Spring has come early for my E46

[Toeks]

Hi guys.

Ok long story short I bought an e46 330i '03 facelift a while ago. Previous owner had lowered springs on it (dont know the make, I only know they are orange). I got some springs from a place in Germiston cause I dont want it lowered just standard the way it should be. My wife drives her so no point for lowered springs.
Over the weekend I got new front shocks from ZF Sachs which are supposed to be OE. Anywho took out the old and the Gabriel Gasriders that are currently on the front are longer than the new ZF's. The springs are too long for the ZF shocks. So my question is are the springs too long or are the ZF shocks too short?

 

[Toeks]

Does anyone have a set of original springs for sale perhaps?

 

[bmsportzn135i]

Have you got spring compressors? You must compress the new springs to make them fit. Any spring will look shorter after some time of use!

 

[moranor@axis]

'sports pack' shocks will have a droop limiter inside the shock... did they not give you sports pack shocks?

Im unsure of the Gabriel construction but they my just extend more than stock shocks...

what are the full extended length of the 'rod'... I have some oem fronts i can measure for you... some dampers also have an internal spring pull the rod out as far as you can by hand and measure...

 

[Toeks]

Thanks guys.

When I had the complete struts out with the spring attached the distance of the spring from bottom to top cup was 20cm. So that would roughly be the length of the rod that was visible on the Gabriel Gasriders.

As you can see on the pic I took of the new OE ZF Sachs shocks, the rod piece protruding is only 14cm. I tried to compress the spring as much as I could but got to a point where I started getting scared and it just didn't feel safe anymore. The measurements just seem to different for me. But as I have very little experience with shocks and springs I thought it best to rather ask you guys.

So what do you think? Wrong new shocks or wrong springs and old shocks?

 

[moranor@axis]

oem non sports pack shock is 12cm till where the 'cup' mounts at rest... if I pull very hard it feels like there is a spring inside...

My advise is to mount one spring on the shock and them compare... if you not comfortable with DIY take it to a tire shock they will charge you almost nothing to do it...

 

[Toeks]

Good advise, thanks Moranor.

I'll take it there this arvy.

 

[Toeks]

Well Moranor you were right. I took the shocks to Tyremart and they put them in for me. They definately have a spring inside that only compresses when you release the coil spring, which is why they were shorter.

All good now, shes much better now.

Thanks guys.

 

[moranor@axis]

glad you came right and it was not a miss supplied part