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Old 04-20-2015, 12:32 PM
oldskewel oldskewel is offline
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There's nothing I can see there that looks like a problem. Check for loose joints or cracked boots - that's when you've got a problem.

Part numbers are for my car - 2001 3.0i

The upper left is the Outer Tie Rod End (32-10-6-774-335 = same for both sides). I replaced the boots on mine last week, since they were showing a little surface cracking. When doing that I noticed that the boots are really solid and could have gone a lot longer time. Also, the joint itself and the grease looked to be excellent. Nice to have new boots on though.

The middle is the Ball Joint (31-12-6-756-491 = same for both sides) which is attached to the tension strut. I replaced those on my car last week (at 171k miles) and they actually seemed pretty good except for a little loosness on the left side - maybe I replaced too soon. Those can be replaced without removing the other end of the tension strut. Usually it is that other end, with the bushing that fails first and a new bushing needs to be pressed in. I noticed the Bentley said that replacing the bushing should only be done once (and then you need to replace the whole tension strut) - I don't know why. You'll need an E12 socket to remove them and a T45 to install (the Lemfoerder ones switch the fastener for some reason).

The lower right is the ball joint part of the "wishbone" rear lower control arm (31-12-6-760-275 left, 31-12-6-760-276 right). These ball joints are not replaceable separately - you need to replace the whole arm if they are bad. One of mine was pretty loose and the other one a little loose so I replaced both.

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And looking at that kit from ECS - the brand is Vaico. No idea about that. I think very often the OE stuff is excellent on quality cars like this, and I try to delay replacing high quality, old, but still good parts as long as I can. It would be especially bad if you take off good old parts and replace them with lower quality new ones. I don't know if Vaico is bad, but I've never heard of them. I'd go with Lemfoerder or Febi-Bilstein.
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2001 X5 3.0i, 203k miles, AT, owned since 2014
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