Too much suspension clearance in a BMW – what is the cause of the fault?

BMW driver’s question

I’m struggling with a front suspension problem on my BMW E39 530i Touring car. The front ground clearance is way too high, about 3-4 cm compared to serial. According to the VIN, the car was serially equipped with the S227A (Sport suspension lowered ride-height) suspension option.

On my car, I identified a shock absorber with the OEM number 31311096865, which is for the standard version, nevertheless, the suspension is still too high, resulting in a problem in adjusting the crossover angle when adjusting the suspension geometry.

The culprit for this state of affairs I suspect are the springs, but there are no markings on them for me to decipher the serial number of this component.

My question is strictly about the shock absorbers themselves.

What are the technical differences between 31311096865 and 31311096865? Are the changes only in the damping characteristics, or dimensionally have changes been made as well? Specifically, it is about the height of the component itself (I would appreciate if you could provide technical data for both shock absorber references).

Thank you in advance for any information or contact to people who could help in this situation.

The problem was on the BMW 530i E39 Touring, but it may also happen on other models.

BMW 530i Touring E39 | By nakhon100 (cropped)[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Response from BM Cars service

We do not have the technical parameters (dimensions) of the shock absorbers specified by you. However, such comparisons do not make much sense. The difference in wheel clearance between the front and rear, can be caused by many reasons. However, the most important of these is the type of springs used in the suspension.

Your vehicle’s factory equipment actually used the SA227 option, which is a sports chassis with lowered suspension and level adjustment. The correct catalog number for the front shock absorber is 31311096865. The springs unfortunately do not have permanent markings with the catalog number. The selection of springs should be based on the data from the ETK catalog, taking into account the vehicle equipment.

The use of any non-original springs will raise or lower the suspension beyond the intended ranges. It is optimal to use original springs for the front and rear.
If you have problems with the selection of springs, we are able to help you with the selection.

We invite you to use the services of BM Cars.

BMW 530i Touring E39 | By nakhon100[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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