How to Install Rear Lower Control Arms (BMW E46 M3)
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- čas přidán 20. 05. 2020
- Quick tutorial on how to install adjustable rear lower control arms (camber arms) on E46 M3. There are differences in the regular E46's and the E46 M3's when it comes to the differential, so the process is slightly different when removing the upper control arm bolts. Hope it helps!
Required Tools:
E14 Torx Socket
21 mm Socket
18 mm Socket
18 mm Wrench (ratcheting if possible)
Pry Bar
High Tooth Count Ratchet (recommended)
Breaker Bar
Punch Set for Removing Bolts (or a grinder and steel hammer...)
Vice Grips
Torque Wrench
U-Joint Extension
Vast Vocabulary of Swear Words
Hope
Torque Specs:
E14 on Rear of Diff (20 nm, 15 ft lb then turn 90 degrees)
21 mm Center of Diff (200 nm, 148 ft lb)
Control Arm to Sub Frame (77 nm, 57 ft lb)
Control Arm to Trailing arm (110 nm, 81 ft lb) - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Thank you for this video. Your video made this task go a lot easier.
Glad it helped!
Thanks man.... gotta do this this weekend
Good Luck
Good video! I took mine in for a wheel alignment yesterday and they said both my trailing arms are bent in the center at the same exact spot. I don't even know how that happened! Unless someone at some other shop didn't know where to jack the car up and used the trailing arms as a joint point. Luckily I have a set of aftermarket control arms from years ago that I haven't installed yet. I'll be tackling that this week.
Thank you so much man
Thank you!
Just about to begin with all if this work, had to check your video to cheer myself up before getting stuck :)
Great video and the right mindset - toddler could do it!!!
Thumbs up dude, great job, hopefully I will be as successful :)
Thank you! Best of luck, hopefully its a trouble free job!
@@WannabeRacer left side done! Like you said, it's the worse side to be working on, so I started with it. Took me three hours. A toddler could do it :)
i am trying to find a video on how to replace the upper control arm…
do you think moving around the diff the way you did, would allow enough access to remove the w upper bolt also?
Unfortunately I don't know. Loosening the diff is one of the steps in removing it, so you could attempt it and take the diff out if it doesn't work.
Best of luck!
Let’s go!!!!
Crank
To actually adjust these ECS arms, do you need to remove the exhaust or the plastic shields? Since they adjust in the middle rather than at the brake rotor side like some others?
No, since they are in the middle, the adjustments are supper easy to do and doesn't require more than just jacking the car up.
@@WannabeRacer nice, I've been waiting to pick up the Turner bushing blue ones which adjust at one end, but they are backordered, so these were a backup. Maybe I'll pick them up. Unlike you, I'm rebushing the entire rear end, so it's "easier", since every arm/bushing/diff have to be ripped apart. Haha.
@@mrgizmo7975 got no complaints with them, they are very nice.
Jack the suspension a bit to relieve tension the bolt will pop out
I am about to have to deal with that same bolt hidden behind the diff. Just wondering why you didn't cut the bolt out and put the new one in in the opposite direction? Will putting the bolt in backwards with the nut on the problem side be bad for it in any way?
A few reasons, the new arm didn't come with new bolts for there so I had to reuse them. I would have put them in the other way, but the nut on the other side isn't a normal nut, its like a half wing nut and the body of the car is designed to grab it to allow it to be tightened and loosened. Lastly, I cant remember fully, the other side did not have the room to slide a bolt in from that direction.
@@WannabeRacer Awesome thanks for the quick response!!
@@mochanics-transchanics4927 No problem, good luck!
Dude awesome video. Wana make one doing those outer balljoints too?😂
At some point in the future, but no active plan currently.
Get a press tool. Mark all alignment points, loosen lower arm from RTAB, then remove the arms and press the bushings and ball joints out.
Hello mate . My car went in a bump and the car cant be aligned in that tyre area. Do u know if i replace that whould be good ? Thanks a lot
Might have something more major to address with that one, but new control arms will definitely give more range of adjust ability.
@@WannabeRacer thanx for answer so fast. Do u know how can i detect the problem?
@@fearthereaper5663 Theres only two ways to adjust the rear wheels camber, that is with the bolt on the control arm, and the three bolts going into the body at the bushing. If either area is damaged, that would be the problem.
@@WannabeRacer thanks a lot man
. I think is the bolt in the control arm or the arm itself Because the guy in the shop couldnt ajust that bolt .it turned but didnt align .what do u think ? Thanks again
@@fearthereaper5663 Take a look at it and see if you can see anything wrong with it. Once again, should be obvious if something is majorly wrong, but if you want better performance and were planning on changing them out at some point anyway, you might as well.
Love the video! Where did you find the proper torque specs?
Thanks! I have forgotten where I acquired it, but I found a PDF some time back simply titled E46 M3 Torque Specs. It's a very intensive guide of all the mechanical parts bolts, locations, size and torque specs.
@@WannabeRacer right on man. This video was super helpful for me. I'm nearly done, just gotta torque the diff bolts now. Saved the best for last haha
All you had too do was jack the hub a bit dude haha good effort non the less
Hub... fell me in
Man.... the easiest thing in the whole world would have been supporting the lower control arm frame from underneath with a jack. Why didn't you do this? That would have made your life a lot easier. Even tilting the hub carrier with a crawl bar would have done it.....
How long did it take you start to finish
With the problems I encountered, and trying to film it, it took about 14 hours of work. If I took away the time that was spent trying to film (there were shots that never made it in) I would say it was 9 or 10 hours, although a good portion of that was problem solving with varying levels of success.
@@WannabeRacer seems a long time. I would have though 3 hours (if not filming) should have done it. It was it the seized outers cutting and removing which took time
@@i4555 Depends on how fast you are, what goes wrong, and how stubborn you are. If you don't try to make life "easier" like I did and you start by dropping the diff and have no stuck parts, 3 or 4 hours would be no problem. Given you have all the right tools to start with (I didn't). I left a list in the description of all the tools needed so you can start on a strong foot.
Yeah the diff needs to be shifted on m3 or you'll never get the bolt out. You done well still all it takes is one seized bolt to add on a few hours
It is compulsory to tighten to torque
Taking mines too shop smh 🤦♂️
Great video, but every time you call a bolt a nut made this video more and more cringe damn...
Oh I know, don't know why I do it in videos and I can't edit them out. Drives me mad
I thought I was the only one that was bothered by that. Holy crap. And the choice of tool is interesting.