[Rafichicago]

As far as diy goes. I am not e mechanic by no means. Do it at your own risk since suspension if not done properly can cause…. You know what I mean. It's just description of what I have done It's too late for photos now but I can describe procedure since my memory is still fresh. Keep in mind I am not native speaker so I will try to do that as good as I can
To me the hardest part is the interior. I hate taking it apart but was super easy in F90.
For the rear.
Remove rear seats side bolsters. They just pop out. Pull them towards front of the car.
Fold down seats
Unscrew three small 8 or 9mm bolts directly underneath rear sunshade inside the trunk if so equipped.
With seats folded there are 5 plastic rivets that need to be taken out holding rear deck cover in place.
Remove c pillars. Pull them towards inside of the cabin. They are held by 2 plastic clips and one metal one.
Pull out seatbelt and make some nut or just try to prevent them from folding back. There are two 10mm bolts holding them and one t50 or t40 that hold the seatbelt to the c pillar. Don't forget about this part since if seatbelt mechanism is not in the orientation it's mounted in the car ball bearing will keep locking and preventing from seatbelt to be unfolded. You will know what I mean once it'll do it to you removing seatbelt mechanism is needed to lift sound deadening material under rear deck cover.
Now slowly lift rear deck up and unplug speaker wires. I believe there are two on one side and one on the other. This may differ if you have different system from b&w that's in my car.
Now you can lift the car and remove the wheel. There is one bolt holding rear strut at its bottom and three nuts up top that you access from rear deck. Remove those and strut is yours. Remove it slowly. There is wire plugged on top of the mount. Unplug it when you lower the strut. It just pulls upwards.
If you swap the struts like I have it's the important part. Take a good look at the strut. You need to take note at the bottom of the strut where spring ends and mark this location on your new strut. Spring has a rubber at the bottom. Make sure it's oriented same way on your new strut when you transfer it. You also need to mark orientation of the top mount. The outward bolt location if I remember well lines up with the bottom center of mounting bolt. The top mount fits only one way. You can try to see how it fits when removed from the strut. This is important since if done incorrectly strut will not line up with mounting location at the bottom.
I did not have special tool to remove the mounts. It is 18mm multipoint nut. I have used deep offset box wrench for this and held strut shaft with 10mm wrench. Once spring is compressed it will come off pretty's easily.
I guess that's all for the rear. Put everything back in reverse order.

Fronts. They are much easier. At least they were for me.
There's plastic under the hood on both sides that need to be removed. Both of them are by rubber seal. Struts up top are covered by large rubber covers that wire goes into. It'll be quite obvious once you're there. There is plastic part with rubber weatherstripping covering two of three bolts that I did not remove. Once two plastic rivets are removed it spins around and you can uncover bolts. They're 16mm, and they hold strut mount up top. I removed them last.
For this I have used two jacks to remove whole front off the ground to prevent suspension from creating tension from being only raised on the side you're working on. Made job easier.
Remove wheel
Remove end link. It's bolted to strut "fork" that you will need to remove later.
Remove bolt that is holding that fork. It's 16mm if I remember correctly. I've used small chisel to spread it some and sprayed silicone spray for it to come off easier.
Remove all the wires around the knuckle and two that are by the wheel well. Just make sure they are just removed from its mounting locations BEFORE you free up upper control arm ball joint. Whole wheel hub will drop and can possibly damage them.
Remove upper bolt joint. It's 14mm on one side and E-torx I believe 40 on the other I've used simple puller to pop that joint up. Now the fun part.
I have done this job with my friend. So he helped me to pull knuckle down while I have removed that strut mounting "fork" from the strut itself. This is the part where I have had the most trouble with. It felt like it's almost too much force you need to use to pull whole wheel him with suspension downwards. It'll be fine. Someone her said it used bar and some floor jack as a leverage and pulled it down that way.
Once you pull it down you can remove that fork that strut is mounted to. Than you unbolt top three bolts under the hood holding this strut and remove it from the car.
Same thing if you transfer your current top strut mounts to the new strut. Mark locations of where spring ends are. Top and bottom. There is a slit at the bottom of the strut that slides into the mounting fork at the bottom. Make sure it lines up properly in correlation to the top mount. Otherwise it will not go in properly. Ask me how I know Put everything back in reverse order.

So in the end. Yes. LCI shocks with springs fit and work well confirmed by me

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by Rafichicago

As far as diy goes. I am not e mechanic by no means. Do it at your own risk since suspension if not done properly can cause…. You know what I mean. It's just description of what I have done It's too late for photos now but I can describe procedure since my memory is still fresh. Keep in mind I am not native speaker so I will try to do that as good as I can
To me the hardest part is the interior. I hate taking it apart but was super easy in F90.
For the rear.
Remove rear seats side bolsters. They just pop out. Pull them towards front of the car.
Fold down seats
Unscrew three small 8 or 9mm bolts directly underneath rear sunshade inside the trunk if so equipped.
With seats folded there are 5 plastic rivets that need to be taken out holding rear deck cover in place.
Remove c pillars. Pull them towards inside of the cabin. They are held by 2 plastic clips and one metal one.
Pull out seatbelt and make some nut or just try to prevent them from folding back. There are two 10mm bolts holding them and one t45 or t40 that hold the seatbelt to the c pillar. Don't forget about this part since if seatbelt mechanism is not in the orientation it's mounted in the car ball bearing will keep locking and preventing from seatbelt to be unfolded. You will know what I mean once it'll do it to you removing seatbelt mechanism is needed to lift sound deadening material under rear deck cover.
Now slowly lift rear deck up and unplug speaker wires. I believe there are two on one side and one on the other. This may differ if you have different system from b&w that's in my car.
Now you can lift the car and remove the wheel. There is one bolt holding rear strut at its bottom and three nuts up top that you access from rear deck. Remove those and strut is yours. Remove it slowly. There is wire plugged on top of the mount. Unplug it when you lower the strut. It just pulls upwards.
If you swap the struts like I have it's the important part. Take a good look at the strut. You need to take note at the bottom of the strut where spring ends and mark this location on your new strut. Spring has a rubber at the bottom. Make sure it's oriented same way on your new strut when you transfer it. You also need to mark orientation of the top mount. The outward bolt location if I remember well lines up with the bottom center of mounting bolt. The top mount fits only one way. You can try to see how it fits when removed from the strut. This is important since if done incorrectly strut will not line up with mounting location at the bottom.
I did not have special tool to remove the mounts. It is 18mm multipoint nut. I have used deep offset box wrench for this and held strut shaft with 10mm wrench. Once spring is compressed it will come off pretty's easily.
I guess that's all for the rear. Put everything back in reverse order.

Fronts. They are much easier. At least they were for me.
There's plastic under the hood on both sides that need to be removed. Both of them are by rubber seal. Struts up top are covered by large rubber covers that wire goes into. It'll be quite obvious once you're there. There is plastic part with rubber weatherstripping covering two of three bolts that I did not remove. Once two plastic rivets are removed it spins around and you can uncover bolts. They're 16mm, and they hold strut mount up top. I removed them last.
For this I have used two jacks to remove whole front off the ground to prevent suspension from creating tension from being only raised on the side you're working on. Made job easier.
Remove wheel
Remove end link. It's bolted to strut "fork" that you will need to remove later.
Remove bolt that is holding that fork. It's 16mm if I remember correctly. I've used small chisel to spread it some and sprayed silicone spray for it to come off easier.
Remove all the wires around the knuckle and two that are by the wheel well. Just make sure they are just removed from its mounting locations BEFORE you free up upper control arm ball joint. Whole wheel hub will drop and can possibly damage them.
Remove upper bolt joint. It's 14mm on one side and E-torx I believe 40 on the other I've used simple puller to pop that joint up. Now the fun part.
I have done this job with my friend. So he helped me to pull knuckle down while I have removed that strut mounting "fork" from the strut itself. This is the part where I have had the most trouble with. It felt like it's almost too much force you need to use to pull whole wheel him with suspension downwards. It'll be fine. Someone her said it used bar and some floor jack as a leverage and pulled it down that way.
Once you pull it down you can remove that fork that strut is mounted to. Than you unbolt top three bolts under the hood holding this strut and remove it from the car.
Same thing if you transfer your current top strut mounts to the new strut. Mark locations of where spring ends are. Top and bottom. There is a slit at the bottom of the strut that slides into the mounting fork at the bottom. Make sure it lines up properly in correlation to the top mount. Otherwise it will not go in properly. Ask me how I know Put everything back in reverse order.

Hats off to you. What an impressive job!

[pbonsalb]

The rear seatbelt torx head bolt is T50.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

The rear seatbelt torx head bolt is T50.

Thanks! Fixed this

[shawnhayes]

Just as a subnote, this thread is effin' awesome beginning to end. Bravo.

Shawn

[jake169]

Rafichicago Were there any other parts that you needed to get for the LCI struts to fit, and everything else could be used from your 2018 M5. I am looking to do this in the near future, so would like to start acquiring the parts as needed.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by jake169

Rafichicago Were there any other parts that you needed to get for the LCI struts to fit, and everything else could be used from your 2018 M5. I am looking to do this in the near future, so would like to start acquiring the parts as needed.

Nothing other than struts with coil springs. Connectors for them are interchangeable between the models.

[Haaaas]

So this may be hard to quantify unless your had all the cars together and drive one a very specific road but I had some comparative questions.

You mentioned that the LCI comp shocks are valved differently and that physical change improved comfort. I feel as if I have seen there is also a programming component to the overall comfort based on some YouTube videos.

Would you say you have reached an in between level of ride comfort between the base pre-lci and the lci comp? Is it closer to the lci than the pre-lci?

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by Haaaas

So this may be hard to quantify unless your had all the cars together and drive one a very specific road but I had some comparative questions.

You mentioned that the LCI comp shocks are valved differently and that physical change improved comfort. I feel as if I have seen there is also a programming component to the overall comfort based on some YouTube videos.

Would you say you have reached an in between level of ride comfort between the base pre-lci and the lci comp? Is it closer to the lci than the pre-lci?

Car to me feels as if the difference between each program is more significant than before. I’d say comfort setting is definitely improved. Not sure if sport plus and sport are stiffer than before but definitely I can tell that difference between each is greater. As far as programming goes as far as I was informed that didn’t change. Part numbers on pre LCI vs LCI are different and that is confirmed. Whatever it is the ride feels better overal for ME, and that’s what matters. My intention wasn’t going for Comp suspension because that’s exactly what I did not want. You Chan check reviews old va new and each one I have red stated that ride is more compliant with newer setup. Regular M5 retained original setup. car is still stiff but much more pleasant to use.

[Haaaas]

Originally Posted by Rafichicago

Car to me feels as if the difference between each program is more significant than before. I’d say comfort setting is definitely improved… Whatever it is the ride feels better overal for ME, and that’s what matters. My intention wasn’t going for Comp suspension because that’s exactly what I did not want. You Chan check reviews old va new and each one I have red stated that ride is more compliant with newer setup. Regular M5 retained original setup. car is still stiff but much more pleasant to use.

Ah ok not sure where I got the programming idea from them. Honestly this is perfect then. I’m looking around at f90 m5s and keep debating between lci or not. One of the main reasons is a more compliant ride. If I can get that in a pre lci that would be ideal with the ease of tuning. Just missing out on some self driving features haha

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by Haaaas

Ah ok not sure where I got the programming idea from them. Honestly this is perfect then. I’m looking around at f90 m5s and keep debating between lci or not. One of the main reasons is a more compliant ride. If I can get that in a pre lci that would be ideal with the ease of tuning. Just missing out on some self driving features haha

Not sure about tuning idea with pre lci. I tend to leave my cars alone but for some transmission update that took place sometime with 2020 models I’d look for 2020 car for that reason alone if I would plan on tuning it.

[jake169]

Rafichicago wanted to check in and see how is the swap. Have you got any errors so far and how are you liking it.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by jake169

Rafichicago wanted to check in and see how is the swap. Have you got any errors so far and how are you liking it.

There are no issues and no errors. It’s just OEM upgrade that’s all. Keep in mind that my car was at 32k miles when I did the swap I like it and consider it good upgrade. Here in Illinois with the roads we have (not the car’s fault) it is quite uncomfortable in the rear.

[michaelalex17]

This is an awesome swap thank you for sharing the journey. Are you able to share all the part numbers for the suspension components? Thanks!

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by michaelalex17

This is an awesome swap thank you for sharing the journey. Are you able to share all the part numbers for the suspension components? Thanks!

I’ll try my best to get those to you tomorrow. Just want to be clear here. I did not want my car to become Comp. If o wanted one I would’ve bought one. I wanted my M5 car to become slightly more compliant on our terrible Illinois roads. Since LCI comp model was set to be more compliant and since shocks were only thing revised I decided to go that route. Difference is very noticeable. There is noticeable difference between suspension modes. In the end super happy. Shocks made ride much better in my opinion.

[michaelalex17]

Completely understood, I’m in the market myself for an f90 and have read complaints that the pre LCI is rather harsh and that the LCI fixed these issues with the m8 suspension. I’d be curious to know what’s involved in this swap because I like the look of the pre LCI so if I can have the look of the pre LCI and the comfort of the LCI it would be the best of both worlds.

[Rafichicago]

Originally Posted by michaelalex17

Completely understood, I’m in the market myself for an f90 and have read complaints that the pre LCI is rather harsh and that the LCI fixed these issues with the m8 suspension. I’d be curious to know what’s involved in this swap because I like the look of the pre LCI so if I can have the look of the pre LCI and the comfort of the LCI it would be the best of both worlds.

Just shocks were revised. Keep in mind I replaced them with springs to keep the OEM height and suspension travel which is critical IMO. Those are the only thing with different part numbers and revised valving so revised damping. Maybe not night and day difference in ride but well worth it and noticeable right away.

[pbonsalb]

A pre-LCI base is fine. I have one. I don’t live in a big city with terrible roads, but I do live in an area with frost heaves. I actually lowered my car in H&R M5 springs. I have 20” wheels, both stock and aftermarket. A pre LCI base on 19” wheels would be the most compliant pre-LCI. I have 19” snows but that is not a valid comparison since snows are soft and squishy compared to summer tires.

I might swap in late Comp struts at some point, but it is not a priority for me.