E46 Control Arm Bushing

[stephen]

i began to worry when my friend's 3.5 yr old (only 39k kms) E46 318i 2.0 's control arm bushing was apparently so bad that it affected the lower control arm as well and those two things needed to be changed at AB ... the $ bill was astonishing!!Mine is less than 3 yrs old but 55k kms and the bushings have not been changed. Seems these original rubber bushing needed to be changed every 30k kms. True ah? Why didnt AB change for me then?In my friend's case, he does a lot of traffic jam driving and was told that this probably caused the heat from brakes and engine to wear out the rubber bushings.So can this Powerflex bushing of polyuretrane type (and not rubber) perform better? Heard some stories of this type cracking after only one week whilst generally it last very long. Probably this case was because of defect product.

 

[dvng]

i tot e46 need to change the whole control arm unlike the e36 where u can change the bushings alone...

 

[stephen]

The part cost of each control arm alone is RM1200! So, x2 !!

I was told i can change just the control arm bushing. So i am doing this as a precautionary measure.

 

[dvng]

i've just check with my mechanic, Ah Yau, not possible to change bushing alone, the aluminium control arm is too soft, if the bush are pressed out and when u refit a new bush it will be loose, apparently the e46 control arm bush has the bush moulded in when new...that explains the slack when the bush is pressed out...

 

[E46Fanatic]

The bushing comes with the mounts as well. When they change the whole arm its likely due to the ball joint going bad in addition to the control arm bush.

To fix the ball joint, you need to replace the boomerang. My control arm bushing has been replaced by AB under warranty twice already and I did the last one before my 3 yrs ran out.

 

[3er]

I've replaced mine on both sides (bush and arm) at approx 35k kms. Both seriously dead.

 

[stephen]

3er, what brand did you replace the original bushings with?

Reason i asked is that i have purchased a set of Powerflex bushings but not installed yet and thereafter was shown a badly damaged unit of less than a week old. I hope this is just an isolated case.

 

[stephen]

there is the ball joint that comes together with the lower control arm where the whole thing needs to be changed or

just the rear bush .... see attached picture.

When they removed the rubber ori bush, to my surprise they say it is still ok .... even when my mielage indicates 55k kms. It really depends how you drive. If you do a lot of stop-start traffic jam and sudden braking, it increase pressure on the bush and wear it out faster.

as the saying goes, if it aint broken, dont fix it .... now i wonder whether my new Powerflex bush will be ok and will not be like the same problem case i mentioned above.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Daniel]

i see you have the Powerflex PU bushings installed. TO fit them you must have had the OEMs pressed out.....

now, who mentioned before that this cannot be done?

heres living proof! i know cause i had mine pressed out too to fit the pow'erflex PU bushings as well.

 

[Marco]

i had the powerflex bushing fitted on saturday too...my mechanic told me it is higly recommended because ori bush won't last...he even want to order a few pair for his customer!!

 

[E46Fanatic]

There was some downsides with the powerflex bushing which someone posted a while back (Chester?). Can't remember tho..

Anyone can remember what the downsides of it was?

 

[stephen]

hope it will last longer than ori.

Been riding around some 200+ kms since fixing it and the ride seems better than before.

 

[E46Fanatic]

Did some digging up. The rubber bushings are supposed to be softer than the powerflex bushing. As a result they dont give as good turn in response as the powerflex bushing, but offers more supple feel in terms of vibration. Also there was concerns that the powerflex does not absorb as much shock and vibrations and transfers this energy to the mountings causing it to crack away from the chassis (yikes) in the long term.

Also found out that earlier versions of the powerflex bushings were still prone to cracking and tearing, and it has since been improved.

Overall, most people generally agree the benefits outweight the downsides.

 

[bmchai]

stephen,

sometimes you worry too much......

 

[stephen]

bm chai, where have you been ..... MIA? Organise some convoy la.

u r probably rite .... but that is because of this forum la .... read so much about BMW problems and thus causes me to panic whenever i hear about others' BMW problems.

 

[leonard]

changed only the lower control arm bush and the vertical link as well, the ride has been very nice since then !