New bushings installed, now clunking

[AV8R4AA]

I took my X5 to my Indy. He reset the radio and looked over my X5
He noticed and showed me that the (thrust arms?) had torn bushings.

Out came his awesome bushing press tool and new lemforder bushings.
Bam, new ones installed. He tightened up the bolts with vehicle preloaded.

I drove away and now have a clunk. Not sure how Installing 2 new bushings
can cause a clunking noise.
The opposite ball joints felt smooth and secure.

Now where do I look?

[puddinboo]

take it back to the indi and let him know I`m sure he wont mind checking into this for ya.maybe he forgot to tighten something up?

[upallnight]

They probably didn't tightening the sway bar link. You need a special slim 18mm wrench to hold the ball joint when you go to tighten it. Slim 18mm wrench can be purchased at REI or any bike shop for under 10 bucks.

[jfoj]

The other problem is the bushings can and are often installed backwards or 180 degrees out of the proper orientation.

There are hundreds of arguments on line about the proper bushing orientation.

It depends on whether the vehicles has a I6 or V8 as well. The thrust arms are the same as I recall, however the bushing orientation is different between the different engine configurations.

Techs and shops will swear all day long they installed the bushings correctly and looked at the alignment marks, but there is a LOT of confusion on how the bushings are marked and if the proper bushing was received.

It is pretty much a no braining if you think about how the suspension works and how the bushings should be installed, but there are FAR too many opinions and FAR too few people that understand what the proper orientation and installation really is.

I would start by making sure the bushings are in the correct orientation and I would not take anybody's word that they are right, especially the person/shop that installed them.

Once you know the bushings are installed correctly, then you can rule this issue out and look for other sources of noise and clunking.

[AV8R4AA]

I watched the guy install them, he aligned the arrows.
I forgot to check the orientation before they were removed.
The old ones were cracked. New ones were Lemforder.

[jfoj]

Originally Posted by AV8R4AA

I watched the guy install them, he aligned the arrows.
I forgot to check the orientation before they were removed.
The old ones were cracked. New ones were Lemforder.

Just because the arrows were aligned does not mean the bushings were installed properly because of how some of the applications differ and often the parts applications guides vary. Additionally some of the Lemforder bushings have a hard plastic bump stop that should not be removed, and for some reason people often removed and discard the hard plastic bump stops. I have heard of this happening more than once.

Here is a picture of the proper orientation for the E53 - https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E53-X5..._Arm/ES252745/

This picture does not show the plastic bump stop, however, I have seen some Lemforder applications with the added plastic bump stops.

Here is a different application with the bushing 180 degrees installed differently with the hard plastic bump stop that can be removed before installation - https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E39-M5..._Arm/ES250970/

I am not saying this is your problem, but but I personally would want to verify the proper bushing orientation while in the process of resolving what is going on.

The sway bar end links can be a problem as mentioned above if not properly tightened. If a standard open end wrench is used to hold the joint, the joint will bottom on the wrench. Believe it or not the wrench from the tool kit is narrow and often will work to hold the joint when tightening the sway bar end link nut. This should be very easy to find and verify because the nut(s) for the sway bar end link would turn very easily if you put a wrench on them, very little force would be required to turn the nut if they are not installed and tightened correctly.

[dmask0]

+1 on the sway bar links. They're an inexpensive item to replace.

Also a long shot but check to make sure that the plastic drip shield is properly fastened - even if your mechanic didn't take it off. The drip shield secures little plastic vent boxes in front of your tires and the bottom lip of the front bumper plastic, and the lips of the plastic parts can hang on each other and then pop back into place as you're making turns and going over large bumps.

A worse scenario is CV joint failure that's now amplified by a tighter suspension. Did you guys check the conditions of the boots?

[AV8R4AA]

X5 is getting paint work. Haven't driven it.
I will take it back to Indy when it's done.
Still guessing why with just 2 bushings changed out, now there is a clunk.
The only 2 bolts removed plus the plastic plate.

[THE VEIN]

I had changed my thermostat once and as soon as I was done and drove off I started hearing the "clunk". I thought I had left the fan clutch wrench under my hood, but I didn't

[AV8R4AA]

It turned out being the ball joint on the other end.
Guessing worn bushing masked the noise.
All good now.