So, I went in to get my car aligned today and they told me that I need new front control arm bushings. I was told this a while ago, but they are now saying that without them the car will not keep it's alignment and the tires will wear fast.
My questions are:
a) is the above true?
b) how important are they really?
c) how tough of a DIY is this? I'm not an experienced mechanic by any means, but I can change my own oil. Should I just pay to get these done or is something worth trying?
a) yes
b) very
They are responsible for keeping the rear of the control arm in place and when worn allow the entire front suspension to shift around to different angles every time a bump is hit.
I looked at all the DIY's and they explain it very well....I'm a little worried about removing the bushings from the control arm and the bushings from the carrier...sounds like it gets a little tricky! What was your experience with that part?
I just did this on mine. I did not buy off ebay just a regular store and the parts were $110. the shop wanted $350 to do it. it took me about 3-4 hours. if you are mechanically inclined at all, I say DIY for sure. no regrets, but kind of a pain to put back on.
Just an FYI from experience, I bought the "OEM" bushings from BAS and they only lasted 1500 miles and were in worse shape than the originals. I then bought Meyle from Reuben at desert auto works (or whatever) and now 3500 miles in they are still fine. Basically what I am saying is that choose quality so you only have to do it once.
You may also want to think about getting your control arms replaced as well as your control arm bushings. There are two ball joints in the control arm that wear about as fast as the control arm bushings themselves. While these don't affect alignments as much, they are still critical and you might as well replace them while you are under there.
However, the control arms are much much more difficult to replace than just the control arm bushings.
Freeze,
I am about as mechanically inclined as you stated yourself to be. I had to choose whether to change the bushings or the whole arm AND bushing and whether or not I could do it myself. I did extensive research to determine which way to go. Since I bought my car used and saw potential for having to do the ball joints later (pressed into the arms) I decided to buy Meyle HD arms and bushings together and install everything all at once. Materials were close to $400 (Ruben at DesertMotorWorks) and my labor was about 3.5 hours. Looking back 1500 miles later I think I made the right choice. I learned a lot about this area of the car in the process too. I now have confidence to do other DIY's within certain limits.
BE CERTAIN that you have the "pickle fork" (ball joint seperator) as described in most DIY's. That pickle fork and my 3 lb hammer were the hands down All-Stars of my project. Don't underestimate how hard you have to hit that sucker to make the old balljoints break loose. Putting the new one on is a piece of cake. Make sure you have a rubber mallet to get the bushing onto the new arm (bushing and bracket will be prepressed for your convenience). A little soapy water to lube it up and you should be ok. Finish it off with a trip to your preferred shop for alignment.
By the way, search for the other required tools such as the metric wrench sizes. Sockets work for some of the job. Do yourself a favor and get most of the tighter stuff with pivoting and wratcheting wrenches.
Good luck! And if everything goes to sh** during your project, E46Fanatics members are always here with additional advice.
Anybody can give me tips on how to use the 3 way jaw puller? I went to my hardware store and cant figure how its suppose to pull the rubber out. Unless I was looking at the wrong item.
Just get the new carrier with busings installed. it's only like $20 more each side. It did it the cheap way the first time and spent a good 4 hours and $20 worth of tools to get the old bushings cut out and press the new one in. Next time, I am buying the carriers with the bushing already pressed in and probably will take me less than an hour to replace them.
It's only a $10 item. By the time you finish banging the snot out it with your 3lb hammer, the end of it will be a bit mushroomed. Might as well just buy it.
Yeah bushings are very important and can really screw with an alignment if you don't get some new ones after they go bad. The factory BMW RTABs (Rear Trailing Arm Bushings) are a very soft material to provide the quietest, most comfortable ride possible. Because of this, we have seen factory mounts require replacement in less than 50,000 miles and 3 years. On modified vehicles, expect them to require replacement sooner. You can check the ones we have online right here if you like:
Just got the same reply from a brake shop here when trying to get an alignment. They wanted $500 to change the control arm bushings and refused to do an alignment without it. Now my steering wheel shakes slightly at moderate speeds and I swear it didn't do it before I brought it in for a balance and alignment. It's a good thing I read this thread first and I'll buy the set myself and do it as soon as I close on a house with a garage...
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