Thanks for the input gents. My BMW links showed up and I put them on yesterday afternoon. The right aftermarket link on the car looked especially worn when I took it out.

I remembered to put a jack under the hubs and compress the suspension when I torqued the links for a change. And I also released the nuts on the bottom/back control arms at the subframe and retorqued them with the suspension compressed. I was in a hurry when I replaced them, and installed the rebuilt transfer case a few months ago and I don’t think I tightened them under load.

Car sounds 95% better, although I still get some subtle noise over low speed bumps. I’ve never replaced the sway bar bushings, which is silly given how many times I’ve had the car apart. I even have a set of new bushings in my parts locker. Next time I have reason to pull the stiffener I need to do that job.

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Current
Original owner 2002 E53 X5 4.4i to 4.6i swap
2026 G80 M3 6 spd
2025 G06 X5 50e
Former
1972 Audi Fox
1986 Saab 900S
1996 BMW Z3
1998 BMW E36 M3 Sedan
2004 BMW E46 M3
2006 Audi A3 Quatro
1993 Mopar 318 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2015 V6 Jeep Grand Cherokee