Quote:
Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby
You need to take the pre-load off the rear suspension when working on it, otherwise you will unbolt the ball joint and the pre-load will be fighting you, the wheel carrier won't hang down, etc, since the inflation of the air spring will keep it in place.
Same reason why most mechanics can't diagnose excessive rear camber issues (rear ball joint and wishbone most likely culprits) because they don't take the pre-load off the suspension first. You can deflate the air spring or just put a jack under the air spring itself and jack it up to relieve the pre-load.
|
+1,000,000 to what Ricky Bobby said.
I have the special press (similar to the one Ricky Bobby provided the link), and it took me 15-20min/side to press out/in the ball joints once the car was lifted and the wheels were off. It's a very easy job with that tool.
Also, when I did the alignment, it was exactly what Ricky bobby described - they didn't take the preload (did not deflate the air suspension), and even with the prybar, everything "looked" very tight, but they could not straighten the rear wheels. They said it's "normal" with BMW's. BS.
Once the ball joints were out and replaced, the rear wheels straightened out by themselves - the alignment was done to the max prior to that, and they went where they should go, with minimal camber.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give it a 1 or maybe a 2 - I had to wrestle a bit to line everything up as it should in order to fit the integral link & long bolt back in.
P.S: if you have more than 1 BMW, that press is a good investment. The rear ball joint is the same part for many BMW applications - I used it on my e39 as well. Exact same part.