Bust suspension

[SplintUK]

It's an 08. I get the impression mine was not the first 08 seen with bust rear shocks either.

 

[leftofcentre]

ESA = Electronic suspension adjust.

A bit like what was on the old Sh(C)itroens?

 

[jacro]

It's an 08. I get the impression mine was not the first 08 seen with bust rear shocks either.

Mines 09. Not bust yet but living in fear. At what mileage did yours go?

 

[SplintUK]

About 19000

 

[Boxerboy55]

I'm going for Maxton, Ohlins or Wilburs in the not too distant future as I have enjoyed the magic carpet ride on another bike with Ohlins and it's like night and day. Waiting for Maxton to reply.*

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

ESA = Electronic suspension adjust.

GOOD NEWS

BMW have decided that for good will they will pay half of the cost of the part, so I just had £602.67 refunded by the dealer. Better than a poke with a sharp stick and no mistake. Sure I'm still £720, but this time yesterday it was £1320.37 down, so it's good news from that point of view.

A poor show

£720 for that budget shock

Should have gone Wilbers

 

[Rasher]

A poor show

£720 for that budget shock

Should have gone Wilbers

I think not, the bike is beyond warranty, although I am normally quite critical of BMW (with regard to Final Drives etc) it is because they are flawed from new and for the most part last a fraction of the time you would expect them to.

Suspension units do wear out, most OEM stuff is rubbish and in my experience many are crapped out by 10k, you could argue they should not be, but unless buying some exotica with Ohlins or WP they are all like this.

I think BMW meeting half the cost is more than they are obliged to do, and more than most other manufacturers would do, which makes the fact they probably buy the units in bulk for under £100 irrelevant, anyone else would probably spank you full price.

Additionally you could tell them to shove their contribution and buy a shock of your choice.

Why are they not rebuildable

Simple, they can buy them for £100 and flog them for £1200, why give you a way of fixing them for a few quid?

I expect they (The manufacturers) would argue a rebuildable shock would cost more, there is a cost to holding parts, mechanics would need training in suspension rebuilds (and mechanics cost more than fitters - any monkey can swap a shock) and therefore it is not viable.

I know MCT can rebuild a number of "non rebuildable" shocks (and assume other suspension specialist can do so) but the issue is normally parts as the OEM shocks will not have easy to obtain parts such as seals which do have a finite life even on exotic gear.

The OEM units are also typically badly filled (differeing oil levels) inconsistently gassed (wildly varying pressures) and have low quality oil that quickly turns to froth, I have had OEM shocks re-filled and re-gassed that have been transformed, the problem is after a while the seals will fail and then you can't do anything if these are not available.

I would take the discount and hope this one lasts a bit longer (well if I was in the Ops shoes, as personally I would not buy an ESA bike due to the potential cost of failures)