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Hi Guys!,
My front right strut is leaking so it needs to be replaced. The car is an 2006 and has 200,000km so it’s understandable. However, since it’s a bmw they are not that cheap even for non oem. Discovered Sach makes bmw shocks so it’s a lot cheaper than oem, but still pricey. Spent quite a bit on it the last month and replacing it is not in the budget. Can I hold off on replacing it until 1 to 1.5 months from now until I have the money? Or no? It drives fine and makes no noise. All it does is shutter a bit when going over a bump.
Also I noticed the oil dripped onto some bushings. Is the oil corrosive to the rubber? If so what can i use to clean them? Brake clean? Or is brake clean corrosive to rubber as well?
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your vehicles springs serve one primary function and that is too absorb the springy motion from your springs, if your vehicle didn’t have shocks (and thats the part of your vehicles strut that has oil in it is the shocks.) it would bounce “pogo.” every time you hit a bump. this makes it difficult for your vehicles suspension to do its job and that keeps the tires in contact with the road for control and lets face it a bouncy car is not comfortable either.
can you drive a vehicle without shocks? yes… do i recommend it? not really.
There are 2 schools of thought here. I say you can wait, but one opinion is that the dampers help with stopping distance, which they do. So to answer your question, yes, you can wait, but your stopping distance may be compromised in the mean time depending on the amour of fluid that leaked out. That said, keep a good distance between you and the vehicle in front of you.
Oil on bushings does tend to damage them. You might clean it off with a little brake cleaner or something to help protect them.
BMW parts are all expensive. If this repair sets you back as you suggest, you might consider a different vehicle that’s less expensive to maintain.
Good luck and keep us posted.
well essentually eric just said the same thing i did, and he is the expert, so we both say yes you can, but its not really advised and don’t hold it off any longer than you can, because the more oil that leaks out of those shocks, the worse it will become, and the more your vehicles performance depending on how well the tires come in contact with the road will start too suffer.
Update: just realized I never updated. So I did the front struts on the car. Jeez bmw’s are complicated. I am use to Honda’s like the rest of the family has. Tooks some time to do and got the garage to take off the springs. All in all the cheapest quote I got was $1000. So I saved $650 doing it myself. So thank you very much Eric!
Unfortunately. In the process of changing the front strut the front left lower control arm boot cracked and when it comes to boots and bushings I leave it to the pros. There are way too many and I did not want to throw parts at the car where it makes the same noise. The lower control arm repair cost $300. So either way I am still winning. In terms of what made the biggest different on ride quality it was the lower control arm for sure! It rides now like a new car. The mechanic reassured me that the bushing on the control arm was going to go either way. Either from me doing the job or him. It just needed the right circumstance to break so I guess that’s one thing.
When thinking about it. Sure I most likely should not of bought a BMW, most people shouldn’t but nothing drives like a BMW and now that the ride is good again it makes me remember why I got it in the first place. Don’t have a wife or kids at this time in my life so might as well be a bit foolish.
As always everyone thank you so very much for your help! Your all so great!
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