Ball joint will shudder bad with gentle brakes from 50-60 mph.


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Since there are many potential causes of your problem my suggestion is it is best to continue to troubleshoot to get to root cause cause before spending any money on a potential fix.

Do you feel the shudder if you are sitting still and turn the wheel lock to lock and/or if you turn from lock to lock at about 10mph?
Do you hear anything when it shudders?
Is the engine idle at the proper rpm when in gear?
Does it shudder if you increase the RPMs, hold it with the brakes and turn lock to lock or is it only when your foot is not on the gas pedal?
Have you checked the power steering fluid level and is the belt tight or is it leaking?
Does it shudder when you have driven a few miles and brake fairly hard from about 70mph in a straight line?
Do you hear a clunk when you go from reverse to drive?
Have you checked sway bar links and bushings are secure and in good condition?
Do you have any steering wheel shake when driving?

Sorry for the late reply but I finally replaced the ball joints this week.

Here are the results:

1. the steering shudder that accompanies parking lot 3 point maneuvers has virtually disappeared. The steering felt lighter and there's a slight sense of more cushion from the front end, if that makes any sense.

2. If I turn the steering really quickly to reverse heading, I still get the shudder, but it's much less pronounced.

Since this is only the second part of the front suspension component that I've replaced (first being the 2 upper control arms), I think I can improve on the ride/ handling if I continue to replace all other front end components.

My next thought is to prepare for the replacement of both the tension struts and the lower wishbones, or sometimes called the lower forward and rear position control arms?

I think one of them (tension strut?) connects to the ball joints by sharing a 22mm bolt together.

Maybe I should start with this component, since when I was replacing the ball joints today I had to move the control arm out of the way and as I move it I found that the arm was moving freely without much resistance.

Probably not a good sign? Possible worn out bushing inside the tension strut?

What do you guys think?

Posting a link to the 2 sets of lower control arms I'm thinking of buying:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-e534piecekitl

By the way, big thanks to you guys for posting your experiences here. I finally gathered up enough will and courage, bought all the parts, including the jack stands and the ball joints, lifted up the front of the car and with the help of my friend knocked out both used joints and replaced them with Lemforder parts.

It's only the first day so we'll see if the steering shudder stays away for good!

^Yep, that's a solid kit and what would have been OE on our X5's. Should deliver another ~100k miles of solid service. Agreed, being able to move the front tension arm by hand, easily, is not a good sign. I'm guessing when you pull it you will find at least a good amount of cracking and maybe tearing.

Thanks a lot Crystalworks! I've been researching the diy videos and think maybe I should also swap out the sway bar links.

I see on your service history thread that you've done both sway bar links and the lower control arm.

Did you buy Lemforder as well?

Do you reuse the bolts or use all new ones?

If you are getting shake when going slow and changing directions that indicates slop likely in the CV joint. The thrust bushings are a very distinct thud as they move upwards of 1.5-2cm during braking.

Have somebody else drive the x about 5 mph and brake firmly. The wheels will shift quite a bit backwards in the car if the thrust bushings are shot.

Don't bother trying to swap the bushings if they are shot. not worth the effort. Get lemforder complete thrust arms. (if that's the issue).


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As I posted in another thread, I am not talented enough to diagnose shudders, shimmies, shakes, etc to each different part in the suspension. When I buy a used BMW I do the entire front suspension when I get some sort of issue that pops up indicating a failure of a component. Usually saves me a lot of time and headache personally.

I used Lemforder lower ball joints, Meyle HD tension arm bushings (had them pressed into original arms), Meyle HD front sway bar end links, Lemforder inner/outer tie rods, and Meyle rear (front suspension) lower control arms. It is easier to buy the front arms with bushings already pressed in (Lemforder) as andrew suggests.
I had the shop I used to work at press them in for me as I don't have a press. I reused all the hardware that was not included with their respective new parts. Many new control arms/ball joints will come with new nuts/washers.

https://i.postimg.cc/7YgmKn21/Suspension-01.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/7Z9XkPXf/Suspension-06.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/vZbXkxrJ/Suspension-03.jpg