How hard was it to remove the splash shield around the driver's thrust arm? Been scratching my head on that one for a while.

Daniel

Easy as can be, what is giving you trouble with it?

No i don't have a thunk/ clunk when braking, although i do if i go over a speed bump at say more than 10mph i get a loud clunk from underneath the engine compartment, so i go really really slow.

You may have lower control arm issues rather than or in addition to thrust arm bushings, but would need physical diagnosis to be really sure.

It`s recommended to check alignment after suspension work , so , is any adjustment actually required after checking .
does anyone check alignment before and after work is done for comparison .
assuming the alignment goes out due to wear on components , does fitting new components bring alignment back to specification without the need to adjust .

Depends on what needs to be taken loose to change the parts. If the part doesn't directly affect the alignment then you don't really need to adjust if it was good before, but the parts that are what is used to adjust the alignment would naturally require alignment after changing.

On the thrust arms no bolts with eccentric adjustment washers are taken loose, so alignment is not required. I still did my alignment after changing my thrust arm bushings simply because my steering wheel was a little off center lately, but that ended up being from the rear toe anyways so the front was still good after the bushings replaced. :thumbup:

cheers weasel
I am considering changing those thrust arm bushings soon for a long trip . not intending to do alignment with that job because as you know the bush can be replaced with the ball joint end still connected .
I was considering holding off for a couple of months and changing all the arms / bushings / ball joints / re-aligning everything .

I would prefer to leave it as it is for the trip but I am not so sure if it`s safe enough .
like I said a few posts back , this vibration first happened a while back which I thought was either the road surface or hot brakes because it was a one off at high speed .

You can feel at ease changing the bushings before without the need for alignment after, even if you unbolt the ball joint to allow the bushings to be done on a shop press it doesn't affect alignment. The only things to remember when doing the bushings is to make sure the arrow on the bushing lines up with the nub on the arm, and tighten the bolts through the bushings with her on her wheels for proper placement. If either of those steps is forgotten/overlooked it will lead to very premature failure of the bushings.

going to speak to my bmw dealer . I prefer to let the do them in 10 minutes with the bmw tool .
I don`t want to lay on the ground with big sockets and bolts in a Heath Robinson sort of way .

found this interesting article via the home page .

Ball Joint Replacement Tool

Hey all it's been awhile and I hope everyone is well! Just saw this thread, and I think I'll need to switch to these bushings, among some other things. I'm experiencing a loud and quick "click" when in reverse, wheel turned to the right (backing out of a space). I know it isn't the CV joint/boot "slapping" both were replaced about 25k ago. The sounds seems to come from the front driver side.

Any thoughts?