I bought two of those arms on ebay, I can't remember the name of the seller, but my mech installed them months ago and they are working great and no more shimmy , pretty solid steering now. I say do it and don't pay the ridiculous prices at the dealer, my mech who works at a bmw dealer told me that all they do is put a bmw stamp on their parts .

I know those white with pretty roundel boxes BMW use for the OEM parts are worth a pretty penny! I say this because that's the only difference between some of the aftermarket parts and OEM. I found this out a long time ago with brake shoes. Mintex shoes cost $26 a set and the Mintex stamped, OEM boxed shoes cost $190 at the dealership.

Thanks! Then I think I will get the aftermarket control arm for my loved X5!

I read the document in TIS and the instruction on the home page, both of them say a special tool called puller is needed to remove the control arm. Do I have to get the tool to remove the control arm? Is there any way to remove the control arm without any special tool? By the way, do I have to do wheel alignment after renew the control arm? What is wheel alignment? Thanks for help!

My bmw mech just wacked them with a hammer and they came out......and no wheel alignment is necessary.

Check this manfucaturer (LEMFÖRDER) as well...mainly BMW stamp their product and sale as own original...LEMFÖRDER prices much lower without bmw roundel stamps on it...

http://www.zf-trading.com/brand_lem_gb

Today I bought all tools that needed to replace control arm, then started to work. After I jacked up my car, took off the wheel and started to unscrew the nut that connects to sub-frame, I found that the screw was not 18mm, which is said in the instruction in the home page, I found that the screw was 16mm. Since I did not buy 16mm socket, so what I had to do was to put the wheel back on and lower the car. I will go out to buy 16mm socket tomorrow, and re-start the work. It really sucks.

you can just hammer it if you are not reusing the joint.

Why not just buy the whole set of sockets? :dunno: The time and gas money for running back and forth are more likely to cost you more in the end. Besides that, you're more than likely to use most of those sockets anyway if you plan on doing other works (either around the house or on the car).

Totally agree! I've always take my set of tools with me when I'm changing my drive...keep it always nearby...