E36 Bushes - What size?

[therealpigdog]

I'm going to be getting new bushes fitted to my 323 coupe and so may as well upgrade to Powerflex bushes. Larkspeed (local to me) do a full kit of concentric bushes for £185 which seems pretty reasonable, but I need to specify whether it is 23, 24 or 25mm. can anyone clarify which ones I need (the car isn't local so can't go and check)?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/POWERFLEX-FULL-SUSPENSION-BU...

Thanks in advance for your help.

[E30M3SE]

Need more details on the car, year, coupe/saloon/conv, m/sport suspension?

Probably going to be 24mm or 25mm (BMW state 24mm or 25.5mm), size they require only applies to the diameter of the front ARB, so safest way of getting it right is to measure the diameter of th ARB with a set of calipers or micrometer.

[therealpigdog]

Its a 1998 323i coupe. Not sure if it has the Msport suspension to be honest but if its any help, current dampers are yellow (ok, so that sounds like a girlie comment but I bought the car with no history and not sure whether MSport was standard or option). I suspect that it is standard suspension although seeing as springs, dampers and bushes are shot, it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference at the moment - it rides like cr@p!

Car is in storage 200 miles away, but may be able to get someone to go in and measure the ARB. Was hoping that I could avoid that so as to get the parts ordered before a trip down.

Thanks for your help anyway.

[E30M3SE]

The yellow dampers would suggest that they are Bilsteins, so it does have the sport set up, so 25mm kit is what you want.

N.B. my suggestion in my first post re measuring the front ARB, as the car has no history anything could have happened to it in the last 13 years.

[V8mate]

Responding to your request, I'm probably going to be a bit unhelpful

I threw my front ARB away and replaced it with an M3 variant, so I that I could use droplinks from the suspension struts. And the M3 ARBs are the narrowest - 23mm.

Which narrows you down to 24 or 25mm.

I'm reasonably sure that the original part on mine was 25mm, but...



However, have you run your car through the most amazing BMW resource website ever? If you've got your log book handy, use your VIN, else just click the relevant bits.


I bought all my bushes from eBay seller wackie racers. I didn't get a job lot because I've got various bits from various models on mine, and I can't remember if I used him because he's cheap or because he had everything I needed in stock. But, I can vouch for a smooth transaction and quick delivery.

[Smike]

E30M3SE said:

Need more details on the car, year, coupe/saloon/conv, m/sport suspension?

Probably going to be 24mm or 25mm (BMW state 24mm or 25.5mm), size they require only applies to the diameter of the front ARB, so safest way of getting it right is to measure the diameter of th ARB with a set of calipers or micrometer.

If it's a coupe option 704 should be an automatic no cost delete - i.e. it should come with the 25.5mm front arb and 18mm rear arb UNLESS someone specifically ordered it without that option. It is pretty rare for that to happen.

As said the safest way is to measure the bar but in the absence of that I'd go for the 25.5 mm option if I was going to gamble

[mikial]

V8mate said:

Responding to your request, I'm probably going to be a bit unhelpful

I threw my front ARB away and replaced it with an M3 variant, so I that I could use droplinks from the suspension struts. And the M3 ARBs are the narrowest - 23mm.

Which narrows you down to 24 or 25mm.

I'm reasonably sure that the original part on mine was 25mm, but...



However, have you run your car through the most amazing BMW resource website ever? If you've got your log book handy, use your VIN, else just click the relevant bits.


I bought all my bushes from eBay seller wackie racers. I didn't get a job lot because I've got various bits from various models on mine, and I can't remember if I used him because he's cheap or because he had everything I needed in stock. But, I can vouch for a smooth transaction and quick delivery.

That really is the BEST BMW resource ...for sure...thanks for the link.

[B3Svert]

Call your local dealer with the reg plate, they will be able to tell you. I did this with my e36 track car last year and they gave me the info over the phone, no hassle.