E34 535i control & thrust arm replacement (vid & pics)

Last year the car started pulling and settling into its suspension ever so slightly during braking. After inspecting the front end and reviewing the maintenance records I researched pricing and labor involved in replacement parts for the front end. Figured it was within my abilities. Last weekend I had the time to accomplish a front end change out.

I was going with Lemforder parts, so I could go with any bushing I wanted. After careful consideration, I chose M5 bushings. It's a daily driver and the roads here suck so I wasn't going with spherical replacements. The M5 type have plenty of very stiff rubber as you can see in the picture. They also appear to receive the least amount of complaints from owners over the long haul.

As I removed parts, it became evident the previous mechanics didn't really know what they were doing. All of the ball joint studs had anti-seize on them. Only the one shown in the video took any effort to remove. The other three could've been removed with a light whack from a ball peen. The steering arm to strut bolts had low-strength (purple) thread locker on them, where they are supposed to have high-strength applied. No washers on any of the nuts holding down the bushing-frame bolts.

The whole front end was a mis-mash of parts. Febi and Boge control arms. The Febi looked almost like an original part. It exhibited much more surface corrosion and the bushing was starting to get eccentric. I was pleased to find Meyle thrust arms. After 80,000 miles, the bushings were quite worn, but the ball joints and boots [on all the arms] were still holding up very well. The car was not shimmying at all.

Earlier in the year I had replaced the tie rods and sway bar links which were Karlyn. I would have to agree with other mechanics that they are utter trash.

If you look carefully at the non-M5 [535i] bushings with the plastic bumpers removed, you can see how eventually the corners wear through the rubber encompassing the inner surface of the bushing and can start knocking on the metal. At the end of the video, you can see that a worn bushing takes very little effort to deflect.

After everything was installed, I picked up some ballast to establish trim height, and torqued the bushing bolts to spec over the local quick-lube's pit. [thanks guy's ]

BTY - There's a pic or two floating around the net of a guy using 50 lb. bags of Quikrete to establish trim height. Although I did that too...I wouldn't recommend it. Use bags of salt or other media that's not as messy. I covered everything in the car with trash bags because if you just look at a bag of Quikrete wrong, it'll pee dry mix on you.

I would've liked to have made a better video, with close-ups and all, but I only had one day to pull off the front end fix. Good camera setup-execution can get very time consuming.

Cheers.

More pics...

Very nice Radian. Thank You.

Steve

Very nice film,pics and repair. Where did you find the parts? did the thrust arms come with the m5 bushings pre pressed into the part. Are all the parts the same make. Looks real nice. Were forks and pullers used ,or did the anti seize compond eliminate the need for them. Nice Jack by the way. I think ill start with upgrading my floor jack and continue from there. Thanks for sharing the repair That many of us need to do.

You're welcome guys.

Originally Posted by luckydog

Where did you find the parts?

Pelican Parts.com

Originally Posted by luckydog

did the thrust arms come with the m5 bushings pre pressed into the part.

These ones shipped with no bushing installed and I had to press them in. It worked well for my situation because I got to choose what bushing I wanted. I put them in using a hydraulic press at the machine shop. Hardest part was getting those little arrows on the arms and bushings to line up correctly on the first try.

Originally Posted by luckydog

Are all the parts the same make.

They are now. The whole front end (as pictured) is completely Lemforder with the exception of the sway bar bushings, which are new factory BMW parts. Steering and braking response now border on telepathic. I can't imagine how much more accurate spherical joints must be from this. I'd have liked to gone with Racing Dynamics sway bar bushings because I like their design (similar to factory Honda and GM), but in order to do so I'd have to buy their bar too, which is way over-priced IMHO.

Originally Posted by luckydog

Were forks and pullers used ,or did the anti seize compond eliminate the need for them.

I was using a ball joint separator at 1:31 in the video. I don't do pickle forks. I also had a pry bar on standby, but I only use that strategically as its really easy to bend sheet metal with that thing. Only one control arm needed a little encouragement, the rest dropped out by hand.

The anti seize did make it ridiculously easy to remove the other 3 ball joints, but it's not supposed to be there. It becomes very easy to lose all confidence in previous maintenance when you start finding things like that. The studs and lock nuts should by dry for very good reasons. Not cool.

Originally Posted by luckydog

Nice Jack by the way. I think ill start with upgrading my floor jack and continue from there.

It's an AFF (American Forge and Foundry) 200T. Solid epoxy covered steel tip to toe, and worth every penny. Hardest part about buying it was coming to terms with shipping, as the thing is roughly 100 lbs. When I first got it, I disassembled as many of the moving parts as I dared [wheels, handle, lifting block] and lubricated everything real well with Moly grease. The roller parts that were pinned or staked got shot with lots of penetrating chain lube. Doing that made a tremendous difference in how smooth it rolled and operated, naturally.

We can start another thread for tool talk.

Oh yes the the joint separator with the nice sound sound of separation.Yes Pelican Parts .com is the real deal for a variety of parts. I agree you get what you pay for. On the threads ,I remember the book calling for various locking compounds for obvious reasons. I defiantly need sway bars , and strut cartridges and more on one car. My other is tight as a drum .Ill get a few quotes from a few shops ,then probably end up doing myself with a handful of purchases and Bentleys. I cant dive in until I get a floor jack upgrade.

Thank you Radian what a very proffesional job . it's the best diy I have seen !!!!!