Control Arms and The E46

[Zchild]

Hello there fellow gearheads and bimmer dreamers it's that time again, what time you ask, well it's Control Arm replacement time once again. It began with a slight shimmy while driving especially on bumpy roads. I thought it was alignment time but discovered when I took her into the shop that I have an amazing amount of play in my front-end. I'm looking at the newer Control Arm replacements, I replaced my control arms at 50K and they have lasted 142K which in itself is amazing. The newer control arms that replace the OEM's last longer and the new non-OEM bushings out-last the original bushings. When all is said and done, it will set me back $1,100+ dollars after the alignment. Just wanted to vent or brag, not sure which, I'm told that the Control Arms usually only last 50K normally. Just my two and a half cents worth. Happy Motoring...
[driving2]

 

[Big Daddy]

Sounds like you are on top of things with respect to your car. Thus far, at 51k I have no front end problems with the roadster (knock on wood). I like to see a person take care of their car!

 

[helmus]

I have a question for u guys. When the control arm goes bad, is it normally the balljoint thats at fault? I have an 01 325i sport, and before i bought it the dealer had replaced the one on the drivers side, but i was thinking of crawling under one day and having a peek at the other one. Its got 116k on it, and unfortunately i dont have the service history of the car.

 

[Section_8]

Usually the culprit is the ball joints, which you can't really change out on the OEM control arms. (There are some nice aluminum aftermarket ones where you can replace the ball joints seperate of the entire arm). Also at fault usually, are the control arm bushings. Once these wear out, it puts further wear and tear on the control arms themselves.

116k - if you've not had them done, I'd bet money your control arm bushings are literally rotted away (Some report them failing after as little as 30k miles!).

 

[helmus]

Cool, thnx. I'm not having any front end play issues right now, but i'd like to stay on top of stuff.

 

[nadroj]

how can you tell if you ball joint is bad or do you just have to look under there and when you do look under there do you just check and make sure the ball joint bushing isnt cracked

 

[Zchild]

Dude, easy answer... Just jack up one side of the frontend of your bimmer slightly off the ground. Grab the wheel with both hands and see how much play there is when you shake the wheel from side to side. If there's no play your ball joints are fine, however the more the play the worse your ball joints. The entire assembly must be replaced with the Control Arm if the ball joints are bad.
[driving2]