^Yes you do need the BMW rear ball joint removal tool to make it much easier. I tried using the general one for a day and failed. I bought the tool and remove the rear ball joints in less than 30 min.
This is the tool. Let me know if you want to borrow it.

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00 E39 DINAN S1 //M5 (82k miles)
06 E53 DINAN 4.8iS, born 2/18/2006 (126k miles) http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...s-my-dslr.html
90 Straman Z32 TwinTurbo Convertible, (1 of 44 ever made) 5 speed, 444rwhp/451rwtq
01 360 Novitec Spider F1 (26k miles)