sorry about the confusion. Suspension and steering components arent my forte.......

can i buy the control arm ball joints without buying the entire arm as well?

no , the ball joint is factory fitted but the bush is replaceable .but if the bush is worn chances are the ball joint is worn also .
if you study the BMW parts list you will see what is available .take time to figure out the options .
the tension strut bushes and ball joints are replaceable one time , the next time you need to buy the arm with bush installed .
you would probably be best finding a good independant garage to do this repair if you are not mechanically inclined .

ok. i think i've got it now. I was told my control arm ball joints were worn should i assume they're talking about the lower control arms? The reason for replacement stems back to the steering wheel shake when braking at 70kmh or faster.

I've found a garage to fit the parts but i just need to order the correct ones.

thanks for you patience amacman

I don`t think you should assume anything
find out exactly what needs replacing if your budget is tight . I just read your edit . ask the garage to inspect what needs replacing , it won`t take long to inspect .
maybe read this entire thread again because I have added edit to my posts .

I agree(d) with Amacman, just buy the bushings and balljoints and all associated nut/bolts etc. However, looking at it from another perspective, (after doing this myself) although there will be nothing wrong with your arms (so no need to replace these at all) the tension rod bushing (no. 7 in RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 3.0d Frnt axle support,wishbone/tension strut) is a REAL pain in the arse to remove. I did it myself at a small engineering firms place, and used their hydraulic press. Took me about an hour each and alot of sweat and frustration to get these bushes out. I had to give the place £40 to use the press and about 2 hours total of my time.

I also had a sh*t time with the balljoints as ALL the heads (inverse torx) of the bolts snapped off, even with a generous helping of WD40 a day before. I ended up taking it to my friends garage and he got his mechanic to take off the hub-carrier (which was necessary, and something I didnt want to entertain without the correct tooling/motorised car-lifts etc) and then drill out the snapped bolts. Cost me another £80 and half a day messing about to'ing and fro'ing.

So my angle is this.. I had every intention of doing it all myself as in theory its not a hard job to do, and I'd easily changed everything else front end suspension-wise up til this point. Though with everything rusted and having been fused together for 100k miles things got a bit trickier than I had anticipated. Would I do it again? NO. I'd buy the parts complete from BMW, split the necessary balljoints and fit the new parts with alot less aggravation.

Like I said I agree with amacman in principle as it is what I did, and would always normally do, but after I have experienced it firsthand, I'd rather pay the 'extra' without the grief, which after all said and done with extra costs, and my time, is about the same cost anyway!

that is very good information from Isambard
I had similar problems with replacement so anyone without access to specialist equipment should probably buy the suspension arms as a complete unit to make the job quick and easy .

Control Arms, Ball Joints & Bushings
 

Once again>>:iagree:>>with amacman. Sound advice from experience. I also just completed this very procedure on my 2000 X5 4.4i. My 2 cents, FWIW...
I have my own DIY shop at home in the country, floor space, shop press, Vices, Air tools, blah, blah, blah. It was easy for me to press out the new bushings in the new "wishbone" arms and install the Poweflex bushings (BavAuto) in both this & the tension strut - the arm attached to the front frame and to the new ball joint at the bottom of the carrier. That one with the PITA inverse Torx aluminum alloy fasteners that are easy to bugger-up during extraction. I had to vise-Grip one of those out of there a 1/4-turn at a time. AN extra $50 USD per set but you don't have to go back there in another 30-60K miles. Plus more responsive on the road. :thumbup:
Also, i went down and replaced the torque-to-yield fasteners with grade 8 and nylock nuts w/flat washers. Re-useable. Just get a new nylock nut next time.
While I was in there I hosed down all of the rubber CV boots with a non hydrocabon or alcohol-based cleaner, inspected the boots for cracks & (luckily) finding none, Applied 303 Aerospace Protectant. Did the same for the air bags in the rear. Just good insurance for the long run.

Suggest Meyle brand links & Ball Joints every chance you can apply them. Meyle has re-engineered several suspension components for performance cars. Look for the Meyle HD rating. particularly with the Anti-Sway Links.
Otherwise, the Febi Bilstien and other German parts are very good substitutes. My wishbones came from BAVAuto & looked great by comparison to BMW OEM.

AS for the FINAL torque-to-spec on the suspention components - has to be with certain amount of fuel in tank & persond in each seat with min weight. I paid the Stealer to this along with the alignment - good use of their talents. I tried this in my garage and couls not get the monkeys to stay still in the car and wedge my fat butt under the small space with the tires ON! How does this happen w/o a o/h rack or alignment rack?

Good Luck & happy Wrenching!
Skidmark X5 :D

So, you're agreeing with amacman agreeing with me? Good man! :bustingup

Tags, let us know how you get on either way... :thumbup:

Just found out today from the alignment shop that I will need new tension strut (front control arm) bushings. Bushings have already been replaced once, current mileage is 88k. I am very interested in knowing why BMW specs only one bushing replacement. Was set on picking up Meyle HD bushings, but now am confused as to whether I really need completely new arms. For the record, the shop says that the ball joints are still OK. Even if they weren't, couldn't I just replace those as well and keep the original arm? Thanks in advance!

I don`t know why they specify one replacement bush . I don`t see a problem if you want to replace a second time but I am not the design engineer of the control arm so take your own chance if you like .
I would consider replacing the bush a second time on my car and keep inspecting frequently for problems .