Replacing rear control arms

[mgbmwx5]

[wallyx5]

Try ECS Tuning or Pelican Parts

[Wayne's World]

Bimmerspecialist.com

[DillonInCO]

Bumping this thread because I need to replace my rear upper control arms as well and have the same question. Dealer wanted to sell me the value line kit, which I think they said was close to $400. Febi parts are $53.75 each from Pelican. There is also Lemfoerder which is about $100 a piece. I would pay that extra price for that if the quality is worth it, but I have to wonder how much of a difference there is. So, anyone still running Febi RUCAs? How have they held up?

Also, someone mentioned a DIY for replacement earlier in this thread, did that ever get done? Are there any good ones elsewhere? For some reason I'm having the hardest time finding service info online.

[Ricky Bobby]

Dillon.

The Febi parts will treat you just fine, and are quality. Go for it, you can change them yourself if you wanted to. Then get an alignment.

The only thing that would be value line of these parts is if the 400 price included install cost lol!

[DillonInCO]

Awesome! Ordering parts today. Anything else I should look at replacing while under there?

[Doru]

If you check the rear wheels with the air suspension on, the only wiggle you will get, is from the control arms. So you won't know if the rear ball joint is shot. usually the ball joint fails before the arms, but I am speculating here, because that happened on 2 of my BMW's. Maybe on other vehicles it's different?

Anyway, what you have to do is, with the vehicle lifted and secured, you take out the air supply held in place by a clip - it's in the rear hatch left & right below the plastic trays - very easy to access. You have to leave the air connection off, because the car will pump air all the time, even without the key in the ignition. Also, if you change stuff, it's much easier to work with "limb" suspension parts, as opposed to stiffened parts, due to the air bags pushing down hard on the control arms & wheel carrier.
I have the BMW tool (it's a press, which isn't fancy), and it's a very easy job to do with the right tools.

I changed the ball joints only about 2 weeks ago, because the rear could not be "adjusted/aligned" properly, and I would go through tires too often.
it took me about 45 min/side, but to change the ball joint only, once the car is up and you do the other stuff, the procedure to press out/in the balljoints is no more than 10 minutes.

Once you're done, you have to place the air hose (clip) back on, then lower the vehicle SLOWLY. Once the air compressor will start pumping harder, you will hear it humming. That's when you STOP lowering the car, and wait until the hum stops. Then you lower a bit more, and so on. If you let the car all the way to the ground, you can damage the air springs (bags).

Myself, I use Lemforder for all the suspension components on all my BMW's.

[jsoto]

OT....but the FEBI or Meyle HD's, what COO are they from ?

I'm using a new Indy. Was just talking about parts.
I thought the Febi was on par, but he's a huge proponent on the Lemforder.
He said both Febi and Meyle were from PRC...

[DillonInCO]

Originally Posted by Doru

If you check the rear wheels with the air suspension on, the only wiggle you will get, is from the control arms. So you won't know if the rear ball joint is shot. usually the ball joint fails before the arms, but I am speculating here, because that happened on 2 of my BMW's. Maybe on other vehicles it's different?

Anyway, what you have to do is, with the vehicle lifted and secured, you take out the air supply held in place by a clip - it's in the rear hatch left & right below the plastic trays - very easy to access. You have to leave the air connection off, because the car will pump air all the time, even without the key in the ignition. Also, if you change stuff, it's much easier to work with "limb" suspension parts, as opposed to stiffened parts, due to the air bags pushing down hard on the control arms & wheel carrier.
I have the BMW tool (it's a press, which isn't fancy), and it's a very easy job to do with the right tools.

I changed the ball joints only about 2 weeks ago, because the rear could not be "adjusted/aligned" properly, and I would go through tires too often.
it took me about 45 min/side, but to change the ball joint only, once the car is up and you do the other stuff, the procedure to press out/in the balljoints is no more than 10 minutes.

Once you're done, you have to place the air hose (clip) back on, then lower the vehicle SLOWLY. Once the air compressor will start pumping harder, you will hear it humming. That's when you STOP lowering the car, and wait until the hum stops. Then you lower a bit more, and so on. If you let the car all the way to the ground, you can damage the air springs (bags).

Myself, I use Lemforder for all the suspension components on all my BMW's.

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

[Gregory891]

Did the replacement thing on my X5 the other month. Buy Lemfoerder (they are the OEM to BMW) for your parts. Replace the control arm, ball joint (you need a tool to pull them out and reinstall) and the link part. Look at the E39 rear ball joint replacement video by Bentley on Youtube (similar suspension and some common parts) as well as the X5 E53 rear suspension video by a shop in the NE of the US.