To be honest, at 54k miles the shocks shouldn't have gone yet... My E36
coupe 1996 has only just had it's shocks done and that's done nearly 104k
miles..

They are easy to check anyway.. just see if they are leaking.. but to be
honest with that mileage I would be surprised if it's the shocks or rear
mounts, the should not have gone yet... But if they had gone you'd notice
the back end having a mind of it's own.. mine would roll about all over..
felt like I was driving on ice all the time.. that would definitely concern
you more than rattles!

Check for something loose around the back.. stupid stuff like the car jack..
I had a rattling / knocking noise from the back that I was paranoid about
for about 2 months.. had the car on stands trying to figure out what on
earth it was.. turned out to be my small air compressor for the tyres
knocking about in the spare tyre well!

> wrote in message
...
> My 540 tourer has done 54K miles and I have noticed rattles in the
> doors etc. My 535 had done 130K miles but it wasn't a tourer and it
> rattled less than this car. What is a ball park mileage figure for
> replacing shock absorbers on a 6 year old 540?
> pete
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