Subframe Bushing R&R Tool Rental

[davintosh]

Originally Posted by ///M3Fresh

David send you an email yesterday in regards to renting the tool if its available? Let me know! Thanks

Thanks for posting here; your email to me got snagged by my spam filter.

Should still be possible to get it to you by the weekend if we get details nailed down this afternoon. How's the weather forecast?

[MINIz guy]

Has anybody tried these polyurethane bushings? They look like Powerflex ones but at a much cheaper price.
Amazon.com: ADUS 648 - BMW E53 X5 Rear Sub Frame Bushing: Automotive

I'm pricing quotes between Febi and Meyle HD bushings too. RM European has the FEBI bushings the cheapest for $102.80 and FCPEuro has the Meyle bushings the cheapest for $167.80. Just a heads up for anybody looking to tackle this project soon.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by MINIz guy

Has anybody tried these polyurethane bushings? They look like Powerflex ones but at a much cheaper price.
Amazon.com: ADUS 648 - BMW E53 X5 Rear Sub Frame Bushing: Automotive

I'm pricing quotes between Febi and Meyle HD bushings too. RM European has the FEBI bushings the cheapest for $102.80 and FCPEuro has the Meyle bushings the cheapest for $167.80. Just a heads up for anybody looking to tackle this project soon.

Those Amazon bushings look like Powerflexes, however only 2 available and you need 4 lol, sucks! They are still about 85 apiece so about 340 for 4?

I'm probably going to just pay the extra 60 and do Meyle HD, although I'm sure either way you slice it, new bushings are new bushings! Any of them are going to feel better than whats on there now (how many miles do you have anyway)

I would share the rental with you but I probably won't be doing this repair for I'd say another 6-8 weeks or so, too much house work to do and I'm just wrapping up the wheel bearing install so I need a break! haha

[MINIz guy]

The X5 is coming up on 110k miles. I might just go with the Febi branded ones. If I get 80-100k out of them, I'll be more than happy.

[bcredliner]

I would go with Febi. When I removed the original bushings at 105,000 they were still good.

[davintosh]

The Meyle HDs have a 4 year warranty on them. My guess is that whatever goes in at this point will last longer than most of us will own the e53s.

[MINIz guy]

Originally Posted by davintosh

The Meyle HDs have a 4 year warranty on them. My guess is that whatever goes in at this point will last longer than most of us will own the e53s.

That's my reasoning behind going with Febi parts. Why pay more?

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by MINIz guy

That's my reasoning behind going with Febi parts. Why pay more?

Good point, hell at this point I am considering just doing the Febi's when I replace, the bushings seem to be able to get almost 100k out of stock. It's not the mileage of the rubber necessarily, its the age and exposure to the elements and I'm sure any replacement you do you will get 5-7 years or more before needing replacement again.

[imalabil]

How can you for certain tell they are bad? I bought some but before installing had to get a rear tire wear condition corrected (too much neg. camber, surprised?) and the shop, which is reputable and an indy doing only alignment and brakes, said everything looked OK. But the rear end still creaks and cricks when stopping/starting or going over a pavement irregularity like a curb.
Bill

[davintosh]

Originally Posted by imalabil

How can you for certain tell they are bad? I bought some but before installing had to get a rear tire wear condition corrected (too much neg. camber, surprised?) and the shop, which is reputable and an indy doing only alignment and brakes, said everything looked OK. But the rear end still creaks and cricks when stopping/starting or going over a pavement irregularity like a curb.
Bill

Negative camber is more likely a problem with the wishbone and ball joint, and maybe the guiding suspension link. See http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...tire-wear.html I'm working on replacing those parts plus the wheel bearings on mine; got one side of the rear axle done and waiting for a part to finish the other. These tires are too expensive to be burning up so quickly!

As for the subframe bushings, you can easily check two of them by removing the bolts (#6 in the diagram below) holding the front corners of the subframe in place and looking at the bushings. If yours are like mine, the metal centers will fall right out of the bushings. That's not a good sign. If the front two are bad, chances are good that the rears are as well.