Anyone have their thrust arm bushings replaced?
 

I was quoted $1200 (parts and labor) from an indy shop to replace all four thrust arm bushings on my 2001 3.0 X5

From your expieriences is this price fair or high? It seems a little high to me.

There are many terms used to describe the two control arms on the X5. One of them is often called the thrust arm, and the other one is called something else, maybe the rear contol arm. In any event, the independent BMW shop where I had my 03 4.4i's PPI done quoted me $550 to replace just the thrust arm bushings (the other control arm's bushings, and ll the ball joints, were fine). But I believe that includes the alignment, so $1200 for both arms' bushings, which pretty shocking, doesn't sound that far out of line.

I went ahead and replaced my thrust arm bushings myself. I simply removed the arms, and took them, with the new bushings, to a machine shop to R & R the bushings. They charged me $20 for each one, so a total of $40 in my case. Removing the thrust arm is VERY easy - just one bolt that goes through the center of the bushing, and two smaller bolts that hold the ball joint at the other end of the arm to the frame. Saved me over $300, plus I'm not convinced an alignment is necessary in my case, in which case the savings would be even more. I used Meyle heavy duty bushings, which I've heard are a nice compromise between the OEM bushings, which are pretty weak, and the polyurethane ones, which will increase ride harshness to some degree. Good luck.

That seems WAY high.

I had my two front thrust rod bushings replaced with these Meyle heavy duty bushings at my Indy for $350.

https://eactuning.com/hd-control-arm...-x5-p-446.html

How can you tell if your thrust arm bushings are shot? i have a wobble whenever my car is turning left...i suspect the issue may be the bushings but not sure.

Try driving Very slowly in a parking lot and having a friend watch your front wheels/tires. My mechanic was able to show me and I could clearly see that the wheels/tires seemed to not rotate smoothly. I could see that the rotation looked jerky and not smooth. You can't see this yourself from the driver seat and at speed you will not see it either. Once the buhsings were removed I could also see they had failed. I went with Meyle over Powerflex. Very happy so far:thumbup:

I am not 100% certain the parking lot observation will work for you but it did in my case. It's worth a try.

Just had my replaced last month with PowerFlex polyurethane bushings, they will never wear out again, only cost me $100, search for PowerFlex using the forum search function.