Ok i posted a new pic yea i definitely have play at those locations.

I also found this nice video that shows that even when having the rear of the x5 jacked up its too difficult to see the play because of the way the suspension is designed so the guy shows how to unload the rear suspension to help easily see play in the rear wheel.

YouTube - ‪VAC Motorsports - Correcting tire wear on a BMW X5 E53‬‏

This is probably the best video ever made for our problems in the rear!

Cheers to VAC Motorsports...

No wonder I couldn't feel any play, that trick is priceless.

:iagree: Top man @ vacmotors, thanks for sharing. And, excellent find Artman, thanks for sharing also! :thumbup: I'm actually looking forward to doing that job now!! :rofl:

Yeah, definitely get your mechanic to do the unloading part of the suspension and checking for play, and replace whats needed to be replaced. I reckon you could finally get this one cracked!! ;)

Good luck, and thanks for the excellent updates. I say that because usually threads die when owners forget, can't be bothered to say what the fix was, or give up/put up, or just sell the motor, so nobody knows what the fix to the problem was! :rolleyes:

Thank you all!!

Its just so damn frustrating...I hate giving up on things and this is one. I love this truck/car whatever, I know its not a performace V8 under there but its so smooth best engine ive had....not to mention the best truck/car but man it has been a costly journey.

This Friday is my appointment.
1) I will be replacing the trust arms and ball joints so nothing is left from the cheap ebay kit.
2) Will ask the mechanic to unload the suspension will show him this video also and replace what is needed...or i will just see how many bushings/ball joints/control arms are needed and just replace all of the rear with name brand like bilstein/lamfounder parts and call it a day no more chasing tails.

so looks like ill spend about another 1G on parts and labor for the front plush all of rear.

so that would bring my total including tires alignments etc to about 5,000 atleast.

OK Its friday time for an update!

So just got done with the mechanic. We checked the rear and looks like my upper rear ball joints have failed. They had a lot of play in them. The other components look fine no play. I ordered 2 new rear upper control arms from partsgeek.com and will have them on monday so we will see on Tuesday. I did not change out the trust arms or ball joints in the front for a reason. I decided to do the rear and see. I still ahve the parts so if everything is fine ill hold on to them till the front wears out or sell it on ebay. I mean im sure i can shelve them for like a year with out any problems. anyhow We will see on tuesday how everything is.

Thanks for the update and goodluck! btw did you try that trick as per VAC?

Was that useful?

Glad you found something positively defective! As for keeping the front end bits, thats exactly what I would do-sort out the rear end first and go from there.. Incidentally are you talking about the balljoint on part #11 on the diagram from realoem you posted previously?

Good luck on tues, hope it all goes according to plan, and this is finally it! :thumbup:

No didnt do the trick. Because he was able to shake the wheel left to right (9 to 3) and it was very evident that it was loose. He also said that the trick looks usefull but if a ball joint is bad you dont have to do this trick its will be evident like mine is now. but if you want to see lets say minor play as in a ball joint thats going bad then it would be helpful.


Yes, i had circled the part that i saw move since i was kinda doing it myself but he said that yea the part will move and it only moved in the upper area and he said that is because the upper ball joint #11 has failed thus will allow that parts i circled to move so i ordered 2 bilstein upper rear arms for 61 each from partsgeek.com (who get their supply parts from worldpac) anyhow we will see tuesday if this fixes my problems.

FINALLY, update!!!!

So the rear arms went in today and boy oh boy the vibration/wobble feel is gone. I have a slight humming vib in the steering but that could just be the tire wear and the rear rotors are warped 100% you can see it. But the rear arms that earlier were the cause of the body vibration that i felt around 60 mph which later translated to steering vib around 70mph+