I got tired of fighting with it and replaced the front shocks with Bilstein B6s. New top mounts, polyurethane “upper & lower doughnuts”, dust covers, lower control arms (again) , sway bar end links (meyle HDs), new tie rods & a new Bosch rack & pinion. It took me roughly 3 days (half of which was spent trying to get the steering shaft universal off the pinion input splines).
It is much improved but now that the slop is out I still have a definite (unpredictable) change in “yaw” as I drive which is worse at higher speeds. Still, 90% if the issues are gone.
When I get another chance, I’ll do the front upper control arms with adjustable meyle HDs.
I also have to sort the rear shocks. I have 3rd row seating and rear air ride. Apparently Bilstein B6s aren’t available for this setup. I’m considering getting the B6s for the standard “spring “ suspension and sending it, but I’m not sure if that will cause issues down the road. It looks like the air ride setup differs only in the rear shock upper mount (it’s a little taller). So with a factory air ride shorter travel, it should work just fine. Still doing research on this so advice is welcome.
I have everything to do the rear control arms and shocks except the actual shocks and the actual control arms. I’m thinking of getting adjustable arms for the rear but this is my daily (on NJ roads) so reliability is paramount. I’d like to take some camber out of the rear though as it’s too extreme for my taste. Yes, it’s fun”er” in the turns but I have other cars for that crap that don’t weigh half as much as the x5. I tend to take it conservatively in the turns. Merging into traffic or 40-80mph runs, not so conservative… I’ve had this thing for almost 10 years and I’m still impressed with the highway power and drivability. It just pulls like a little, rubber wheeled freight train. I digress…
Any advice for tightening up the last 10% of “jeep-ness” in the steering/suspension?

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- Tom
‘10 E70 diesel, hud, hot/cold weather, 3rd row.