Need help getting front struts out

[houtan]

Are you still trying to get them out? The correct way is to loosen both bolts for the suspension arms at the subframe, turn the wheel to the opposite side that you are working on (so turn the rotor to the right if you’re on the drivers side, loosen the three nuts holding the strut, and the top of the strut will barely clear the fender. Then use your spreader tool and wiggle the strut out. Of course the sway bar arm, brake sensor, etc need to be unhooked as well. Put painters tape on your fender just in case.

If you search you tube for the ecs tuning coil over install on an e90 you can see how it’s done. Here you go

[houtan]

Here you go

[bbnks2]

Base model struts are tough to get out, I had to stand on the spindle to clear the fender and a get a second set of hands to pull the strut out. The sport suspension clears the fender with much less effort.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by houtan

Here you go

Thanks. I was watching that and at 11:40 he just pushes the whole assembly downwards so that the strut hat clears the fender. I can't push mine down like that, the steering tie rod won't allow it. The tie rod will angle downwards to a certain extent but then it won't go any further. When it stops angling downwards the control arms are jammed up against it and there is nowhere near enough clearance at the top for the strut hat to clear the fender.

[houtan]

On the 1er it’s reallllllly tight. The strut can pretty much be at one angle to get it out. And even then you need to rotate the strut top to get the studs to clear the fender as you pull it out. The first time is tricky but once you do it it’ll be much easier the second time. I was able to clear the fender even with dinan camber plates installed.

[houtan]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

Base model struts are tough to get out, I had to stand on the spindle to clear the fender and a get a second set of hands to pull the strut out. The sport suspension clears the fender with much less effort.

Agree there is very little room. But gets much easier once you get it out the first time.

[Mandinca]

OK, so I finally managed to do this - seems the control arm bushings had to have been binding because when I undid the bolts all the way the whole assembly swung down and cleared the fender just as everyone said it would....DUH.

Right, so...no I have a new problem.
I put it all back together and now I have a rattle over bumps - seems like it's coming from both struts which is indicative that I did something wrong. I've double checked all my bolts, control arms, pinch bolt, end link bolt, the nuts on top - everything.
Everything is TAF but something rattles.

The only thing I think it "might" be is this -

Brand new strut top bearings (mount) for both sides.
Re-Used the OEM washer, metal cup and rubber piece that goes on top of the spring but underneath the bearing.
The spring, bump stop, dust cover and strut are all BMW Performance.

When I built the BMW Performance shocks I re-used the top piece of rubber and the metal "cup" that sits on top of the spring before the washer, strut bearing goes on - then the nut. As they were from the stock suspension I'm wondering if they are different somehow. I took a picture of mine from underneath and it doesn't look snug to me. Since the top of the strut is tapered before the threaded part starts I would have thought it would just snug right up. I didn't notice it before I put it on, or before I took the old ones apart - wish I'd looked now.
Can someone jack a side up and try to get a picture of what their stock suspension looks like from underneath, right up in the strut tower if you can. Or.....does anyone have a complete strut assembly out of their car that is basically ready to put on a car - take a pic of that. I need to see if yours has the gap that mine has in the picture.

Would that even rattle under load ?
I just started wondering if when I tightened that top nut down on the strut bearing, I wonder if it ran out of threads. I tightened it until it stopped - does anyone think that maybe that could be it ? That it's not tight enough ? I can't see it myself although maybe once I took the spring compressors off the spring was now pushing upwards pushing the cup up against the nut, that wasn't all the way down because it ran out of threads, and forcing the cup slightly off the taper so that where the strut goes through the cup it's not tight against the sides of the hole - and rattles.

I can't believe I'm going to have to take this apart again.

[Mandinca]

OK, fixed. The nut wasn't tightened all the way down on the damper rod. It had another turn and a half to go. Of course, I took one side off again to find this out.....oh well, live and learn.

Thank you everyone that had input on this - much appreciated.
Now I get to do the rears and the front sway bar....another day and should be so much easier.

[iminhell1]

It probably has more to tighten still.

The rod spins freely. So you have to hold it in place to tighten the nut fully.

[juld0zer]

Originally Posted by iminhell1

It probably has more to tighten still.

The rod spins freely. So you have to hold it in place to tighten the nut fully.

Agreed.
Should be easy to do with the weight of the car on it.

Did you do everything up to spec? Replace fasteners where specified?

[Mandinca]

I replaced the pinch bolts but still need to replace the control arm bolts. They are only "locking nuts" so I'll keep an eye on them until replaced. As far as I know nothing was torque to yield.

[Mandinca]

Originally Posted by iminhell1

It probably has more to tighten still.

The rod spins freely. So you have to hold it in place to tighten the nut fully.

Yeah, I used a spark plug socket with a hex head on it and an allen key to hold the rod from turning.....not my first rodeo :-)
No idea why I didn't tighten them both down fully before.....they were tight when I first put them together. It's a mystery to me.