I could not let it go back together without some TLC.

Starting off, looks a bit grubby and rusty...



















With the shock towers out, I could see we had a fair bit of surface rust to deal with...





































After a clean up with Bilt Hamber Surfex HD 10 parts water to 1 part Surfex HD, I then sanded down the bodies with some wet and dry to remove excess rust and prepare the surface...










The brackets which hold brake and various sensor cables looked badly corroded so into a bath of Bilt Hamber Deox C they went.










I had originally intended to use Bilt Hamber Electrox on the shock bodies, but I quickly realised that would be less than ideal as alot of the paint was still intact and Electrox ideally goes straight onto metal, I therefore switched my plans at the last hour and thanks to Alex at Elite Car Care, I had some Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 delivered within 24 hours of ordering, top service!

So I now applied the Hydrate 80 which is a product which arrests the rust and provides a lovely surface to paint onto.










I applied one layer of Hydrate 80, waited 30 minutes and then applied another and left to dry for 24 hours. The packaging says you can coat after 3 hours, but 24 hours is ideal.

After the Hydrate 80 had cured I then topped with some Satin Black










I was really rather pleased with the outcome










I then put the shock towers back together, I had some new top mounts and other new bits to accompany the new springs...










By the time all that was done, the brackets had been derusted and I went on to paint them with some Electrox and then a silver top coat










Whilst the shock towers were curing with the Hydrate 80, I set about replacing the front anti roll bar bushes with some powerflex units. Whilst I was doing that I noticed a fair bit of corrosion and so the whole unit came off the car and I treated the roll bar to the Hydrate 80 treatment also...



















Along side that I treated the hub to some Hydrate 80 and a top coat of Rustoleum black, unfortunately I couldn't remove the dust shield on the hub as it wraps around the entire hub and so the only way to full remove would be to remove the hub and bearing.

I decided to work around the dust shield and get to as much of the corroded hub as I could...



















I also cleaned up the brake discs a bit as they were looking a bit grubby, I do have a job later in summer to repaint the calipers and so I'll deal with the brake discs properly then...










With everything back together again, the car was looking a bit smarter...




























This lead me nicely onto the rear where I had some corroded shock absorber bodies to deal with and some new M3 top mounts to install, along with powerflex anti roll bar bushes.

I used the same method with the shock absorbers, degrease and rub down followed by Hydrate 80. One of the shock absorbers was particularly corroded...



















After the Hydrate 80 you can see how well it covers the rust, this is pre top coat...



















The arches were an absolute disgrace and so were throughly cleaned with Surfex HD



















This is from the lip of the arch!




























I got everything spotless and filled the lip of the arch with Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 cavity wax for extra winter protection.

The shocks were finished with two coats of satin black and assembled with the new top mounts...



















I then put everything back together again.



















All in all, the addition of the Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 to my BH collection was a welcome one, it seemed to do exactly what was advertised which is just what I have come to expect from BH. Recommended!

One of my summer jobs out of the way, just have calipers, new stainless brake hoses, treating the subframe rust spots and Aquartz application to go! :buffer:


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

Wow, great to see. thanks for this as I am on the verge of almost exactly the same work as one of my rear schnitzer shocks has bitten the dust (dont even ask the price of replacements for a pair) and am going to do the springs as well whilst I am in there. Also have a couple of breaks in the arch rust treatment which is just starting to show and was plumbing for the BH stuff so good to see a proper job and the recommendation of this kit.

Will also be buying some M3 Convertible top bushing as well as I was advised these were the strongest BMW parts available and should there not cause cracking of the strut mount as I have heard some of the aftermarket bushes do as they simply transfer the load to the strut mount.

Could you tell me if you used the Convertible or Coupe M3 bushes.


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## 03OKH (May 2, 2009)

Nice write up :thumb:


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

I was thinking that's a lot of work removing the front struts just to paint them and then I spotted the new Eibach springs! 

Nice work and attention to detail and glad to see you also took the time to renew bushings and top mounts. :thumb:

How does the car sit and feel on the new springs?

Alan W


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

ALANSHR said:


> Wow, great to see. thanks for this as I am on the verge of almost exactly the same work as one of my rear schnitzer shocks has bitten the dust (dont even ask the price of replacements for a pair) and am going to do the springs as well whilst I am in there. Also have a couple of breaks in the arch rust treatment which is just starting to show and was plumbing for the BH stuff so good to see a proper job and the recommendation of this kit.
> 
> Will also be buying some M3 Convertible top bushing as well as I was advised these were the strongest BMW parts available and should there not cause cracking of the strut mount as I have heard some of the aftermarket bushes do as they simply transfer the load to the strut mount.
> 
> Could you tell me if you used the Convertible or Coupe M3 bushes.


Mine is an E46 330i Sport Saloon, so the saloon bushes.

The front anti roll bar bushes weren't too bad to install, polyurethane doesn't have much give in it, not like rubber does, the rear roll bar bushes on the other hand were alot of fun and games.

I ended up sawing off about 1-2 mm as they were just too big to fit properly. I lined the units up along side the rubber and they were definately too big. After the modification they fitted, but with some struggling.

The car definately feels tighter with the new bushes, I lubed them up with copper grease and so I get no squeaks either.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Alan W said:


> I was thinking that's a lot of work removing the front struts just to paint them and then I spotted the new Eibach springs!
> 
> Nice work and attention to detail and glad to see you also took the time to renew bushings and top mounts. :thumb:
> 
> ...


I would never have removed the shock units unless I was doing the springs, the pinch bolts on the bottom are a known nightmare, lots of people sheer them off.

I sprayed them liberally with Bilt Hamber Ferrosol which is awesome at this sort of job and it really did help. I managed to free them without too much fun.

I have the msport suspension on my 330 and I like the ride height, with the Audi A4 I had coilovers and really it looked good, but I had to be really careful not to hit speed humps and other things, the 330 m sport does ride higher, but it suits me perfectly, fortunately it rides pretty much identically to the msport suspension with eibach pro springs.

The pro springs definately improve the ride too, the car rides very well indeed.


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

mmm, mine is a saloon 330 SE with lots of schnitzer goodies but was told that the Convertible M3 units are the ones to go for (slightly more robust than the Coupe, apparently) and are a straight fit (supposedly, they fit straight on E30s as well and probably E36 rears) according to Rossiter's. I think I will have a word with my friendly BMW Tech to check this out before purchase.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Realoem is a good site for working out part numbers and such like, I always find the US BMW sites very good for OEM enhancements too, generally because they tend to work on cars themselves more than we do.

Worth looking at sites like e46fanatics, bimmerfest and bimmerforums


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## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

looks a very good job, did you remove the BMW stickers on the shock bodies when your sprayed them satin black and then re-apply or did you mask them up when spraying?


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

ant_s said:


> looks a very good job, did you remove the BMW stickers on the shock bodies when your sprayed them gloss black and then re-apply or did you mask them when spraying?


I masked them, they were stuck solid and I quite like the OEM details :thumb:


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## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

Ok thought so, they didn't look as thought they had been re-applied, and me two. To me it makes a big difference seeing the OEM stickers, specially now the shocks look new again


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## O`Neil (Aug 13, 2007)

Nice to have something a little different to read up on, makes it rather interesting.

A quality job too


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## rockape (Feb 18, 2007)

just bought a 325 ci m sport already had the eibach pro kit fitted. ride is perfect.

neil, it's worth greasing the rear brake pipes where they enter the caliper, yours looked ok, but they are prone to corrosion.


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Great job Neil :thumb:.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

rockape said:


> just bought a 325 ci m sport already had the eibach pro kit fitted. ride is perfect.
> 
> neil, it's worth greasing the rear brake pipes where they enter the caliper, yours looked ok, but they are prone to corrosion.


Thanks for the comments all, yes your right, brake pipes are a concern, the fronts are pretty good, the backs aren't too bad but you can feel the first signs of corrosion and they are a ***** to replace as you have to drop the fuel tank.

In late August I have another week dedicated to the car and I have some stainless steel Goodridge brake hoses to go on, one of my plans is to paint some Dynax UB onto the brake pipes and squirt some Dynax S50 on the bits I can't get to with the extensible wand applicator.

Just finished adding Powerflex FCABs today too, car is really driving well, I am pleased.


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## Phil H (May 14, 2006)

very nice Neil! i miss my BM!


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## GlynRS2 (Jan 21, 2006)

Top work Neil - the longer you own the car, the better it gets :thumb:


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Nice write up mate, I love Bilt Hamber :thumb:


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Great work there Neil mate :thumb: Definitely looks loads better, and loving the attention to detail with the stickers - a man after my own heart ).

Look forward to the next chapter...


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## Crook2001 (Jul 20, 2010)

good stuff all round


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Awesome job, would really like to try this stuff on my car. :thumb:


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Its most pleasing and rewarding, I find fixing rust the most rewarding thing these days, love the BH!


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Nice one Neil, thanks for sharing :thumb:


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

Cracking work there mate, along the lines of what I want to do to mine.


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## Trophy#185 (Jan 28, 2008)

Awesome write up and ideal for whe I get my dampers refurbed cos I'm looking to clea them up same time  thanks


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