Pulling front struts off, any special tools needed?

[Ernest]

Hello all,

I have a 94 325i, and I see that one of the fronts struts is leaking. I prefer to change both the fronts together, I presume these are original parts so they are a little old. I have no garage or power tools, so I am thinking to just pull the whole front strut/hub/spring off, and take it to a shop to take the springs off from the strut, and compress it back onto the new struts I will buy. Does this sound right? Or on this car, when removing the struts, do they fall free of the strut? I can't really tell by looking at it. Also, just to verify, there are no special tools to removing these from the car, correct? Just jack up the car, put it on jackstands, loosen the bolts, and remove the strut?

Thanks guys, any help is appreciated.

-Ernest-

[Doby]

The struts are held on with 6 bolts. 2 18mm at the bottom, 1 18mm bolt in the middle and 3 13mm nuts at the top. Once you get them off, just take them to a local shop that can compress the spring and put the strut hat off. Unless you have an impact gun, getting the top 22or19mm nut off the top is a pita.

[Ernest]

Thanks, those are the details I love! I think you are right, the more I look at the middle and the spring, the more likely I am to take the struts out and hand it to someone to pop off and replace. Putting it in seems like a piece of cake.

[mlytle]

just make sure the shop DOES NOT USE AN IMPACT GUN to put the top nut back on.

and if you are getting new struts, some are easier to do than others. bilstein are plug 'n play easy. koni's require cutting your own strut to accomodate the koni cartridge.

i just replaced all four shock/struts on my street e36 m3 last week. (after 48k miles, the stock ones were completely shot.) i put in bilstein sports. took me 4 hours from roll car into shop to roll out. street cars are a pita to work on compared to race cars!

[Doby]

IIRC the koni's for the standard 3 series are also plug and play.