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Old 01-12-2018, 05:40 PM   #1
rumatt
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Adjusting the wagon's koni's - what a pain

The BMW wagon has single adjustable konis and they're set soft AF - the car flops side to side if you do a slalom-type maneuver. But I've been avoiding adjusting them because it's such a pain.

The fronts are blocked by a strut brace that is attached by a reverse torx bolt shown in the picture. I bought a female torx socket set and removed it to discover one front shock was set on full soft, the other 3/4 of a turn from soft.





Accessing the rear shock mounts is of course a pain in a wagon because it requires disassembling half the rear interior to get to them. But I decided to go for it and discovered it's even worse than that - they're not top adjustable (pic 2).





I believe I need to completely remove the shocks from the car as per this video. Good lord what a pain in the ass. So much for experimenting with shock adjustments.


Last edited by rumatt; 01-12-2018 at 06:37 PM.
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Old 01-12-2018, 07:00 PM   #2
Nick M3
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If you do remove them, remember that the bottom nut is torqued to something like 25 ft-lbs., and that it’ll snap the stud off the shock if you go over.
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Old 01-12-2018, 07:04 PM   #3
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Thanks Nick.

I'll probably wait until they're no snow in the forecast before I touch them. I'm sure something will go wrong.

Have you done any experimenting with the settings? Given how annoying it is to adjust them, getting the initial setting right is kinda important.
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Old 01-12-2018, 07:31 PM   #4
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Thanks Nick.

I'll probably wait until they're no snow in the forecast before I touch them. I'm sure something will go wrong.

Have you done any experimenting with the settings? Given how annoying it is to adjust them, getting the initial setting right is kinda important.
I’d try to find the Dinan setup sheet and probably dial it a little back from there.
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Old 01-12-2018, 07:44 PM   #5
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I’d try to find the Dinan setup sheet and probably dial it a little back from there.
Cool. I didn't find the dinan setup sheet itself but I found a few threads discussing it.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=582184

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showpost...95&postcount=3
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Old 01-13-2018, 12:05 AM   #6
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for The fronts, can you drill holes in the brace above the adjustment tabs? You could then buy or make a tool (or even use pliers) to get to and turn the tabs.
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Old 01-13-2018, 08:37 AM   #7
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Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. But I suspect I'll be adjusting them rarely-to-never once I find a setting I like.
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Old 01-13-2018, 08:59 PM   #8
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one front shock was set on full soft, the other 3/4 of a turn from soft.
Nice, you're all set up for NASCAR! Now go find a circle that you can spend 4 hours driving around. ;-)
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Old 01-13-2018, 10:20 PM   #9
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Nice, you're all set up for NASCAR! Now go find a circle that you can spend 4 hours driving around. ;-)
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Old 01-14-2018, 03:14 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rumatt View Post
The fronts are blocked by a strut brace that is attached by a reverse torx bolt shown in the picture. I bought a female torx socket set and removed it to discover one front shock was set on full soft, the other 3/4 of a turn from soft.
Yikes! Where have you been parking this car, inside a brine tank?

The M3 strut brace (Bimmerfest group buy 15-odd years ago) is actually pretty good - it has multiple pieces, and the ends that go on the towers are round with openings in the middle (and nice plastic cover pieces to keep crud out). The only drawback is that you get a little sliding where those pieces bolt to the actual strut brace, but that movement isn't in the axis that really matters.



Quote:
Accessing the rear shock mounts is of course a pain in a wagon because it requires disassembling half the rear interior to get to them. But I decided to go for it and discovered it's even worse than that - they're not top adjustable (pic 2).
The wagon is the only varient that conceals them under trim. Get a set of Rogue Engineering RSM's and you'll never have to tear the trunk apart again:

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