bmw e46 front lower control arm rear bushes

[technicalfoamboy]

Hi,

I have been trying to eliminate some tramlining / wheel movement whilst driving and on inspection I noticed I hadn't tightened up my front stabiliser links correctly which may have contributed to the problem. (I refurbished my front and rear suspension last year)

It did improve slightly but I still get a little movement from each wheel as you drive over underlations and road markings, for example.

I also checked my rear lower control arm bushes and took them off (Meyle HD) gave them a clean, re-attached using fairy liquid to get them on and went for a test drive. Again, not entirely sure if by cleaning the bushes, it actually acheived anything but I did notice something whilst playing around with the bushes themselves.

When I re-attached each bush there seemed to be a lot of play / ability to jiggle the bushes around the control arm end. There are not damaged and in my opinon they are fine as they are only 14 months and about 2k miles old.

Question: How much "play / wiggle" should there be in the bush when fitted to the control arm (not attached to chassis at this point)? I was hoping the bush to be a tight fit with minimum movement.

Can anyone please confirm for me?

[darreni]

There should not be movement in the bush itself when fitted to the arm.
When I did a suspension refresh on my M3 I replaced the control arms, rear arm bushes, drop links, inner & outer tie rods & anti roll bar bushes. That lot sorted the front end.

[helix402]

BMW state that removing the bushes from the arms damages them. They are not designed to be removed and refitted. Re Meyle “HD” they are not HD.

I have seen used BMW rubber parts with less flex than brand new Meyle parts. I only fit gen BMW bushes to these arms now after seeing too many low quality replacements-even Lemforder ones don’t last.

[technicalfoamboy]

Thank you for the swift responses I may well start looking at replacing them with a Lemforder set instead.

Or is there a particular brand anyone recommends please?

[helix402]

Genuine BMW.

[technicalfoamboy]

helix402 said:

Genuine BMW.

Thanks helix402, can I get them only directly from BMW or are the a particular brand I can pick up off eBay for example?

[helix402]

technicalfoamboy said:

Thanks helix402, can I get them only directly from BMW or are the a particular brand I can pick up off eBay for example?

Here you go:



I’d send them your chassis No to be 100% they’re correct for your car. Or use realoem website.

[technicalfoamboy]

thanks, to confirm that is what BMW are charging or is this an online seller for example?

edit
Just found them on eBay, thanks

Edited by technicalfoamboy on Friday 5th February 09:40

[RicoOS]

You didn't give much detail on the car, mileage etc, but I did a full suspension refresh on my low mileage (at the time 74kish) 2005 E46 330CD last year.

The front and rear control arm bushes had only been replaced within the previous year by it's previous owner, but at 15 years old and having done this before on older cars and had it transform the way it drove, I decided to do it properly.

Every single bush except the control arm ones was changed, new Eibach dual rate springs, OEM spec replacement bilsteins, all the anti roll bar bushes, the whole lot. Front strut top mounts etc.

I paid my local specialist to do all the work for me after I sourced the springs and shocks myself (BMS Surrey) and when i went to collect it, the main man their (who did the job) said he'd taken it out for a drive to check everything over and it was the nicest E46 (including M3's) he had driven in many a year. Clearly this must have transmitted it to his colleagues, because all 3 of their mechanics had a drive in it and all agreed.

Few comments I would make and bearing in mind it readily passed it's MOT a month beforehand.

1.) Despite no leaks, all 4 shocks were shot, one of the rears you could easily fully compress or extend it with your bare hands in about 2 seconds.
2.) The front strut top mounts again despite being apparently aok, they checked the difference between the old and new and it was very marked.

Then i had a full alignment check and adjust done and she drives like an absolute dream, great ride, great handling, great communication through steering and bum.

This is the 3rd time I've done this to a car and it's something I would recommend about every 12-15 years on any car, because bushes get tired, even with no play, they just don't work properly after a decent number of years. But don't do it piecemeal, change the whole lot, it really is worth it, even if like my you spend circa £1,100 doing it.

[8Tech]

The best replacement for these bushes are the Powerflex urethane bushes. They work like a bearing rather than twisting a rubber bush and are available in both street spec (purple) or fast road/track spec (black).
Over the years I have probably installed 50+ sets and not only are they far better, but they come with a lifetime warranty.
Y
They are a no brainier upgrade.

[technicalfoamboy]

QUICK UPDATE

New BMW LCARB installed and no real difference. Wandering or twitchyness from steering when driving the wheels over bumps, underlations or poor surfaces. You can feel movement through the steering but steering wheel doesn't move from your current grasp. Hope that makes sense?

So my thinking is turning towards something to do with the steering and maybe the upper steering coloum joint #3 on this diagram https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=BW52...

Along with front and rear suspension I've also replaced the steering column guibo #4 on the above diagram which did improve things a little.

For info work carried out so far on my 2004 330ci converible 58k miles:
FRONT
Control arms and rear bushes
FARB bushes
ARM links
Tie rods
Shocks
Upper mounts
Steering lower guibo

REAR
Rear shocks
RARB bushes
RARB links
Top mounts
RCA Bushes
Upper bushes


What do you think other than tryres Goodyear Asymetric 3's all round and running correct tyre pressures. Laser alignment completed after suspension replaced and once again since.

Edited by technicalfoamboy on Saturday 13th February 08:10

[Krikkit]

Get yourself a solid steering coupling joint, got mine on eBay with the bolts for about 20 quid.

This was after doing new Febi lower arms and still feeling a bit vague

[technicalfoamboy]

Krikkit said:

Get yourself a solid steering coupling joint, got mine on eBay with the bolts for about 20 quid.

This was after doing new Febi lower arms and still feeling a bit vague

thanks for the suggestion but I have already installed a BMW genuine coupling joint and although it made some positive difference the majority of the twitchyness is still there.

Which leads me more towards the upper steering joint as mentioned in the above post.

Any others thoughts before I go down this route, anyone?

[Foz2021]

Just a thought about the tramlining issue you originally mentioned. Before I did any suspension work on my 325CI, I changed the tyres first and the tramlining issue I had more or less went. Try that if your budget allows you

[Locknut]

Foz2021 said:

... I changed the tyres first and the tramlining issue I had more or less went. Try that if your budget allows you

Yes, I was just wondering about the tyres when this post popped up. Have you by any chance got run-flats fitted? Run-flats could be very twitchy and dart in every direction on minor bumps.

[anonymous-user]

Binning off XL's or RFT's should be the first thing to do on an e46, the goodyear eagle f1's are fantastic tyres and cured my tramlining issues.
Very direct tyres, fantastic dry grip, astounding wet grip with low tyre noise and no tram lining.
If your lower control arm rear bushes were shot then you'd notice the car still swaying left/right with the steering wheel straight after giving it a wiggle in a straight line.

[Foz2021]

Just normal tyres. Specifically I got Michelin Primacy 4 on there. I wanted to go cheaper but read that E46’s are picky about what tyres they like.

They replaced 2x rear primacy 3 tyres which were low tread and the fronts were Michelin HP which had decent tread left on it. Before replacing them I was scared to do more than 60 mph and the car felt something else was controlling it. Now after tyre change, I’d happily go to 70mph odd on the motorway and it also feels more assured and planted on the road.

Edited by Foz2021 on Sunday 14th March 23:58