I have tried to remove my drivers side front strut and because of the added thickness of the plate I cannot (with all the strength I have which is considerable...movement of the car on jack stands had occured and it was at this point that I gave up) get the strut to come out of the pinch pocket. My delima is I do not have the tools to disassemble the control arm and steering arm from the hub. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to get around the use of the BMW special tools to disassemble the ball joints.

 

use a piece of wood - about 24" long or maybe a bit shorter - use this with your floor jack to push up on the lower hat to compress the spring and push the strut out of the steering knuckle. If the strut doesn't slide out of the knuckle by itself (and it probably won't) you can rap on the knuckle or rotor with a plastic-covered dead blow hammer to work it out. Be careful it doesn't shift and whack you, or that you don't pinch your hand getting it out, or that you don't rip out your brake line. I use this technique every time with no problems... it's the only way to pull the struts on my 1st gen without a lot of disassembly.

 

Blimey,

Is there another way, I have installed the h-sport lowering springs and have compressed them completely and strapped them and was stll not able to get it out. Passenger side is no problem at all even without compressing the spring but the drivers side just wont do it without a complete disassembly of the drivers front end. I have been searching for months to find those exclusive BMW suspension tools but to no avail. I'm truely left with no other option but to take it all apart but without the proper tools damage may happen. Are you familliar with the 2 tools I'm reffering to? Are there suitable substitutes? I find it hard to find them and find it harder to believe that BMW would make a car that no one but a BMW mechanic can work on because of propriatary tools.

 

Sorry - no more ideas. Just know what works for me.

 

I have Bilstein PSS9 and Helix.

I can get them out if I remove the top 2 bolts on the Helix (so not the complete camber plates with the three bolts) and remove the black plastic inner lining in the wheel arches.

Loosen the steering knuckle is a pain but is the only option if you cannot get it out another way.
I always hit it hard from the sides with a metal hammer or even heat it up shortly.

 

I have hit the steering knuckle with 2lb sledge hammer and enough force to move the car while on jack stands and it would not drop out. I've got about $800 to spend on the tools and I'm about to make a trip to the dealership and see if I can't get one of the mechanics to sell me thier tools I've heard that these 2 tools are around $500 so I hope there are some hungry BMW mechanics there.