Hey SlickGT1, today I took off all of the tires to get a good inspections of everything.

The driver side rear that has the new airbag, appears to have a new control arm as well. I checked everything else using a crow bar to see if anything had play, but everything was pretty tight. There is a control arm to the rear of the brake disc and one to the front (not knowing the correct name for this one, I will call it the front control arm). The front control arm didn't have any play but I was able to swivel one end by hand, so I'm not sure if that part is normal.
All of the bushings and bushes were in awesome shape. The sub frame bushes were not cracked or worn. If I had to guess, I would say they were changed at some point given the condition.

The passenger side rear looked equally as good as the driver side but I did forget to check the front control arm to see if it swiveled the same as the other side.

I did find the source of the noise from my front end, it appears as though I need to change the front driver side tie rod. Is there a chance any of my issues are related to the tie rod?

In regards to the ski like effect on rainy days, is it possible that when the previous owner changed the driver side control arm, they never had it properly aligned, so the issue is do to the poor alignment? I read on one DIY, that you have to use a special alignment tool while installing the new control arm.

I know you're pretty set on the issue being the control arms, I'm just checking and double checking to try and reduce the chances of me not fixing the right parts.......funds are running low for my project car. :)

Just to recap: the car rides great on dry days. I can get this car up to 90 mph without any steering wheel shake, the car doesn't drift to one side, I can take my hands off of the steering wheel and it drives straight. If I brake hard with my hands off of the steering wheel it stays straight.

What I have noticed on dry days is that if I hit a hard enoght bump, it will send the rear end into another direction. Also when getting on the on-ramp to the freeway, it's one of those big sharp circular turns, the wheels squeal even at low speeds.

Rainy days is just as I explained before, the rear end drives like its on skis.

Now, I didnt hear you say if you did all this with the air out of the springs.

Could be alignment. But you would feel pulls and tugs in the dry too.

Do the tie rod. Get aligned. See if issue is better.

**UPDATE**Plenty of pics

I made an error earlier, it was not a bad tie rod, it was a bad driver side sway bar link.


So this morning it took off all of the tires again but this time I let the air out of the rear air bags.

I have pics below and almost everything looks good.

Driver side rear subframe bushes looks and feel good.
Attachment 56501

driver side rear control arm looks good. no play.
Attachment 56502

The other end of the driver side rear control arm looks equally good. no play.
Attachment 56503

No play here.
Attachment 56504

the other driver side rear sub frame bushes looks good.
Attachment 56505

Solid as a rock
Attachment 56506

No Issues here.
Attachment 56507

No issues here
Attachment 56508

No issues here
Attachment 56509

Now here we have an issue!!! This is on the rear passenger side. Besides for visually looking bad, I was also able to easily move the lower half of the rotor in and out (away from me and towards me). What is this part and is it possible to change just the bushing opposed to the entire part? Is there a DIY for it?
Attachment 56510

No this cant be good. Both rear tires tilt in when the air bags are deflated. I'm assuming this is not normal.
Attachment 56511

Attachment 56512

When the bags are empty more camber is fine. I have to find that video for you on YouTube. You also need to sort of push up on the spring perch to fully release tension.

Not sure if bushing only can be replaced. I haven't had the pleasure of working on mine yet.

Do you know the name of the part? Why of course you do, you're SlickGT1. What a silly question for me to ask ;)

I think it's called a 'swing arm' or 'lower swing arm'.

Lol. But I know how to use realm.com.

Lower swing arm or integral link. Please look at link and tell us what you picture is showing.
RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.4i REAR AXLE SUPPORT/WHEEL SUSPENSION

I believe it's not the swing arm but instead is the rear ball joint. So if this is the case, it is good news for me because it will be easier and cheaper to do.

Below is a YouTube of the exact same issue.

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

This is the ball joint part:

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.4i Repair kit for ball joint

This is a great YouTube for a DIY:

BMW 5-series E39 1997- 2003 Rear ball joint, removing and installing - YouTube

Ok, so I just ordered new rear ball joints and a new front driver side sway bar link. I also order the 18mm thin bike wrench for installing the sway bar link.

I plan to just purchase the ball joint removing tool from Harbor Freight.....or......I believe there is a guy on here who rents out the ball joint removal/install tool for $50. Let me check to see if he is still on this forum.

Hey Slick: my 3.0 (no self level) arched like that.. any input what to change to fix it. I don't want to just throw bunch of parts at it...

OP: hope you don't mind me borrowing ur pictures

It is likely the same thing. But for you to test, it will be tougher. Watch the video above how they release tension by pressing up on the spring perch. You need to somehow do the same to figure out which bushings died, to be 100% sure.