Control Arm and Tesnsion Strut Work

[cwildman]

Long time lurker. My '04 E53 3.0 just hit 200K miles and I'm trying to determine how much money I should keep putting into it.

About half a year ago I took the car to an independent BMW shop in Portland for some basic work. First road trip the night I got my car back the transmission cooler blew off and somehow there was a huge chunk missing off one of the pulleys. Fast forward to this week, I decided to take my car into a dealer for the security that they won't screw up.

Took the car in to try to see if something is wrong with the power steering (seems pretty stiff at slow speeds), they didn't find anything. However they want to do the following:

Replace Tension Strut Bushings (Found Tension Strut Bushing Worn) - $508.26
Replace left front outer CV joint boot (Found CV joint boot(s) torn/leaking) - $639.50
Replace right front outer CV joint boot (Found CV joint boot(s) torn/leaking) - $639.50
Replace left rear upper control arm (Found control arm bushing(s) excessively worn/loose) - $1,236.91
Replace right rear upper control arm (Found control arm bushing(s) excessively worn/loose) - $0

I've had mechanics complaining about the CV boots being torn since forever but haven't really had it matter. Is it going to be a serious problem one day? If I want to keep driving this car should I have these tensions struts and control arms replaced? Assuming the wear and tear of an X5 with 200K miles, any safety risks?

[bhennrich]

Are you located in Portland, OR? You mention Portland, but your location in your info says California.

[cwildman]

Yup in Portland, OR now. Updated location.

[blackbeast]

Originally Posted by cwildman

Is it going to be a serious problem one day?

Short answer, yes.

If you keep driving with the torn boots, you're going to damage the axles and have to replace them, if not already. How many miles do you think you've driven with them torn?

[4.8isX5]

They are raping you on parts.

GKN german made replacement axle for fronts a piece are $289.

At 200k id replace the axles themselfs and not do a boot repair since theres so many miles on them.

My boots were torn for a very long time since ive been to lazy to replace them and plan on getting the GKN's soon. Front right inner was torn since 64k miles, front right outer went at about 80-85, drivers side inner went somewhere around same time, and i accidently put a small tear in the drivers side outee doing balljoints @100k.

Im at 110300 now lol. Theyll last a while and only now am i starting to feel the bad cvs.

[Scott ZHP]

At that mileage, pretty much every suspension component, front and rear will require some attention/replacement assuming they are still original. Will your indy shop install parts that you supply?

For about $1200, you can get Lemforder suspension parts for everything that you'll need. Shop order doesn't mention ball joints, but I'll just about guarantee you'll need new front and rear ball joints as well and probably rear subframe bushings. There are cheaper options for these parts (Meyle, Karlyn, Uro or even the German-sounding-but-made-in-China "Hamburg Technik" brand) but I prefer the Lemforder stuff.

As far as axles go, if you're planning to keep the X5 for any length of time, OEM axles are best; but I've had very good experience with new EMPI axles from Rockauto.com

This isn't going to be cheap if you have a shop do the work and supply the parts.

[Ricky Bobby]

^^:Iagree: with Scott - and I sure hope that the rapist shop prices you posted above included parts.

Although a $20 boot kit + $600 in labor is ridiculous for one side axle boot, takes about 2 hours max to do it by yourself - they are charging you book time to take the whole front suspension apart.

Buy the complete front/rear Lemforder kit from FCP Euro and find a good, honest, and competent indy who doesnt price gouge on labor and is realistic and not looking to rape your wallet for $3k

Tension strut bushings for $508? Thats another price gouge considering the easy access of tension struts.

[TiAgX5]

Really! The tension strut bushings take an hour DIY, the Powerflex parts cost $80.

The $60 pulley tool from HF does the trick.