Originally Posted by DillonInCO

My car doesn't have air suspension so unfortunately most of this doesn't apply to me, but it sounds like a very simple job to replace the upper control arms---just unbolt the old part and bolt the new one in.

Right rear is creaking badly, indy shop told me rear upper control arm. I'd rather replace everything now though if there are other parts that fail. By ball joint, are you referring to part #2 in this diagram? The diagram is sort of hard to read. These BMW rear ends are a lot more complex than I'm used to

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 3.0i REAR AXLE SUPPORT/WHEEL SUSPENSION