BMW E60 Strut Replacement – 2004-2010 5 Series – Sedan/Touring wagon

Removing the front struts from your 2004-2010 5 series is actually a relatively simple procedure. The only issue that you may encounter is removing the strut from the steering knuckle. The steering knuckle on the BMW E60 5 series fits tight to the end of the strut and often needs to be slightly spread open so the strut can be pulled loose. We cover all of this below.

1. Raise the front end of the vehicle and remove the front wheels.
2. Turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction of the side of the vehicle you are working on so the rear of the steering knuckle can be easily accessed.
3. Using a 16 mm Socket Wrench, a 16mm open end wrench and a T30 Torx bit, remove the nut that secures the sway bar link to the front strut. Swing the sway bar link down and out of the work area.
4. Using an 18mm socket wrench and open end wrench, remove the M12 bolt that secures the steering knuckle to the strut. We recommend completely removing the bolt from the steering knuckle...this will keep the steering knuckle from binding up when being removed from the strut.
5. Before removing the strut from the steering knuckle, the BMW Repair Guide strongly recommends removing the strut mount from the body of the vehicle and lowering the entire assembly down. We feel this is the best method for replacing your BMW E60 struts for two reasons: it makes the strut easier to extract from the steering knuckle (especially if it is seized) and it makes installation go much more smoothly.
6. Begin by supporting the bottom of the steering knuckle so it does not drop abruptly when the strut mount nuts are removed in the next step.
7. ***It is very important that if your vehicle has a headlight vertical aim sensor on the right control arm that it is disconnected now. Not disconnecting the plastic control sensor arm will cause it to break when the right strut is lowered from the body of the vehicle.
8. Using a 15mm socket wrench, remove the three strut mount nuts anchoring the strut to the body of the vehicle.
9. Slowly lower the steering knuckle assembly out of the body of the vehicle.
10. The strut can now be safely removed from the steering knuckle.
11. If your strut is seized in the steering knuckle and wont pull free, liberally spray the connection with a penetrating lubricant like Blaster PB and tap with a rubber mallet.
12. If the strut is completely frozen inside of the steering knuckle (like ours was), the best course of action is to pry the steering knuckle open. The easiest way to do this is to drive a punch into the knuckle...this will separate it just enough so the strut can be pulled free. Using a rubber hammer as shown below, drive the punch into the steering knuckle so it spreads open. You should now be able to rock the strut back and forth until it pulls free.

In order to replace the front strut on your BMW E60 5 series, the spring must be compressed and the strut mount removed. This is not a complicated process assuming you use the correct tool. The BMW Repair Guide only recommends using a plate-style spring compressor to remove the strut. It has been our experience that cheaper "hook style" spring compressors are not only dangerous but simply do not work. For more information on this subject, please see our article BMW Strut Spring Compression Tool – The Correct Choice for the Home Mechanic. Always install a new strut mount when performing a strut replacement on your vehicle.

1. Lay the strut on a work table so it can be disassembled.
2. Remove the protective dust cap off of the strut mount.
3. Using a plate style spring compressor, compress the spring as far as the tool will allow.
4. The strut is held in place with a self locking hex nut. If you are planning on using a ratchet to remove it, you will need a special 21mm strut socket. A strut socket has the side wall removed so a torx wrench can be used to keep the strut shaft from spinning during removal. Due to the affordability of battery powered tools, most home mechanics have an impact wrench in their tool chest these days, so using a strut socket has become a bit "old school". We strongly recommend using an impact wrench to remove and install the strut shaft nut...it is much easier and faster and will be the only method covered in this article.
5. Using and impact wrench remove the strut shaft self locking nut.
6. Remove the strut mount, the upper spring pocket, washer, springs pads, protection tube and bump stop from the old strut. Note the order that all of these parts are installed on the old strut.
7. Assemble the new strut and install it back into the spring.
8. Install a new strut mount and lock nut.
9. Use your impact wrench to tighten the strut shaft nut.
10. Check to make sure the strut mount rotates freely as shown below. If it doesn't...then you put the washer in backwards! You will have to remove the strut mount and flip the washer into the correct position.
11. Install a new gasket on the top of the strut mount.
12. The strut can now be installed back into the vehicle.

Vehicle reassembly is fairly straightforward...just follow the steps in Section 1 in reverse. We have supplied a handy checklist below for your convenience.