[Fantasy3043]

I was wondering if any one on forums knew if i can put non adaptive shocks and struts on a Xdrive BMW. For example some bilsteins. I know the bilsteins will not adjust the same as the adaptive shocks / struts but is it worth it?

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Fantasy3043

I was wondering if any one on forums knew if i can put non adaptive shocks and struts on a Xdrive BMW. For example some bilsteins. I know the bilsteins will not adjust the same as the adaptive shocks / struts but is it worth it?

X-Drive limits your options. It seems that there are a number of springs you can get, but almost no one makes dampers that fit the X-Drive. KW offers coilovers for the X-Drive, but only their most expensive "Variant 3", for example.

You said "refresh" - if your adaptive stuff is worn out then non-adaptive replacements will be better than worn out adaptive. You just have to either code out the adaptive options or get the EDC kits to jumper it out and not throw codes. KW's for example: https://www.kwsuspensions.com/kw-sus...-68510213.html

[ziekxq]

There also these that I found:

https://ksportusa.com/shop/?swoof=1&...-5-series-2011

I haven't decided yet lol.

[windowmaker]

I understand ymmv but at what mileage would stocks be more or less "worn" i.e. saggy/bouncy?

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by windowmaker

I understand ymmv but at what mileage would stocks be more or less "worn" i.e. saggy/bouncy?

As you say, YMMV. It depends on your environment, road condition, how you use your car, stock springs or higher spring rate etc... It's worth noting that in general it's my opinion that the non-DHP (at least) F10 is underdamped to begin with, and shocks getting softer happens gradually over time so it can be harder to notice.

My E39 with 704 (sport) suspension clearly demonstrated a huge improvement when I fitted Konis at only 100,000km (60k mi). I probably could have benefited for at least 20,000km prior to that. On the other hand, my E90 was still on factory shocks at 175,000km. I'm sure an upgrade would have improved things but it still seemed tight.

[RobManser]

In my experience with other cars, dampers feel worn to a sensitive driver at about 30-40k miles, and to most drivers at around 70-80k miles. Garages will tell you to change them when they're leaking, or when they respond a certain way to their tests, but in terms of driving, you'll feel wear much sooner.

Aftermarket vs OEM is the age old question! In summary, BMW have spent months and months of testing on a variety of roads with top R&H engineers tweaking the dampers day after day. That's way more expertise and development time than any aftermarket manufacturer; however, aftermarket can target a particular requirement, such as handling, rather than trying to please everyone all of the time.

I've replaced suspension on a number of BMWs and have always had good results with BMW kit. The best results for me though were from aftermarket, from a UK distributor called Birds. Birds develop their own packages for the 1, 2, 3 and 4 series, biased around handling. They don't make packages for the 5 series though.