control arm bushings?

[bigrobtemp]

Thanks for the info bc. I will just check around and see what i can find. I will do both sides for sure and will check ball joints. Then will get the alignment. Going to wait till it warms up a little bit, apparently no one has told mother nature here in ohio that it is spring. Thanks

[Gregory891]

The front end shake is MOST likley to be tension strut bushings. My 2002 X5 was doing it and the tension strut bushings were only three years old (genuine BMW bushings). I had play in the control arm or ball joint bushings for sure. These were original to the car.

In the end, I did EVERYTHING. Lemforder (OE to BMW) control arms, ball joints and tension strut bushings. I had use of a shop press to change the tension strut bushings - so this was 15 minutes to press out the old ones and install the new ones. Shake is 100% gone. Now I can feel the (slight) fatigue of my front shocks, not leaking but showing a bit of their old age after 248.000 km.

Bilstein B6 front struts arriving, they'll be on the car in the next weeks.

MY ADVICE: If you have doubts and as most E53 have age and mileage, replace everything (tension strut bushings, control arms and ball joint). You do it ONCE and then you have a solid base for many years to come.

[upallnight]

For people who have never done this before, the most important thing to remember is that the final tightening of the nut at the bushing is with the weight of the car on the ground. Premature wear of the bushing will occur if the nut and bolt are tightened with the wheels off the ground.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by upallnight

For people who have never done this before, the most important thing to remember is that the final tightening of the nut at the bushing is with the weight of the car on the ground. Premature wear of the bushing will occur if the nut and bolt are tightened with the wheels off the ground.

Any idea how many miles are in premature failure.?

[bigrobtemp]

I am going to google the powerflex, i need to replace soon. I am going to do both sides and see that the arms do come with the ball joints in them, unless i was looking at it wrong. Thanks

[bigrobtemp]

Ok i dont have a press and i am going to pick up arms with balljoints. Pricing is all over the place. I know cheap is not always good but there is a happy medium. I have used Moog and Dorman, I see Lemforder, can anyone shed some light. Powerflex are not going to be an option casue of the pressing issue. I see complete front end kits on ebay for 200? Thanks

[bcredliner]

Lemforder is an OE supplier for BMW.

[Gregory891]

Lemforder is THE primary suspension part supplier to BMW. With respect to an E53, they were the supplier for the front control arms (forged steel one and aluminum one), the tension strut bearing, ball joint and the sway bar links.

For the rear, they supplied both control arms (stamped metal one with the ball joint that wears out AND aluminum one), the replaceable ball joint (the one you need cupped tools to pull out), the link and the sway bar links.

Lemforder supplied other parts as well - but I only can type so much.

Shocks were supplied by Bilstein, they are the low pressure version (black tube).

[upallnight]

You will need a press or you can cut out the old bushings with a sawzall. The powerflex bushings does not require a press to install. If you go to Youtube and type in powerflex bushings there is a video on installing it in a BMW E39 which is very similar to our X.

[Bmwtvboy]

What about the issue of torquing the bolts? Does the vehicle have to be sitting on blocks on the ground before you torque the front end components?
Also, is this vibration across the entire front end especially noticed under load/acceleration? But not necessarily prominent during braking?