The ebay guy that was selling these appears to be no more - i have tried contacting him but have heard nothing back as yet. Does anyone know where else I might be able to source these or very similar. I am getting a little tired of the bumpy roads around my way throwing the back about. These must be worth a shot.
If you find a local Meyle stockist, you will be able to get them there at around 40% of the OEM cost. Meyle manufacture excellent products, ans are a supplier to BMW of these type of items.
From threads I've read on this forum, this is one bush best replaced with a polyurethane one. Are they an easy change or does it need a strip down of the rear frame & trailing arm with special tools etc?
If your going to that extent to put some plastic bits in the gap you may as well put some new bushes in. There fairly easy to remove I made a puller to remove mine which I'll lend out if you cover postage. Can't comment on poly bushes yet as my cars not back together but there what I'm putting back in. The rubber ones do have a lot of flex and I'm expecting the rear to stop wandering when it's back on the road.
Changing the bushes is a far bigger job than slotting in some inserts. You make inserts from 40mm drain tube. The other option is to fill the void with epoxy (araldite).
Without the tool, replacing these bushes is a real PIA. I had a local indy (Munich Legends) do it for me when I installed poly bushes and the cost was reasonable.
The reason for wanting to try the inserts was because the job is such a pain - I bet if I got someone to do it for me it would be a good chunk of labour. Thanks for the hints and tips guys - I will go and buy some pipe and use those ebay pics and the bushes themselves as a guide. Just got to wait til it drys up outside.....
