Originally Posted by mele4nyc

I have both an e46 and an e53. I replaced the front control arms bushings etc. at 120k on my e46. I just replaced the entire front end set-up on my e53 a month ago. It had 94k miles on it. You're right in saying it can get expensive, very expensive in fact. From personal experience I would say that the control arms and various suspension pieces on the e53 are no more durable than any other Bmw. My e53 is now in the shop because I just got the dreaded Trans fail safe prog. error and my transmission seems shot. It doesn't even move in a high gear, and putting it in park means it just rolls. Its all a goddamn nightmare. I wish I knew I was living on borrowed time I could have just saved myself the stress and offloaded it on someone else.