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-   -   How long do suspension bushings last? (https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/112209-how-long-do-suspension-bushings-last.html)

ajacks8 07-29-2020 10:50 AM

How long do suspension bushings last?
 
I was tossing around the idea of a FULL suspension refresh on my 2006 4.8is while I have a seized tie rod end. However, the control arms, thrust arms, and front ball joints were replaced with genuine BMW parts just 25k miles ago (4yrs ago). I'm wondering if I should perhaps omit those two items from the refresh. I've only towed once in that time (400mi) and this truck probably sees below average harshness of driving conditions/behavior. Can anyone offer insight into expected lifetime of these suspension components:

Front Lower control arms (wishbones)
Rear Upper control arms
Tension Struts (thrust arms)
Rear Ball Joints
Front Ball Joints
Rear Integral Links
Upper Guide Links

Here is the collection of parts I am looking at:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...e53-x520piecel

Any feedback (even ballpark #'s) is GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!

andrewwynn 07-29-2020 10:55 AM

Depends greatly on the driving habits and how many pot holes you hit.

My lower arms wore to the point of giving me steering wheel shake so I bought new arms and before I found the time to install them my wife's replacement arms wore out and I had to put them in her car and get another set for me.

If you aren't getting any negative feedback from the 25k parts I wouldn't preemptively replace unless the kit price saves enough to make it worth it.

ajacks8 07-29-2020 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewwynn (Post 1188595)
Depends greatly on the driving habits and how many pot holes you hit.

My lower arms wore to the point of giving me steering wheel shake so I bought new arms and before I found the time to install them my wife's replacement arms wore out and I had to put them in her car and get another set for me.

If you aren't getting any negative feedback from the 25k parts I wouldn't preemptively replace unless the kit price saves enough to make it worth it.

Thanks, Andrew. I AM getting a little bit of feedback from something. I hoped the alignment would help right after conversion to Bilstein B6 + H&R springs from air suspension...but there is still a shimmy on some roads, some speeds, less when braking. Alignment at shop stopped short of being "complete" due to tie rod end being seized. Shimmy is worse at lower speeds (30-55mph). I am sourcing the parts a little bit cheaper than the kit shown, but was not really wanting to move away from recent genuine parts to Lemforder if they likely had 10's of thousands of miles left in them. I have seen my share of potholes in Nebraska.

Also, I didn't consider that my wife's '04 3.0i has not needed any of these items replaced in 50k+ miles so that could help my perspective

ajacks8 07-30-2020 12:08 PM

Anyone else have other feedback before I purchase parts list?
 
Thanks.

Purplefade 07-30-2020 01:15 PM

How long do suspension bushings last?
 
ajacks8 - a thought on those tie rod ends, had a set seized up on me on a buddies mustang way back in the day, same scenario, seized to the point they couldn’t align it and wanted to do both inners and outers for an astronomical price obviously.... $6 and a can of “pbblast” later, those tie rods ends were no longer seized and he was fully able to align the car.

Craziest part, he took it back to the same Firestone and they didn’t say a word about it [emoji106]

EDIT: when they put it back together, ask them to put a very light coat of anti-seize on them.


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upallnight 07-30-2020 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purplefade (Post 1188643)
ajacks8 - a thought on those tie rod ends, had a set seized up on me on a buddies mustang way back in the day, same scenario, seized to the point they couldn’t align it and wanted to do both inners and outers for an astronomical price obviously.... $6 and a can of “pbblast” later, those tie rods ends were no longer seized and he was fully able to align the car.

Craziest part, he took it back to the same Firestone and they didn’t say a word about it [emoji106]

EDIT: when they put it back together, ask them to put a very light coat of anti-seize on them.


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The fire wrench is what I use to unseize seized parts. Never has a part that couldn't become unseized with the fire wrench.

Purplefade 07-30-2020 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upallnight (Post 1188652)
The fire wrench is what I use to unseize seized parts. Never has a part that couldn't become unseized with the fire wrench.



Heck, if it burns your hands less than the pbblast, you may have turned me on to something new [emoji106]

I’ve not seen it local but I’m sure it’s easy enough to find online, may have to give it a go.


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titan silber 08-19-2020 10:59 AM

I just replaced the front tension arms and wishbones and the rear tension arms and wishbones and integral links and the connected bushing/ball joint. My car had 60K miles and was almost certainly on all original parts.


Only replacing the front tension struts made a difference; everything else appeared to be quite serviceable and the alignment at the back barely changed.

ajacks8 08-19-2020 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan silber (Post 1189808)
I just replaced the front tension arms and wishbones and the rear tension arms and wishbones and integral links and the connected bushing/ball joint. My car had 60K miles and was almost certainly on all original parts.


Only replacing the front tension struts made a difference; everything else appeared to be quite serviceable and the alignment at the back barely changed.



Thanks for the insight, ts! Sounds like I should probably go for all of it while I’m after it.


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