E39 M5 Brakes and Bushes.

E39 M5 Brakes and Bushes.

Author
Discussion

welshy

Original Poster:

11 posts

222 months

Wednesday 9th April 2014
quotequote all
Ok, so ive order some Stoptech Performance Pads and SS brake lines. Also the Powerflex front suspension bush kit which will be going on next week. Was wondering if anybody can recommend anything else I can do whilst the cars on the ramp re the front of the car. DIY Brake duct etc? Any other parts I can replace with better, stronger etc?

Cheers

Ian

Kawasicki

13,084 posts

235 months

Wednesday 9th April 2014
quotequote all
welshy said:
Ok, so ive order some Stoptech Performance Pads and SS brake lines. Also the Powerflex front suspension bush kit which will be going on next week. Was wondering if anybody can recommend anything else I can do whilst the cars on the ramp re the front of the car. DIY Brake duct etc? Any other parts I can replace with better, stronger etc?

Cheers

Ian
Are powerflex bushes better than standard?

Depthhoar

674 posts

128 months

Wednesday 9th April 2014
quotequote all
Outer tie rods, if they've not already been done?

Powerflex blue/purple, or black? The black ones are not at all resilient and better suited to the track probably.

Personally, I prefer the standard bush set up over the blue/purple Powerflex alternative. The only Powerflex items I'd consider putting on the front suspension are their anti-roll bar bushes.

With the full Powerflex set up you'll get more directness and 'feel', but that includes feeling more road harshness.

I guess it's a personal thing....trading feel for refinement and vice versa.

Each to their own.

TheAngryDog

12,407 posts

209 months

Wednesday 9th April 2014
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I know some owners use X5 bushes for something as well?

mark.c

1,090 posts

180 months

Wednesday 9th April 2014
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TheAngryDog said:
I know some owners use X5 bushes for something as well?
That's for the thrust/brake reaction bushes. I've always the standard stuff up to the job, have never been much of a fan of the harshness that comes with poly bushes, for me it doesn't outweigh the benefits.

welshy

Original Poster:

11 posts

222 months

Thursday 10th April 2014
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Depthhoar said:
Powerflex blue/purple, or black? ..........
Purple set. Its a weekend car and id happy to forgone the comfort loss. Will have a look at the outer tie roads as well.


Depthhoar

674 posts

128 months

Thursday 10th April 2014
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welshy said:
Purple set. Its a weekend car and id happy to forgone the comfort loss. Will have a look at the outer tie roads as well.
Once you've got this far into a suspension re-fresh it's difficult to know where to stop...but if you're replacing the outer tie rods it might be worth swapping the centre tie rod as well + the bush on the Pitman arm, #9 & #6 below:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=DE92...

The centre tie rod has 4 ball joints on it - which do wear a little - and if your Beast has done a goodly mileage then it might be worth doing.

Having said that, many don't bother replacing the centre tie rod as most of the physical wear is in the outer tie rod ball joints...but it's a lot easier for you or your mechanic to remove the complete tie rod assembly & associated arms from the car, then replace new bits from the convenience of a workbench. The alternative is to detach the outer tie rods and Pitman arm bush etc in situ, which is awkward, a pain, time-consuming and therefore more labour cost.

Edited by Depthhoar on Friday 11th April 08:50

Kawasicki

13,084 posts

235 months

Friday 11th April 2014
quotequote all
Depthhoar said:
I guess it's a personal thing....trading feel for refinement and vice versa.
It's not just refinement that can suffer...high speed precision and stability can also be degraded.

puttything

141 posts

168 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
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Depthhoar said:
Having said that, many don't bother replacing the centre tie rod as most of the physical wear is in the outer tie rod ball joints...but it's a lot easier for you or your mechanic to remove the complete tie rod assembly & associated arms from the car, then replace new bits from the convenience of a workbench. The alternative is to detach the outer tie rods and Pitman arm bush etc in situ, which is awkward, a pain, time-consuming and therefore more labour cost.

Edited by Depthhoar on Friday 11th April 08:50
Just did this job - lots of guides say not to pull the pitman arm and idler arm due to issues getting the pitman arm aligned at the correct height again but I spent hours trying to pop the ball joints off with the arms attached, then extracted the entire assembly and had the arms removed from the centre link in about 5 minutes.

I used some vernier callipers to measure the pitman arm height then just put it back at the same height when I reassembled. Hasn't exploded yet.