[krhodes1]

Since getting my car out of summer storage (too hot for convertibles in FL in the summer, and I was mostly in Maine anyway), it's felt wallowy. Took the wheels off today to bleed the brakes and found that both rear shocks are blown - totally covered in shock oil. 128i non-sport convertible, and I just want it back to factory feel. Any strong opinions as to basic Sachs vs. Bilstein touring for about the same $$, or BMW OEM for 2X as much? Ordering all the mount stuff - do you really need to replace the lower shock mount bolts? Those suckers are $pendy for four bolts. This is a TX/FL car that has never seen salt, everything is nice and shiny underneath.

I'd really like to go with Koni FSDs but I am "building a new house" poor, so stock she shall stay.

The fronts are still fine, no leaks and feel fine, but the bump stops have certainly seen better days. But I don't think I feel like tackling that project this week, so that can wait until I have more ambition. And a garage big enough to do it indoors!

Of course, after tomorrow it's going to rain until the weekend, and I don't want to get the car down off the Quickjack so I guess it's going to sit out there in the rain until the parts come and it stops raining.

[StradaRedlands]

I'd go with Billy tourings, but maybe that's just marketing making me say that?

I think you're fine re-using the bolts. They're steel and not TTY ones.

Any extra installation drama with a cabrio?

[3PedalJake]

Agree with StradaRedlands it's fine to reuse the bolts. 2 reasons bolts get listed as 1 time use, either they're TTY or they come with pre-applied threadlocker. The shock mount bolts have this threadlocker on them, to re-use just apply your own loctite.

[mainbearing]

+1 Bilstein

I reused the rear lower mount bolts, blue locktite. Did not have the front pinch bolts at the time, so I reused those too.

[krhodes1]

Thanks guys!

Turns out, FCP didn't actually have any Bilstein Tourings for non-sport cars. So Sachs it is.

And I will happily reuse the bolts rather than pay $8ea for them.

Hoping it all gets here for Saturday, and the weather is good. The car is distinctly nautical feeling at the moment!

[lookalikehuuh]

I think you will be happy with the Sachs, I have the sport versions on my car that I did like 5 years ago and they still ride great! 10/10 would use Sachs again.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by lookalikehuuh

I think you will be happy with the Sachs, I have the sport versions on my car that I did like 5 years ago and they still ride great! 10/10 would use Sachs again.

They were good enough for BMW originally after all.

I doubt they went out of their way to make anything all THAT special for a base model e88. Thought that said, I would love to know if the BMW OEM Sachs shocks (as sold as replacements today anyway) are actually any different than a Sachs-boxed Sach shock other than having a BMW part number on the sticker on the shock body and costing almost twice as much.

But having used Sachs replacement shocks on sundry cars over the years without any issues, I fully expect them to be just fine. I am a little disappointed that the factory shocks only lasted 71K of relatively smooth roads though.