[Rafichicago]

Hello everyone. I am planning to buy complete struts with springs from LCI competition and would like to install it in my 2018 base model M5. Does anyone here know if this is possible? I am fully aware that part numbers are different. I suppose that physically the part would fit, however does anyone have an idea if electrical harnesses is identical ? Will it work ? I am aware that for LCI suspension for Comp was upgraded with the M8 setup. If anyone has an idea please chime in!

Thank you !

[pbonsalb]

The electrical connectors are pretty simple and sold separately. Look up the part numbers on realoem to see if they are the same. My guess is 90% they are. It’s not that big of a job to just change struts - I just recently changed the springs on mine. But struts are the easy part of suspension work and there is much more to a Comp suspension than just struts.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

The electrical connectors are pretty simple and sold separately. Look up the part numbers on realoem to see if they are the same. My guess is 90% they are. It's not that big of a job to just change struts - I just recently changed the springs on mine. But struts are the easy part of suspension work and there is much more to a Comp suspension than just struts.

I understand that there are more suspension components that differ. I am not trying to make Comp out of non Comp car. My main goal is that what differs the most in LCI Competition is shock spring combination that has been taken from M8 that supposed to be more compliant. From what I understand there is a bigger difference in ride between comfort and sport/sport plus modes I've already brought my bouncy rear axle feel to SA but they said that car performs properly. Since I've found a complete set from LCI Competition I thought I'll give it a try and see what difference does it make. Looking up realoem website now to compare harness' part numbers. However it looks like that the harness is not part of strut itself but rather bolts on to the top of the strut mount so I probably can transfer my current one to the new setup if necessary. But seems like it will work.

[pbonsalb]

I have a 2018 on stock 20” wheels and don’t think my rear axle is bouncy at all. I do think the rear end wiggles side to side to much. I have the Dinan rear toe link kit on order to hopefully remove some of that play. I did change motor mounts to the stiffer Comp mounts, install the Dinan monoball front tension strut bushings, and add H&R M5 springs. I like those changes. I have lighter 20x10 and 11 wheels that I will transfer my tires to in the next week or two and that rear Dinan kit.

Comp also apparently has stiffer swaybar center bushings. These would be easy to change but it looks like they are not sold separately by BMW and I have not yet found an aftermarket source — the shape would have to fit the contours of the BMW bushing carrier.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I have a 2018 on stock 20” wheels and don’t think my rear axle is bouncy at all. I do think the rear end wiggles side to side to much. I have the Dinan rear toe link kit on order to hopefully remove some of that play. I did change motor mounts to the stiffer Comp mounts, install the Dinan monoball front tension strut bushings, and add H&R M5 springs. I like those changes. I have lighter 20x10 and 11 wheels that I will transfer my tires to in the next week or two and that rear Dinan kit.

Comp also apparently has stiffer swaybar center bushings. These would be easy to change but it looks like they are not sold separately by BMW and I have not yet found an aftermarket source — the shape would have to fit the contours of the BMW bushing carrier.

From my experience side to side movement gets more noticeable with tire wear. Happened on my M5 as well as on my E63 wagon. New tires on make night and day difference.

[pbonsalb]

I bought my car CPO with new PS4 and noticed this wiggle then. To me it feels like bushing play. I had this on my E90 M3 and changed to stiffer subframe and diff bushings and the play pretty much disappeared. It’s the weight moving to the opposite side under hard cornering and then springing back over a bit before the suspension seems to settle. I think the F80 M3 used solid subframe bushings. It looks like the F90 has rubber and I have yet to read of anyone changing to stiffer or solid. In the meantime I am hopeful the Dinan rear toe kit helps.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I bought my car CPO with new PS4 and noticed this wiggle then. To me it feels like bushing play. I had this on my E90 M3 and changed to stiffer subframe and diff bushings and the play pretty much disappeared. It’s the weight moving to the opposite side under hard cornering and then springing back over a bit before the suspension seems to settle. I think the F80 M3 used solid subframe bushings. It looks like the F90 has rubber and I have yet to read of anyone changing to stiffer or solid. In the meantime I am hopeful the Dinan rear toe kit helps.

I guess I was thinking about different kind of movement. My M5's rear kind of bounces up and down in a quick manner but it seems like that bump disappears in a split second. It kinda of feels like the suspension tends an extra move to compensate it. I don't know if that's the best way to describe it if you know what I mean. It's not entirely about stiffness of it. More of the way the car's rear end absorption difference from front. The front feels right. The rear definitely leaves much to be desired in this particular case.

[pbonsalb]

Do you notice this in all 3 shock settings? Only on bad roads? With stock tire pressure or comfort/light load or high speed pressures? 20 or 21” wheels? I’ll try to pay attention to this, but the wiggle is the chief complaint I have observed in my 16k miles of driving in the 18 months I have had the car.

I bought the base because I read a lot of complaints about the ride of the comp. I did not want my wife to complain because then we would have to take her car when going somewhere together. But the ride of the base is good enough that I just added the H&R springs and I think my wife will be OK with the ride in comfort mode.

Everyone does say the newer shocks have more compliant valving so what you are doing will only help. I might consider buying a set at some point. Someone was selling a set in the forum a month ago for about $2k.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Do you notice this in all 3 shock settings? Only on bad roads? With stock tire pressure or comfort/light load or high speed pressures? 20 or 21” wheels? I’ll try to pay attention to this, but the wiggle is the chief complaint I have observed in my 16k miles of driving in the 18 months I have had the car.

I bought the base because I read a lot of complaints about the ride of the comp. I did not want my wife to complain because then we would have to take her car when going somewhere together. But the ride of the base is good enough that I just added the H&R springs and I think my wife will be OK with the ride in comfort mode.

Everyone does say the newer shocks have more compliant valving so what you are doing will only help. I might consider buying a set at some point. Someone was selling a set in the forum a month ago for about $2k.

Honestly it seems like that there is very minimal difference in all 3 suspension settings. It is much more noticeable when you're in the back seat. Anyway I am looking forward to feel the difference.

[Rafichicago]

So new to me suspension bits have arrived yesterday. Can't wait to put them on and feel the difference. LCI competition shocks with springs. It will either be installed by mechanic next week maybe unless he is super busy than I will possibly tackle the job myself. Apparently difference is noticeable and for better.
We will see

[Danny D]

Keep us updated - curious to hear the feedback.
And take some pics !

[Rup91]

Keep us updated! Looking up LCI suspension too as my stock base pre-lci is too bouncy for me only in comfort mode. Sometimes I even jump from the seat lol. It feels a lot better in sport/sport+ mode but I want to see what it feels like with lci struts.

[Rafichicago]

So here is little update. With everyone busy I've decided to tackle this strut replacement myself. With very limited info on internet it took me loooooong time. I was only partially successful at it. I was able to replace the rears. However. In order to remove them seat belts need removal. When I removed one side they would act as if they're constantly locked. The lower I'd slid them the lower mechanism would lock. Unable to release it I'll need to wait for availability in one of the shops in the area. Oh well. I'll have to wait. The front ones you cannot remove without partial suspension removal. Ridiculous design but it is what it is. I will chime in once I'll have more information.

[pbonsalb]

I recently had mine out to change springs. It was actually easier than I thought. There is a post on the rear seatbelts that I found that said to pull the belt out a foot or 2 and knot it or tape it so it won’t retract. There are also utube on the internet that explain how to release the belts of you so screw up. There are plastic pins you push through so the plastic cover comes off one side and then you can access the release mechanism.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I recently had mine out to change springs. It was actually easier than I thought. There is a post on the rear seatbelts that I found that said to pull the belt out a foot or 2 and knot it or tape it so it won’t retract. There are also utube on the internet that explain how to release the belts of you so screw up. There are plastic pins you push through so the plastic cover comes off one side and then you can access the release mechanism.

How did you do the front ones ? Did you release upper ball joint and it came out ? Or have you unbolted lower control arm and removed the axle ? There's clearly not enough clearance to remove front one without doing either of the two. After messing with it for a better part of the day I was already done and did not even bother trying to find video about the seat belt. I've seen that some had pulled the belt before unbolting it from the top shelf but it was too late in this instance

[pbonsalb]

Yes, pull the upper wishbone bolt and pry open the gap so the ball joint can be freed. The lower arm also needs to be unbolted from the fork at the bottom of the strut. These instructions will help — the English part is halfway through:
https://preisliste.ac-schnitzer.de/a...3130290510.pdf

On the rear belts, watch this:

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Yes, pull the upper wishbone bolt and pry open the gap so the ball joint can be freed. The lower arm also needs to be unbolted from the fork at the bottom of the strut. These instructions will help — the English part is halfway through:
https://preisliste.ac-schnitzer.de/a...3130290510.pdf

On the rear belts, watch this:

Thank you very much. If it won't get done today I'll give this a try. Looks quite simple but I guess amount of time wasted yesterday was not too much for me to handle this

[Rafichicago]

So guys. I have front upper ball joint undone. All the wires removed from knuckle. Removed end link from the strut bottom fork. Fork spreaded and loose on strut. Still there isn't enough room to remove strut from front suspension. It doesn't seem to have enough room to come out of the fork that is mounted to the lower control arm. What am I missing here ?

[Rafichicago]

I'll add one more photo for reference

[pbonsalb]

Move the suspension down further so there is room for the strut to come out of the fork.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Move the suspension down further so there is room for the strut to come out of the fork.

You are 100% positive that there's nothing else that I need to remove ? Seems to be super hard to pull it down even lower. I am afraid to pull axle out of front differential.

[pbonsalb]

You are supposed to be careful not to risk the fork denting the axle. What happens if you instead pull the hub/brake down another inch or so to make space to pull the strut tube out of the fork?