Where to take rusted suspension for work in Central Florida

[Mike1261]

I took my 06 E53 to a local BMW specialist to give me a quote for various things incl suspension.

The car is from up north and apparently so rusted they're worried something will break and need to be welded, for which they're not equipped.

Trying to find recommendations on a shop that can handle it.

I replaced the rear lower control arm bushings on the passenger side years ago and it took me days to get it out, involving a very expensive sawzall blade and a lot of swearing.

I could never get the lower rear shock bolts to budge.

The car can't even be aligned properly.

Any ideas where to go? I was referred to Sicopata Performance, but can't find any info on them and the word "Performance" screams dollar signs to me lol.

[Effduration]

I can't recommend a shop but can offer the following based on extensive rust-related maintenance on 2 E53 3.0's in the Northeast US.

Break the plan into pieces.

1. Brake lines - Unless they have already been replaced, they are likely rusted...fine someone to replace the steel lines with Nickel Copper lines..after replacing the lines, they will have to go thru the electronic scan-tool bleeding procedure to get the brakes to work properly.

2. Replace the front subframe...I am sure you will be able to find great, rust-free, subframes in FL. Find someone parting out an E53 on facebook, or search car-part.com (search both for "Engine cradle" & "Frame - Front Section only") . The front subframe (BMW Part# 31116760277) is the same for all years E53 and all engines - I6, v8, diesel.

3. Based on observations and inspections done during the brake line replacement, make a decision on replacing the rear subframe. I have not yet replaced my rear subframe, but am thinking about it.

These 3 jobs which can be done over time, will correct most of the underbody rust issues.

I think any good mechanic that does pickup truck suspension work can replace either subframes.

[Mike1261]

Yeah brake lines are new as of 3 years ago.

I don't think I care enough about this car to track down subframes and put that kind of effort into it. I'm off work due to accident injury (my late model car is gone so deciding whether fixing up the E53 is worthwhile) but that means I can't do any work myself while I have time, or I'm back to 7 days/70 hours a week running a business and won't have time to worry about subframes.

Mostly if this thing could be aligned properly and have new shocks and struts I'd be pretty happy.

[x5Alpine]

to do it right, remove the entire subframe with all suspension and replace everything including every piece of hardware. It might sounds like a lot but it really isn't that bad of a job. A super rusty E53, you will have a hard time just replacing single components.

[Effduration]

Originally Posted by x5Alpine

to do it right, remove the entire subframe with all suspension and replace everything including every piece of hardware. It might sounds like a lot but it really isn't that bad of a job. A super rusty E53, you will have a hard time just replacing single components.

Not sure that includes replacing the subframe itself?

On my X5...the steel pads on which the swaybar bushings sit are very thin and have rotted away... There are other welded joints on the subframe that are so rusty they look close to cracking.

[Factory6speed]

The rear subframe on mine is rather corroded. The rear differential in particular looks like it's been sitting in the bottom of the ocean.

Many months ago I did acquire a southern owned clean rear subframe from eBay. My plan was to send this out for powder coating, and build it up on the table with all new arms and hardware as said. I want to get a second rear diff and rebuild it. Then just drop the rusted one out on the table cart and swap the new one up. The large camber arms are pretty expensive, everything gets pretty expensive, so I may not do it that way, I may put the subframe up and build it on the car.

It would be great just to have a complete spare subframe assembly and every year or two swap it over, and recondition the other one while sitting.

The front subframe had some light rust, nothing too terrible, rather unusual compared to the rear. When I had this out for the oil pan, I sanded it up a bit, and hit it with the etch primer and roll bar paint in the backyard. Not a professional job and probably won't last too long, but a hell of a lot better than it was. All the stuff up there has been replaced except for the steering rack which was only cleaned.

The transmission crossmember was pretty bad. I acquired a clean one of those on eBay for about $100 and swapped it when I did the clutch. I also primed and painted this one the same way, looks really good. I added some yellow zinc bolts from Belmetric to replace the rusted original ones, BMW wanted a lot of money for those bolts.