Powerflex bushings for e46

[Ozone]

I'm considering replacing the front wishbone rear bushings and the anti roll bar ones as well as the front tyres are wearing on the outer shoulders quite badly (tracking has been done).
I won't be fitting them myself, has anyone tried them?

[M3Charlie]

I have powerflex bushes on my E36 M3 and can highly recommend them. Although I have Rouge Engineering rear trailing arm bushes fitted rather than the powerflex ones as they are tougher.

[8Tech]

The Powerflex bushes are an excellent choice and they now have a lifetime warranty. They work like a bearing rather than a twisty rubber bush and improve steering and suspension feel. They also improve the brakes too if the old bushes are really shot.

Try the trailing arm bushes too, they also make a big difference.

8Tech.

[tgr]

8Tech what are the bushes that you would get replaced on a 125k miles E46?

[rumple]

Never been a fan of powerflex, id go with meyrle hd, try a BMW forum always lots of debate about powerflex, I think they make the e46 to harsh personnely.

[Ozone]

rumple said:

Never been a fan of powerflex, id go with meyrle hd, try a BMW forum always lots of debate about powerflex, I think they make the e46 to harsh personnely.

I am hoping that they will tighten up the front, not that i'm a driving god, and that they would last a decent amount of time as the current bushes have done about 12k miles (according to the receipts that i have) and are knackered. Have you fitted them all round making it harsh? I am debating whether to do that.

[mike325112]

Mine seem to have worn out in around 30k which doesnt sound much - I'm thinking of replacing mine with powerflex too. Just out of interest - how much are you being charged. Ive been quote £150 fitted which seems ok to me.

[Ozone]

Mike, that looks pretty good to me, i haven't got a fitted price yet but the bushes are £52.68 inc vat for a pair from Powerflex, i think i'll get the front anti roll bar bushes done at the same time. My car is on nearly 100k so i hope it'll sort it for a while.

[torres del paine]

Do it. They will make the car feel 'tauter' and will not perish like the OEM ones. I was sceptical at first due to naysayers claiming poor ride but it wasn't the case. It's a worthwhile modification.

[8Tech]

tgr said:

8Tech what are the bushes that you would get replaced on a 125k miles E46?

I would go for the front lower arm rear bushes and the outer front bushes on the rear trailing arms.

As you can buy the fronts for around £40.00 the pair on ebay, or about £90.00 the pair including housings, for the 20 mins it takes to install them when purchased in housings, you could DIY and save about £60.00. The trailing arm bushes are a bit more fiddley but you can rent the special tool to extract the old ones, (saves bashing your trailing arms to death with a club hammer), and fit the new ones simply by hand.

Installing the roll bar bushes will not make a noticeable difference but if you need some anyway, then buy the better Powerflex ones.

The rest are an epic to fit and only worthwhile if you are a really dedicated driver or track day hero, or again, need to replace them anyway.

The Powerflex will NOT give a harsher OR noisier ride than a set of NEW OEM bushes, people judge them for that unfairly when replacing soggy, soft, worn out rubber bushes with new Urethane bushes.

Get the Powerflex and you will wonder why you didn't do it earlier.

8Tech.

[corvus]

Ozone said:

rumple said:

Never been a fan of powerflex, id go with meyrle hd, try a BMW forum always lots of debate about powerflex, I think they make the e46 to harsh personnely.

I am hoping that they will tighten up the front, not that i'm a driving god, and that they would last a decent amount of time as the current bushes have done about 12k miles (according to the receipts that i have) and are knackered. Have you fitted them all round making it harsh? I am debating whether to do that.

I fitted them to my front wishbones and rear trailing arms. Personally I found they gave too harsh a ride at the back/more road noise (you can feel and hear drain covers more for example) although they really tightened up the rear end and made it more stable. If I was to do it again (with powerflex) I think I'd just go for the front wishbone bushes - massively improved turn in and response without any extra harshness.

[Ozone]

Thanks corvus, i will probably do the fronts and see how it feels.

[tgr]

thanks 8Tech!

[rumple]

Ozone said:

rumple said:

Never been a fan of powerflex, id go with meyrle hd, try a BMW forum always lots of debate about powerflex, I think they make the e46 to harsh personnely.

I am hoping that they will tighten up the front, not that i'm a driving god, and that they would last a decent amount of time as the current bushes have done about 12k miles (according to the receipts that i have) and are knackered. Have you fitted them all round making it harsh? I am debating whether to do that.

I fitted meryle hd front lollipops, and OEM m3 rear trailing arm bushes, the lollipops really sharpened the front up, the cars done 10k since with no issues

[bababa]

8Tech said:

Get the Powerflex and you will wonder why you didn't do it earlier.

This.

On my E36 I did the RTABs, the wishbone rear bushes and all the ARB bushes (also replaced all the ARB droplinks at the same time, because they were reasonably priced and it seemed silly not to). Really sorted the car out.

Only recommendation if you do go down this route is to make sure you are pretty generous with the copper grease on the mating surfaces of the bush components - 6 months on, I have an annoying squeak from the left wishbone bush because I evidently didn't put enough of the stuff on. Luckily a fairly quick one to sort out, but for the time being it makes the car sound a bit sheddy if I'm driving with the passenger window down

[OldSkoolRS]

Thanks for the info in this thread. I'm going to replace the wishbone rear bush on my Z3 as there is a 'clunk' under sharp turns and at 60,000 miles they are probably passed their best anyway. I'm planing on polybush for this bush and then replacing the drop link (again with a polybush version?) and maybe get new wishbones as well as they don't seem to be massively expensive (I'll be doing the work myself, so no labour to add). I fitted a used strutbrace last week and that has made a difference, so I think I'd be happy to spend on these parts just to tighten everything up a bit.

Am I right in thinking that the polybush can easily be removed? That way if I did them first and then deceided to replace the wishbone I could swop it over without having to destroy the bush as I would if were an OEM type?

[8Tech]

OldSkoolRS said:

Thanks for the info in this thread. I'm going to replace the wishbone rear bush on my Z3 as there is a 'clunk' under sharp turns and at 60,000 miles they are probably passed their best anyway. I'm planing on polybush for this bush and then replacing the drop link (again with a polybush version?) and maybe get new wishbones as well as they don't seem to be massively expensive (I'll be doing the work myself, so no labour to add). I fitted a used strutbrace last week and that has made a difference, so I think I'd be happy to spend on these parts just to tighten everything up a bit.

Am I right in thinking that the polybush can easily be removed? That way if I did them first and then deceided to replace the wishbone I could swop it over without having to destroy the bush as I would if were an OEM type?

Polybush and Powerflex are 2 different brand names for urethane bushes.

Yes, you can remove the urethane bushes from the lower arms without damage but be cautious of "cheap" lower arms. You would be better waiting until you needed them and then replacing with quality ones. I have seen some dire quality cheapo arms about with dreadful balljoint qualities.

[OldSkoolRS]

Thanks 8Tech. I've seen some on Ebay for maybe £90 including the OEM type bushes, but figured that they would be made of chocolate and only need replacing again next year: I once bought some bushes for a Sierra I had years ago and the following year it failed the MOT again on the same bushes...they'd lasted less than 10K miles.

I think I'll replace the wishbone rear bushes first with polybushes/powerflex ones (probably powerflex), then if there is still a 'clunk' under sharp turns then I'll get some Lemforder (spelling?) wishbones.

Do you know where I could buy the bush carrier from as it would be easier for me to cut the old carrier and bush away using my angle grinder and replace with a new carrier and polybush rather than faff about cutting off/burning away the old bush?

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Saturday 21st April 19:38