access to front lower control arm bolt

[LightlyToasted]

'07 4.8i, no adaptive drive. I need to change the front lower control arms, but am having difficulty getting access to the bolt and nut on the front of the arm (not the ball joint) especially on the left side of the vehicle.

I've removed the central splash shield, and the 2 smaller plastic shields.

I can get a wrench on the rear-facing nut, but can't seem to get a socket on the head of the front-facing bolt. It looks like I could get access if the brake air duct were removed. Can the brake air duct be removed to get access? Or do I have to remove the whole wheel well liner?

[lordshin808]

Originally Posted by LightlyToasted

'07 4.8i, no adaptive drive. I need to change the front lower control arms, but am having difficulty getting access to the bolt and nut on the front of the arm (not the ball joint) especially on the left side of the vehicle.

I've removed the central splash shield, and the 2 smaller plastic shields.

I can get a wrench on the rear-facing nut, but can't seem to get a socket on the head of the front-facing bolt. It looks like I could get access if the brake air duct were removed. Can the brake air duct be removed to get access? Or do I have to remove the whole wheel well liner?

i went thru the exact same problem when I replaced mine a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to remove the entire wheel well so I decided to use my dremel and cut a slit on the lower plastic shield and pull it down enough to gain access. Saved me alot of time. btw, we have the same model and year.

[LightlyToasted]

Interesting - thanks! All of the videos I've found seem to have that panel pulled down just like in your picture, or conveniently missing (perhaps they removed the whole forward half of the wheel well liner).

Did you notice any ride improvements with the new control arms? I have a lot of side to side swaying, and also some bounce-back (rearward) when stopping abruptly.

[lordshin808]

Originally Posted by LightlyToasted

Interesting - thanks! All of the videos I've found seem to have that panel pulled down just like in your picture, or conveniently missing (perhaps they removed the whole forward half of the wheel well liner).

Did you notice any ride improvements with the new control arms? I have a lot of side to side swaying, and also some bounce-back (rearward) when stopping abruptly.

yea, all the videos i watched before doing the job looked a little different from what I had too. Either BMW changed the design or that person already removed the entire forward half. I didn't want to go thru the hassle of removing everything just to get the socket in place.

i definitely noticed improvements. the ball joints was shredded so every time I went over any rough roads or bumps, I get a loud metallic clunking/popping sound. noise is gone and it feels alot more stable now.

[LightlyToasted]

Originally Posted by lordshin808

yea, all the videos i watched before doing the job looked a little different from what I had too. Either BMW changed the design or that person already removed the entire forward half. I didn't want to go thru the hassle of removing everything just to get the socket in place.

I'm also wondering if the sport package (which I have) comes with different front facia which makes any difference on how things are attached to the forward half of the wheel well liner.

Thanks for taking and posting the picture. Huge help.

Did you do the final torque of the bolt with the vehicle weight on the wheels, e.g. on ramps?

[LightlyToasted]

Did the job a few weeks ago. I was able to disconnect the wheel well liner from the front facia, and pull it down to get access to the bolt from the front of the vehicle (not from the wheel well).

PITA to do final torque on the ground. Would probably do it on ramps next time, like when I get around to doing the lower control arms.

Significant improvement in handling - well worth the time and effort.

[lordshin808]

Originally Posted by LightlyToasted

Did the job a few weeks ago. I was able to disconnect the wheel well liner from the front facia, and pull it down to get access to the bolt from the front of the vehicle (not from the wheel well).

PITA to do final torque on the ground. Would probably do it on ramps next time, like when I get around to doing the lower control arms.

Significant improvement in handling - well worth the time and effort.

nice! did you have to get new rivets or you just reuse the old ones? was removing the wheel well liner alot of work? you definitely have more patience and time than me. hahaha

[LightlyToasted]

Originally Posted by lordshin808

nice! did you have to get new rivets or you just reuse the old ones? was removing the wheel well liner alot of work? you definitely have more patience and time than me. hahaha

I didn't remove the wheel well liner - I just removed the 2 screws from the bottom at the very front where it connects to the front bumper cover. I also removed a few screws and rivets from within the wheel well so that the liner could be pulled down more easily from the front. Take a look at the horizontal section sticking out of the front section of the wheel well liner (#1 here). That's the part I pulled down, leaving the rest of the wheel well liner attached.

I was able to reuse the rivets, but replaced several screws and rivets that were missing, likely due to previous work done by the prior owner.

The procedure in the TIS describes pretty well how to do this.

[lordshin808]

Originally Posted by LightlyToasted

I didn't remove the wheel well liner - I just removed the 2 screws from the bottom at the very front where it connects to the front bumper cover. I also removed a few screws and rivets from within the wheel well so that the liner could be pulled down more easily from the front. Take a look at the horizontal section sticking out of the front section of the wheel well liner (#1 here). That's the part I pulled down, leaving the rest of the wheel well liner attached.

I was able to reuse the rivets, but replaced several screws and rivets that were missing, likely due to previous work done by the prior owner.

The procedure in the TIS describes pretty well how to do this.

i get it now. wish i had that TIS when I replaced mine. it never occurred to me that you can access the bolt from the front.

[Toothbrush]

Sort of late the party here, but I pretty much did the exact same thing. It took a little bit of extra time on the first side (started with passenger) to work out what was the minimal amount of work needed just for access, but the second side took less than half the time.

Also, I picked up a ball joint separator from a local parts store, but it wasn't large enough. So... I ended up using my 27mm wrench as a you would a pickle fork and put pressure on the old arm while giving the ball joint a couple of good smacks with a hammer and it popped right out.

Those plastic rivets are pretty cheap. When I replaced all of the engine partition, I bought a bunch of extra ones and paid less than $1 per rivet. Well worth it since there are so many and many I've found all over the vehicle are worn out or simply missing. I did find one during this work that didn't appear to actually connect to anything. (stuck in the liner through a hole that appears to have been connected to some other part in the past. )