Yea I'm trying do all the suspension components so I can get an alignment afterwards.

Mine being a CA car it's pretty rust free underneath, all my control arms are still nice and black w/o any rust with only a few specks of surface rust here and there.

I know it's not much, I think I save $40 total if I just get the outers but when the whole bill is almost $800-850 (front and rear) for all the parts, every penny counts!

Also will be doing rear subframe bushings just as part of maintenance but from what I see an alignment isn't necessary as the frame can drop enough w/o any removal of the arms correct?

nothing will get tweaked on the rear subframe.

its not about rust on the lower control arms. its ALL about the big end bushings. even with an 06 model, our vehicles are over 12 years old and those bushings have taken a HUGE beating. I'm a ford guy. "most" cars have single unit lower control arms that are tied to the frame rail and also hold the front spring/shackle/strut what have you. this fucking engineer is probably laughing in his grave right now....or hopefully in jail.



NOT only do you need weird ass 21mm wrenches on BOTH sides of BOTH bolts...because why make it easy? ITS the biggest damn torsion grommet I've ever seen. my 01 has 185k on it and all four have completely failed. I get this weird shudder when I brake and all my brakes are brand new rotors/pads...inner/outer tie rods. all cv joints. I was tearing hair out (what little I have left). then they were like well...we got it close but the control arms are done. huh? then I looked myself. they are GARBAGE. I can see that they are clunking around. look at yours. I got the lifetime alignment warranty from firestone for $130 5 years ago and it has paid itself 10 times over in free diagnostics on this weird ass vehicle.

I was referring to the rust on the tie rod locking nut.


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Thanks for following up, stackz. Glad it worked out so well.

What mileage are / were you at when you had the problems?

I'm at 187k, well aligned, but have tire wear on the outer corners. Most (all?) other front suspension components are pretty new, but not the inner tie rod ends. Tire wear could be (likely is) due to problems before I replaced most of the other components and got the alignment, but not sure, and holding off on replacing the tires due to the uncertainty.

Did you have tire wear, and if so, what was it? Any other symptoms?

Thanks.

I just redid my 05 with 185k miles last Nov. Front & rear. My front brake pads were shot, the rotors were thin, and the steering shook when braking so I decided that if there was a ball joint on the part I was going to replace it. The drivers side outer CV boot was torn (I had replaced the passenger side at 175k), so I was tearing a lot apart anyway. The weird part is that I couldn't really feel a lot of play in any one joint - so I was questioning whether all the work was worth it as I was doing it. But afterwards the vehicle is greatly improved. Not so much with handling, but noticeably quieter when hitting small impacts (tar strips, expansion joints, etc).

So on the front:
inner & outer tie rods
tension struts
ball joints
wishbones (control arms)
torsion bar links
drivers axle
pads & rotors

On the rear:
ball joints
integral links
guiding suspension links
wishbones (control arms)
torsion bar links

My biggest issues with the repair were the same as everyone else that ever posted - getting the front and rear ball joints out of the spindles. Full alignment after. I thought it was a difficult job until I did the front ball joints on my '06 e90 with 220k miles. Now I realize the X5 was smooth sailing.

Overall I'm glad I did this work as I've had the vehicle for 8 years and am planning on 3 more. The car is still really solid for the age and mileage - but I do feel like I'm replacing it one part at a time. I was buying parts for multiple cars because I had a rash of mechanical issues, but I think I put ~$1100 in parts and alignment. I bought aftermarket parts that I had some confidence in like lemforder, febi, meyle. I decided to avoid uro though the prices were attractive. I'm not saying all these parts needed replacing, but I only wanted to screw with it once and deal with an alignment shop once, so I invested in parts. Only time will tell if good choices.

Anyone have a part number for left and right inner tie rods?

This is what I bought from Bavauto - now closed. Go to realoem to search for the BMW P/N or maybe the lemfoerder P/N in the google machine will get you what you need. This is obviously the entire tie rod - if only inner or outer you'll need to refine your search.

2005 BMW X5 3.0i Tie Rod Assembly
PART#: 27112 02
BRAND: LEMFOERDER

Thanks for that. I did find the part number on realoem. I had been looking under suspension prior to asking for help, but I finally found it under steering.

I could not find just the inner's from a google search. Neither ESC OR FCP Euro had them either. I ended up buying the entire assembly made by Meyle as they advertise them to be premium quality. I've had questionable experiences with other Lemfoerder components, so i'll give these a go.

thanks

I used Lemforder inner/outer on my 4.8is but have used Meyle tie rods in the past with no issues. Am running Meyle HD bushings, swaybar end links, and control arms ATM on the 4.8... again no issues.