after market ball joints yes or no
 

has anyone used after market ball joints like this one BMW Ball Joint Rear (In Rear Wheel Carrier) - Lemforder 33326767748 | FCP Euro or should I stay with bmw oem?

i think Lemforder is one of the OEM suppliers... besides, they are a well known german manufacturer ( i think ZF bought them out - or the other way around), and unless that particular item was made in china, you should be ok...

lets see what others have to say - maybe somebody had a first hand experience with them...

Lemforder is the OEM for the E53 for all of the front & rear control arms, bushings and ball joints. I just replaced ALL of them (front & back) on my X5. I briefly considered other brands and bought ONLY Lemforder. If you are going to go through all of the time & labor to do so, why try to save a few $?

so the lemforder is the same as these then?
BMW Ball Joint Rear (In Rear Wheel Carrier) - Genuine BMW 33326767748

For what its worth, BMW sells a "value line" rear wheel ball joint kit for about 96 bucks, which comes with 2 snap rings, 2 ball joints and new hardware. Look up on realoem for part numbers, but yes lemfoerder is oem.

thx for the replies I got my answer .

after market ball joints yes or no
 

Does anyone know if the part quantity in the 'value line' is any lower than the standard single parts by BMW or are the just cheaper as they are sold in sets ?

I too am looking at doing some suspension refresh in the spring and have been eyeing those sets on real oem

Anti-roll bar end links front
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=FA93&mospid=47749&btnr=88_0037& hg=88&fg=80

Anti-roll bar links rear
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...39&hg=88&fg=80


Radius Rods
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...31&hg=88&fg=80


control arms
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...30&hg=88&fg=80


Thanks
Junkycosmos

4.8is 2005 @ 90k

The "value line" is still oem parts and no less quality, I know the name is misleading. It's basically the parts and hardware put together so the techs can order 1 set of parts for the work order, as opposed to 2 ball joints 6 bolts and 2 snap rings, this way they only order 1 part number for the job.

They do value line kits for thrust arm bushings and other susp parts too.

Lemforder yes, anyone else other than OEM no