Front Control arm bushing change to Powerflex done in the driveway!
 

I just wanted to let everyone know that it is completely possible to change your control arm bushings in your driveway! It took 3 hours to do the first side and 40 minutes to do the 2nd side ( can you say learning curve??? )

I rented the ball joint kit at my local Oriley's and with the help of a 12" x 1/2" threaded rod, a couple of pieces of 2" and 3" pipe, nuts, washers, a strong impact wrench and some liquid hand soap!

The removal of the bolt that holds the bushing to the frame was a no-brainer. From there it was just a matter of using the tools at hand to press out the old bushing and press back in the purple powerflex ones back in place ( the liquid hand soap was the key!!! ) and don't forget the copper grease. Then after putting the bolt back in, we put the beast back on it's feet and torqued the bolts to 60ft/lbs.

The beast has 105k on the clock and yes, both sides were starting to rip apart and I could feel the slop in the wheel every time I went up the driveway. No more slop anymore, and it definitely feels more solid on the road :) It was a well spent $100 and hopefully I will not have to address this problem again in the future! I did purchase new ball joints for the other side of the arm, but there was no reason to replace them as there is NO play in the joint.


Now on to the rear sf bushings!

Where did you purchase the powerflex bushings?

Powerflex BMW E53 X5 (00-06) Front Lower Radius Arm To Chassis Bushing : Bimmerzone.com

They were $109 when I ordered them a while back. I fully plan on replacing the anti-roll bar bushing when they need it in the future with the powerflex ones. Just wish they didn't want a fortune for the rear SF bushings... I will be replacing the rears with stock'ers :(

Any reason as to why you didnt use the black powerflex bushes ?

I just went with the lowest price I could find :D

It's not like you can see them with the big 20's on the front :cool:

I m not concerned if you can see them:dunno: its more in regards to the claims that the black powerflex bushes are 20% stiffer than the purple bushes.

I didn't want to state the obvious :)

I'm not racing the beast, just trying to navigate the bad roads here in the D and don't want to do the job twice :(

Now that I have been driving on them for a week, I am impressed with their performance and hope to get many years of good service out of them!

I did mine in the driveway as well. So far they have been excellent.

So how far did you get on the original ones and how far have you gone on the PF's?

When you decide to do the rear bushings lmk as I'm considering doing mine also .I'll split the cost of renting the tool