e46 330d axle bushes
Discussion
Hi all,
Ive just got a new car and low and behold my old e46 330d sport started making this an awful knocking noise from the rear of the car. I have taken it to a very good mechanic and he said it was the rear axle bushes, he has quoted me roughly £400. Could anybody please be helpful enough to tell me if its easy/hard? how hard(cos it probably will be) or even just some helpful hints.
Cheers
Ive just got a new car and low and behold my old e46 330d sport started making this an awful knocking noise from the rear of the car. I have taken it to a very good mechanic and he said it was the rear axle bushes, he has quoted me roughly £400. Could anybody please be helpful enough to tell me if its easy/hard? how hard(cos it probably will be) or even just some helpful hints.
Cheers
If its the rear trailing arm bushes that have gone there fairly easy to replace, they are held within a housing that can be dropped with the 3 fixing bolts removed (make a marking with a pen as to where the housing was in relation to the chassis, so when it's refitted the rear tracking won't be too far off) The housing then comes off giving access to the bush. I seem to remember having to drill the steel body of the bush as it was siezed in then it can be pushed out with a g-clamp. If you can manage this I would recomend the powerflex bushes as a replacement and much better than the standard OEM. I think there only £30ish and last a lot longer. Of course your car will need the rear toe-in reset after this.
could be your rose bushes jack the car up and see if there is any up and down movement in your wheel, if its the rtab mark 16 well cos that affect aleignment, use e46 m3 rtab's cos they are slightly stiffer. 20 quid each from a stealer, as well as marking the fig 16 the cage,with the car on the ground measure from the cage to some point on your rear trailing arm, when you put it back together use the measurment to position the cage, so when you tighten the bolt through the bushe its the same position as when the cars on the ground, this preloads the bushes, allow 1 to 2 hours a side
It will most certainly be the front outer trailing arm bushes as mentioned in the posts above. The best option is the Powerflex replacements at £35.00 the full set and you can rent the tool on ebay to DIY. If its the axle carrier bushes, its a major undertaking and certainly not a DIY job but these very rarely fail.
With the proper tool, the job is easy and quick and you will not do any damage to the trailing arms trying to hammer and chisel out the old ones.
Rear alignment would not be required although it would never do any harm to get it all reset anyway.
With the proper tool, the job is easy and quick and you will not do any damage to the trailing arms trying to hammer and chisel out the old ones.
Rear alignment would not be required although it would never do any harm to get it all reset anyway.
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff