How To: Change BMW E46 Lower Control Arm Bushings in 10min
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- čas přidán 24. 10. 2014
- a quick video showing how to change the lower control arm bushings.
Vehicle is a 2001 BMW 325i wagon
Start to finish in real time, might take about 30 min in the driveway, but a great DIY.
Symptom: A clunk noise when tapping brake pedal
Fix your front end! - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Straight to the point, no annoying music, no nonsense, great job! All others could learn from you...
Your first indication of a control arm bushing problem is a "thump" heard when you stop the car and release the brake pedal. One bushing will go before the other, of course. Check your shocks and struts too. They may be shot but you don't realize it because the car is so tightly sprung.
I have this "thump" sound end when i checked these bushings are indeed shot. Would it be best to replace the whole the whole lower control arm, or wouldn't that be necessary?
@@larsgilles3078 You can replace just the bushings.
@@tsmgguy Alright mate will do, thanks
You're the man, what a great guide. Like others I was told this was a 3 hour job and labour alone £200+. I know businesses need to make money but give a fair deal and don't treat me a like a mug and you'll my business. Needless to say I will be fitting them myself, thanks again for taking the time to make this video and help others.
Great video. We had a real stubborn one on mine and managed to get the housing off by drilling throught the rubber at multiple points then get the last bit off with an angle grinder! Worked a treat!
I found that the crucial part is getting sufficient amounts of penetrating oil under the bushing. It wont get there easily cause the rubber is a very tight fit. So you have to help it by stabbing a bladed screw driver deep in between rubber and metal and then put the WD40 on it, then wiggle the screw driver around while putting more WD40 on it. Doing this on different points around the crontrol arm pin helps greasing the whole thing to a point where you can easily turn the bushing around the pin and pull it off. Dont rely on your popeye arms, rely on the grease!
Same with getting the new bushings on the pin. I used silicone spray and they went on just by hand force.
Fairy liquid probably be better as opposed to WD40
I havn't seen that here in the US. I'm a big fan of PB Blaster.
fantastic! I need to do this, this weekend. Amazing how simple it is, considering it is, arguably, the most amazing suspension system E V E R. cheers man
Need to do this job next week on my 2001 E46. Thanks for this awesome tutorial.
I've done this before on my old '99 E46 and now my '04 needs it done. Having the car 6' in air is much different than 18" off the ground. If I had a 6' lift, yeah, it would be that easy but this guy didn't consider his audience and didn't demo it 18" off the ground instead. Much much more challenging. This video doesn't cut it for the 99.9% of us who don't have a 6' lift. Way to go Shupe! Not!
+John R I agree. There is another video of someone doing it with very little clearance, basically scooting underneath the car. I give him much more credit for wrestling with this thing under the car.
I love the little suction noise it made when it popped off.
Which one was more satisfying the first suction noise or the second? I liked the first one.
All I need is the lift! Great vid, so quick and simple, yet sounds like a mare job on forums.
no, a pair of jack stands will do fine.
Thank you for video, I have been doing all of my own repairs could not afford BMW otherwise. I will soon have more money in car than it will ever be worth. Bottom line I like my car and driving is not so boring.
Awesome video! I have a 2002 325i. I don't know if i need to do this, but when i do, i will use this vid. Dishwashing soap! That's AWESOME!
+Luis Chamale You will know when they go bad, your steering wheel will start wobbling and the car will feel the same. If you dont take care of it right away you will also damage the ball joints on the control arm.
this video really helped, i just did this to my 2004 bmw 330Ci
I have the same car haha
On the process of building a m54b30 strocker engine and going automatic to manual 😎👌
Sir, you are THE MAN!!!! Thank you so much!!!!
you sound like me. I dug up some old paper work for my e46 and I paid a shop 750 for this one time. never again.
Thank you for the video, just what I was looking for. I was trying to figure out if the tire should be off the ground or not. Apparently it should be.
Excellent job and video!!!
Big help! Thanks for posting.
Great video. Thanks for the help
Great video man, you just saved me sub $300! Actually 300- 50= ~$250
I tried the method in the video today and while im sure I could of eventually got them off with force its alot of work to do it that way. What I did was take a punch tool to the front of the arm and then used a 3 jaw puller and impact gun. Came right off. As mentioned in one of the comments penetrating fluid does not easily get in there as I noticed when mine came off not the you prob need if using an impact gun. I do think that if you use silicone spray and get it lubed up im sure you can get the bushing off fairly easily. I thought I had silicone spray for the install but didnt so used the dishsoap method. while I did get it on it wasnt easy. I would think silicone spray would work better so best to get some. BTW I did this on jackstands so the people complaning they dont have a lift you can do this in your driveway. Local mechanic wanted $792 with parts and labor. I paid $72 for OE quality replacments from Rockauto but I see other brands selling for as low as $35.00 if on a budget. GL.
Thanks. Nice work.
Awesome show 👏..
Cheers man, nice Vid.
Thanks for the help
Made it look easy
I did mind exactly like you did it, but I use silicone to spray in the old bushing to help get it off. Came off very easily with the silicone. Used dish soap on the new ones and they popped right on, too easy.
did you need an alignment after?
Superclean underbody 👍
Well done
Soap is crucial. I messed around for an hour before lubing the cab up easily sliding it on by hand.
Nice way to do it.
Good job
hey what type of torque wrench is that and does that one also do inch lbs?? pls let me know. since i will be tackling my valve cover seals and gasket soon. thanks
you are a god
Nice! Thanks
Thanks!
Also the dish soap worked the best
@shupe03e4 can You write what value of force have you set on torque wrench ?
I read in the manufacture manual that you have to let the car rest for 20 minutes before driving off so the bush can stay in the right position.
A mechanic next to my place quoted me $400 for this job, labor only, saying it's a 4 hour job.
+Tony Its an hour job provided to dont spend extra time fighting getting it of or putting back on. Taking of is simple enough with a gear puller and putting on is elbow grease and dish soap. $400 is a ripoff
+metahelix True. I found another mechanic who did it exactly in 1 hour.
Tony its sucks cuz bmws shouldn't be hard to work on its very neat the engine bay....I got stuck broken down with 2 belts came off an the tensioner...normal price to fix is like 300 tops labor and parts...I got charged 600 cuz I was stranded and he knew it I couldbt find another place around for cheaper
I'm about to do the same job and shoot a video for my channel. I would guess the reason the driver side was more difficult was the passenger side is usually worn the worst ergo easiest to remove :)
+shupe03a4, May I ask, why did you use dishsoap instead of grease? Isn't dishsoap corrosive? Plz advise.
I did this and when done my transition control doesn't work anymore, any suggestions?
Ive done this job several times already and currently doing it again. Your best best is to invest in some gear puller. Takes 30 seconds and no effeort to take them off. Im having a harder time squizing new ones one
It will almost never go this easy for us as this guy... Said tools needed is flathead screwdriver, and sockets... Not for me. Gonna be a bitch for me.
Give you a like 👍for wearing eye safety or protection
well dont forget to do your wheel alignment after installing new bushes!
is this work in bmw 320i 2002
Every E46 I've done has a crossmember underneath where the car in the video has nothing. Did you remove something or are my cars different?? With the crossmember in place the whole control arm HAS to come out. :(
Johnathan Waters lol he removed before hand, then reinstalled on video as last thing.
Thanks for the video- they wanted $265 for that!?!?! I'll try it over the weekend save me $165 if I just buy some stands or a nice jack
*stands *and* a nice jack
HI,
Can you remember what level of torque you put into your torque wrench?
+Ste Forbes 7:37 45 foot-pounds
Why dish soap and not silicone spray?
Hi Im wondering if its genuine BMW parts you installed ?
If not could you tell me what brand it is ?
thanks!
+nino lo If you go on parts geek, they have all kinds of parts. But they don't answer their phones. :(
I'd only use BMW or lemförder maybe Meyle.
Done this on my 330 ci yesterday and I advise anyone to do this on a ramp... nightmare doing it on the ground.. just makes it soo hard to get old one off and new one on... needless to say there were a few F's and Jeffs.... I wold also suggest getting wheel alignment checked after too as mine was out alot due to bush being so out..
Yer u need proper man mucle to get them baby's on and off
Matthew Harmer good teamwork that yer... I.loosened them and you popped them off lol thanks for that pmsl
Ms gYl3 km ff qD
+ben barrett Doing it on the ground is a nightmare, you cant get a good grip taking them off or putting on and my long hair kept getting under the wheel of the creeper. I have a headache
Can someone tell me if is a difference between the right one or left one or they are same? Because i have a bmw e46 and i need to know, someone just tell me that i need to change it and i dont know who it is the right one or the left and i dont want to buy the wrong one......
They have a specific mount hole for the left and right plus you need to place in the right orientation
I purchased mood Lower control arm bushings and this is my 3rd time changing them in about a few months any suggestions on anything else that I could possibly replace. I was considering buying a suspension kit that included new controls arms and bushings to see if that would help.
Luis campos might be that the ball joints on the control arms are gone so you're wearing out your bushings quickly
Check shocks also
A little water with the dish soap worked better for me. Slides easier
I'm starting to feel it...gonna try these which come with bracket replacement as well: www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/Bushing/ES2642674/ $82. Where did you buy "rubber" only?
I could do air filter in 5 min!
Mine were way tighter that’s that, had to have them pressed on by a shop
Is this work in 2005 BMW 325i?
+j. luis Sanchez Yes
About to do this In my 05 325i. Did it work out well?
That's fine if you buy the pre-pressed bushings, why not show how without them?
because for the few extra bucks you can buy the pre-pressed, so you don't have to do all the extra work
They will come off without too much hassle he said .....
oh caddozzu senza guanti!
... you know you can use a puller for that bushing instead of wrestling with it for so long.
The dishwashing soap seems a little bizarre. Why not use a silicone lubricant or something else. Soap is not really designed to be a lubricant. Also, the hardest part of this by far, is getting the things off of the control arm. I thought about doing this job, but you need some good leverage it looks like.
dish soap dries out lubricant doesn't i'm guessing its important that it dries to stop premature wear.
Larry its meant to slip on and not stay lubed
A mechanic helped me do this. He actually used a crowbar to apply leverage to help it slide on or off. I don't remember what lubrication he used. I had to sell the car because it would not pass inspection in Illinois.
use grease it wont start squeaking
after a week
without a car lift, this job becomes a major p.i.t.a.!
Z3 differential bushing replacement
Dear bonehead, 1. most people don't have a lift at home which precludes them from grabbing and yanking the LCAB like you did. 2. Also a simple claw puller usually does the trick for removal.
Rich you’re an idiot
get to the gym dude lol