The aluminum angle was explained to me by a friend who is a mechanic. I replaced ball joints on E36 front control arms (which were steel), but asked him why no one sold replacement ball joints for the front control arms for my E46 M3. He said it was because the control arms were aluminum, and if the ball joint were pressed out the bore would not be consistent enough to securely hold in a new ball joint. I'm not an engineer, so I have only his word to go by.


I would have to think that the bushings on the X5 rear lower control arm are a standard part. Would love to hear from anyone who has swapped them out.