Coil Spring Pair in Premium Aftermarket

A suspension part: springs in pairs, and worth replacing where one has snapped because the other is the same age and the same road.

We are an independent parts supplier. We are not BMW AG or MINI, we are not appointed by them, and BMW and MINI are their trademarks. What we sell are parts that fit those cars, described as such. Every listing states the chassis codes and engine codes it fits, the production date range, which quality tier you are buying, the labour time the job actually takes, and whether the part needs coding to the car before it will work. Where a part is only made in plastic by the factory and fails because it is plastic, we say so and we offer the metal one.

Specification and fitment

• Fits: 1 Series E87 F20 F40, 3 Series E46 E90 E91 E92 E93 F30 F31 G20, 4 Series F32 F33 F36, 5 Series E60 F10 G30, X1 X3 X5, Mini R56 F56 R60 F60
• Engine: not engine dependent, but the spring and damper rates differ between the four and six cylinder cars. These cars change mid production, sometimes twice in a model year, and two cars built four months apart can take different parts. Send us the last seven digits of your VIN with the order and we check the part against the build record before anything is dispatched. It takes us two minutes and it is the difference between a part that fits and a return.
• Production dates: 1998 to 2022 depending on chassis
• Quality: a well regarded aftermarket brand that is not the original supplier. Cheaper, generally good, and we tell you where the differences are rather than pretending there are none
• Part number: cross referenced to the original equipment number for your VIN and confirmed before dispatch. We do not publish a single number against a listing that covers several build variants, because that is how people order the wrong part
• The failure this addresses: vague steering, a knock over potholes, a creak on full lock, uneven inner edge tyre wear, or the front control arm bush advisory that appears on every one of these cars at about 60,000 miles
• Labour time: forty minutes to three hours a side depending on the part, plus a four wheel geometry afterwards on anything that affects alignment
• Coding: none required. Fit it and drive
• Also needed: new stretch bolts and nuts, which are single use on most suspension positions, and a four wheel geometry afterwards
• Torque: torque the bush bolts at ride height with the wheels on the ground. Tightening them with the suspension hanging preloads the rubber and tears it within a year, and it is the commonest mistake in this job
• Weight: approximately 7.2 kilograms
• Warranty: three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first
• Always in pairs: one new arm and one worn one gives a car that pulls and a tyre that wears on one side
• Geometry: anything that moves a mounting point needs a four wheel alignment afterwards. Budget for it rather than discovering it
• Ride height: the single most important instruction on this page, and the one that separates a job that lasts five years from one that lasts one
• Polyurethane: sharp in the front control arm rear bush, unpleasant everywhere else. We sell it for that one position and we will talk you out of a full poly set

What arrives

• the part or pair as described
• new stretch bolts and nuts
• grease where a bush needs it
• instructions with torque figures and the ride height note

Fitting

Forty minutes to three hours a side. Torque the bush bolts at ride height with the wheels on the ground, not with the suspension hanging in the air. Then book a four wheel geometry, because changing an arm moves the camber and the toe and a month on the wrong toe costs a set of tyres.

Which version to buy

Dampers are the one place on this page where the cheap option is genuinely worse and you will feel it, so buy OE supplier. Arms, links and track rod ends are fine as premium aftermarket. Bushes are where the decision matters: the front control arm rear bush is the part that fails and the part that most changes how the steering feels, and it is the one position where polyurethane is worth having.