Having suspension issues on your BMW 740i? It’s not just you. While BMW’s flagship executive sedan is a car worthy of envy in many ways, problems with its air suspension system are a common complaint from owners.
Fixing these issues can cost a small fortune — maybe even more than your 740i is worth at this point in its life. But it doesn’t have to. In this article, we go over some of the most common suspension issues plaguing BMW 740i owners and your options for fixing them. You’ll learn how you can end your air suspension problems for good and rehab your 740i back into the ultimate driving machine.
Summary
The new Strutmasters BMW 740i air suspension conversion kit allows you to fix your BMW 740i suspension at an affordable price. This kit replaces the entire air suspension with robust, precision-engineered coilovers, ensuring long-lasting, BMW-worthy performance at a fraction of the price of repairing your air ride.
Common BMW 740i Air Suspension Problems
A quick search for “BMW 740i suspension problems” will reveal that issues with the air ride on your vehicle are fairly commonplace. Air suspensions are complex, high-tech systems — meaning there are lots of components that can break, wear down, or otherwise malfunction.
However, some problems with the 740i air ride are more common than others. These include:
- Leaking air spring: Over time, the flexible part of your air springs may crack, become damaged, or simply wear out and spring a leak as a result. This can cause the air suspension to function poorly, or stop functioning altogether.
- Control module failure: Your 740i air suspension is controlled by an onboard computer that regulates all of its functions. Like any digital component, these controllers — sometimes called ECUs — can start to malfunction and compromise the entire system.
- Worn-out compressor: The air compressor that generates the air needed to inflate the springs and pushes it through the system can start to wear down over time. This can happen at a faster rate if there are other flaws within the system, such as a leak.
- Damaged air lines: Your BMW uses flexible tubing as air delivery lines to move air from the compressor to the springs. These are somewhat prone to being punctured or cut. If that happens, air will leak and cause the system to malfunction.
Early Warning Signs of a Bad 740i Air Suspension
Your BMW has an onboard diagnostic system that can detect major issues with the air suspension and other systems. When this system detects a problem, you may see the warning light “Chassis Function Limited” illuminate on your dash panel. If you see this warning, your air ride is compromised and could be unsafe to drive. This warning requires your attention as soon as possible.
However, many air suspension problems begin long before the diagnostic system finds an issue. Detecting these issues early can limit the damage to your vehicle caused by driving on a bad suspension and can reduce the cost of fixing the problem. Here are a few things that could indicate a suspension problem in your BMW 740i, even before you get a warning light:
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Leaning or sagging: When the air suspension wears out at one corner of your BMW, it may start to droop down at that corner. This is most commonly seen in the rear of the vehicle, giving it a “sagging” appearance. However, this can occur at any point, with vehicles sometimes leaning to one side or the other at rest.
- Braking issues: Your BMW’s suspension absorbs much of the force of bringing the car to a stop. If your brakes and tires are in good shape but you’re noticing your car struggling to come to a stop, the suspension is likely the source of that problem.
- Noisy compressor: The air compressor in your 740i is designed to be barely noticeable when running. That means that if you hear it cycling loudly, taking longer than normal to cycle or especially sounding like it's struggling to do its job, there’s likely an issue with the air suspension system.
- Bumpy ride: The luxurious 740i is designed to deliver a comfortable ride for the driver. If you are feeling more bumps and dips in the road surface than you’re used to, the air suspension isn’t doing its job properly.
- Swaying through turns: Tight handling is a staple of BMW performance, with the air ride doing the bulk of the work of keeping the car stable and level going through turns. If your 740i feels like it’s swaying or pulling as you round corners, the suspension is probably compromised.
- Nose diving: If the front suspension of your BMW is worn out, the car may dip down in front and lift up in the rear when coming to a stop, giving it a squatting or diving appearance. This is referred to as “nose diving” by suspension professionals and indicates a need for a fix.
How To Check for BMW 740i Suspension Problems
Advanced diagnostic tools can help detect suspension issues, but one of the best methods is as old-school as it gets — the bounce test. This simple test can help you actively check for issues with your air suspension if you think something may be wrong. Here’s how it’s done.
- Walk to one corner of your vehicle.
- Push down hard on the bumper.
- Observe how it responds.
- Repeat at each wheel.
When your suspension is working as it should, each corner should pop back into place and settle almost immediately. If one or more corners takes a long time to come back up after being pushed down or bounces up and down before settling, this is an indication that there might be a problem.
How To Fix BMW 740i Air Suspension Problems
There are a few ways you can address problems with your BMW 740i air ride. Each method has its pros and cons and associated costs. In this section, we take an in-depth look at them.
Fix BMW 740i Suspension Issues at the Dealership
If you’ve ever had to take your BMW into the dealership for a service appointment, you know that repairs for a Bimmer don’t come cheap. In addition, air suspension issues on any vehicle can be expensive to fix. That means that fixing your BMW 740i air suspension at the dealership is a costly endeavor.
Service technicians at the BMW shop will replace broken components with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts. These parts are the “official” BMW components and offer a 1:1 replacement for the originals. They are also very expensive. Add to that the high cost of certified BMW labor and things add up quickly.
According to RepairPal, replacing just one BMW 740i air suspension strut or shock can cost between $4,497 and $4,654. If your 740i is an older model, this could be approaching the total value of your vehicle.
So, while you may get a certified fix for your 740i air suspension issues at the dealership, it will cost you to do so — perhaps more than you want to spend or more than you can afford.
Fix BMW 740i Suspension Problems with Aftermarket Parts
The positive side of how common air suspension issues are to the 740i is that it has created a market for third-party manufacturers to make their own replacements. These aftermarket air suspension components are typically far less expensive than OEM parts and are often comparable in terms of quality.
However, you still have to install them. Due to their complex nature, air suspension systems are time-consuming and difficult to work on, resulting in huge labor bills.
In addition, once one air suspension component on your BMW wears out, the others are likely to follow soon. That means there’s a good chance you’ll have to make return trips to the shop once something else breaks and pay even more.
Fix BMW 740i Suspension Issues with a Conversion Kit
There is another option you may not have considered but may actually be your best option. Instead of forking out huge sums of money to fix your BMW air suspension over and over, the new BMW 740i Air Suspension Conversion Kit from Strutmasters allows you to replace that suspension entirely and put an end to those problems for good.
For less than you’d pay to replace just one of your OEM air struts, this conversion kit allows you to install a brand new coilover suspension. Instead of a complex network of moving parts and computer-controlled components, this kit sits your BMW on rugged, dependable steel coil springs and struts. The result is a refreshed ride that compares directly to your original 740i feel when it was new.
Fast and Easy To Install: Save Even More
The engineers at Strutmasters put countless hours into the designing and testing of this new conversion kit to ensure it offers comparable performance to the original ride of your BMW 740i. But they also worked to ensure that this kit would be simple and quick to install to help make it an even more affordable fix.
Because of this, many BMW owners even choose to do the installation themselves. If you’re reasonably handy with a wrench, you can do the job too. All that you’ll need is a safe way to lift the car — either a sturdy jack or a set of ramps, some standard hand tools, and about one hour per wheel.
If you’d prefer to trust a professional, the design of this kit allows for an even faster installation at a repair shop. This translates to a much more manageable repair bill than having your air suspension worked on.
BMW 740i Suspension Replacement Kit: What’s Inside
This suspension conversion kit comes with absolutely everything you need to replace your entire air suspension. Here’s what you’ll get with your order:
- 2 Fully assembled front struts
- 2 Fully assembled rear struts
- All mounting hardware
- Detailed installation instructions
Strutmasters BMW 740i Air Suspension Conversion Kit: The Best Fix
Replacing your BMW 740i air ride with a Strutmasters conversion kit is affordable, dependable, and a complete solution for your suspension problems. Since 1999, car owners have trusted Strutmasters to deliver high-quality suspension solutions at a reasonable price — making the company one of the top names in the suspension industry along the way.
The reasons you can trust this kit to solve your BMW suspension issues are the same reasons millions of car owners have chosen Strutmasters over the years. Here’s what you can count on when you buy this kit or any other kit or component from Strutmasters:
- Premium materials: A product is only as good as the materials it’s made from. That’s why we insist that every component in our kits, from the struts themselves to the hardware used to attach them to your vehicle, is made from the best alloys and rubbers for the job.
- Precision engineering: A “good enough” fit isn’t good enough for us. Some suspension manufacturers swap parts from one kit to another if they can offer a close enough fit. At Strutmasters, we design and test every kit to ensure that it offers performance that competes with the original ride.
- Manufacturing excellence: We keep a close eye on the manufacturers that make our products and hold them to rigorous standards. This allows us to make sure that every kit and component we sell is made exactly as we designed it for our customers.
- Product guarantees: Every Strutmasters product comes with a limited warranty against manufacturing and material defects on the off chance something isn’t right with your order. It’s our way of ensuring you get the fit and quality you pay for and communicating our confidence in our products to you.
- Expert support: We insist on keeping our customer support in house at our Roxboro, NC headquarters. This allows us to hire only the most qualified professionals as our Suspension Experts and maintain a high level of quality for our customer service. Our professionals are here to help with every step of the process, from finding the right product to giving installation tips.
Ready to give your BMW 740i the best fix for its suspension problems? You can purchase your kit directly from our website right now. If you need assistance making sure you’re getting the right kit for your BMW or simply have some questions, our Suspension Experts are standing by to help. You can reach us for support at 866-597-2397 from 8AM to 9PM Monday through Friday or 9AM to 6PM on Saturdays.
