Front wishbone bushes

[Alan W]

Hi, I asked for a price on these and was told that there is only one bush to replace on each side @ around £18 each + vat? I was also told that there are apparently other bushes in the wishbone but they would require a press to change and advised that I should only need to change the above one on each side? Okay, so I have a bit of vague steering / tramlining which may be down to old but still legal tyres? But I thought I would try the bushes first as they are very likely to be the originals (although it passed the MOT okay). I know that many will shout 'get new tyres' but I want to do the bushes first.

I suppose that my question is... ios it just one bush each side or should I do the others too????

[Del]

There is only one bush on each control arm/wishbone - replacing old ones MAY improve your symptoms. It is at the rear where the two bolts go into the bulkhead. The other two crucial items on each control arm/wishbone are ball-joints - and these require a workshop facility/press to remove from the arm. Play (vertical) in ball-joints is what is usually tested in MOTs as it tends to denote a ball-joint coming away from its socket. If they have no play and the rubber dust covers are not damaged, then there is no absolute necessity to replace. Damage to the bushes is not so easy to spot and perished bushes can limp through MOTs until the damage is more obvious. If they are the originals (circa 1998?) they are likely to have lost their elasticity and have some splitting started.

[frog farmer]

Hi, I am in the process of replacing the complete wishbones and it's a straight forward job so far costing £150 posted to France, I am taking my time and sorting the corrosion at the same time, let me know if I can help, Mel.

[Alan W]

Thanks Dell, will get the bushes replaced

[BladeRunner919]

Just replace the wishbones - they're pretty cheap. When I took mine off to replace the bushes (with polybushes) I discovered that the balljoints were knackered, even though it wasn't obvious when on the car. Otherwise you may end up buying the bushes, then buying wishbones that come with bushes anyway. Wasn't a problem for me because I was going with polybushes anyway and I replaced the brand new bushes with the polybushes.

[Del]

Just replace the wishbones

Tend to agree - makes the DIY task a lot easier - it's what I did. Job done then for many years.

[Kevinuk]

I have also got to do this job as ns wishbone bush and lower ball joint were advisories last mot. If I understand correct changing the complete wishbone means they come complete with the ball joint in place and no special tools needed?

Is it a fairly straight forward job?

I see lots of kits for sale on eBay anyone got a recommendation on any suppliers kit that is of good quality?

Thanks

[Alan W]

I see lots of kits for sale on eBay anyone got a recommendation on any suppliers kit that is of good quality?

This is a very valid point. My brother works in an independent car spares chain and says that the market is flooded at the moment with loads of substandard spares mainly made in China and there are stack of snide parts around in packaging which makes them look like genuine pattern parts. His shop cannot buy wishbones and bushes at the prices these guys are selling them for on ebay and considering this is suspension and steering related I think that alarm bells should be ringing and a degree of common sense and caution is required.

[Del]

As well as BMW’s own product, the two premium aftermarket names that regularly crop up are Lemforder (who I believe is the OE BMW supplier) and Meyle HD who claim to supply an improved product. The latter can be bought on ebay (through B&B Components) and the former through carparts4less.co.uk. The picture of the Lemforder ones at carparts4less.co.uk doesn’t show an attached bush. Only my personal view, but to make the job an easier DIY project I would suggest only getting ones with a bush already attached – the project is then just restricted to a “bolt-off” & “bolt-on” job with the only possible problem being a stubborn ball-joint that will not split easily.

[BladeRunner919]

Either EuroCarParts, who normally have a 25% off sale at some point in the month or, as mentioned, CarParts4Less, which is also EuroCarParts anyway. Apart from a balljoint splitter, the only thing you'll need is a socket set with quite a few extensions - the nut on the balljoint in the middle of the control arm is reached from above, but there's very little access, so you need to thread a socket down from above.

[Alan W]

The only thing you'll need is a socket set with quite a few extensions - the nut on the balljoint in the middle of the control arm is reached from above, but there's very little access, so you need to thread a socket down from above.

Does this apply to the 6 cyl - doesnt seem to be a lot of room?

[Del]

I’ve only done it on my 4 cylinder (M44 engine) car. The access on this model isn’t great as the engine is set in the car on the tilt. Access to the middle ball-joint nut was my main concern when I first “surveyed” the job last year. However, with two, joined 10 inch extensions and a flexi-joint it was accessible enough to get the job done.

On the E36 saloon I’ve seen people approach it from below, but on the Z3 things are more tightly sandwiched together and access from below didn’t look at all easy. The two main workshop manuals – Haynes and Bentleys, are not very helpful on the topic – both just say “remove the middle ball-joint nut and tap out the ball-joint with a nylon hammer”. No mention is made of accessing the nut and clearly the people who wrote those sections have never done the job. The only way I could break the taper on the middle ball-joint was to drive a splitting fork between the ball-joint dust cover and front sub-frame cross-member that it goes through.

If access from the engine bay looks impossible, perhaps some members who have done the job on a 6 cylinder model will be along shortly to offer advice.

[Southernboy]

If you want really good quality replacement parts and pay around 40% - 50% of the OEM prices...buy from a Meyle retailer. Meyle actually manufacture for BMW, the only thing you won't get is the BMW packaging...the rest is identical in all respects.

[XVar]

The only thing you'll need is a socket set with quite a few extensions - the nut on the balljoint in the middle of the control arm is reached from above, but there's very little access, so you need to thread a socket down from above.

Does this apply to the 6 cyl - doesnt seem to be a lot of room?

It does apply to the 6cyl, but only on the passenger side - this required two 20mm extensions and a universal joint to get the correct access around the power steering reservoir which gets in the way.

On the drivers side on my 2.8 there was an engine mount in the way, completely blocking access from above. Cue hundreds of 1/16th turns with a 22mm spanner (using an extension bar through the loop end for leverage when necessary). The nut holding it in is nylon threaded too so it takes a lot more turns to remove than you'd expect - easily the biggest pain in the arse about changing the front suspension. The new one goes on a lot easier though

[Joycey]

I did my wishbones 2 weeks ago.

I got the wishbones, track rod ends and rear bush of the wishbone all for £187 from Euro car parts.

I have a set of pollycarb bushes but yet to fit them. As for fitting it was pretty straight forward, a ball joint splitter is a must otherwise you will bend a crowbar trying to seperate the wishbone like i did (or get the nut stuck below the strut) the 22mm locknut was tricky on the sub frame but i did manage to undo it from underneith with a 22mm ratchet spanner (quarter turns at a time).

Like the guys said some spanners and a shed load of socket attachments and your there. I have the M52 engine and could just see the nut from above but didnt have the extension bars to reach. I managed this in an afternoon with the car on axle stands.

After all this was done and my tracking realligned my tramlinning had gone.

P.S Dont have you head in the arch when the ball joint gives, my ears were ringing for hours.

Joycey

[Kevinuk]

Took the plunge and ordered meyle hd wishbone kit complete with ball joints and bushes for 146 quid delivered from B and B components on eBay. They even come with 4 year guarantee. Called the supplier to check they were correct for my car and the guy who answered could not have been more helpful.

See what they are like on arrival and hopefully tackle the job in next week or so. Will try and take some pics of progress

[Del]

Took the plunge and ordered meyle hd wishbone kit complete with ball joints and bushes for 146 quid delivered from B and B components on eBay

Bought the same last year, have bought a few Meyle items from them over the past couple of years. The wishbones seemed good quality and I thought the bushes looked a bit beefier than the old OE 1998 BMW ones I took off my car. Meyle must be confident in the quality if they offer a 4-year guarantee, the most BMW offer on their parts is 2-years. However, Lemforder is viewed by many BMW enthusiasts as a very good make as well.

[muppet]

Guide to fitting poly bushes here.. they cure the tramlineing and sharpen up the steering...

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... 18&t=10641

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... 18&t=10641