Do I need to take out control arm inorder to replace arm bushing? I mean if I take you two bolt that shown in this picture will bushing come off?
http://www.understeer.com/images/tech/lcab01_thumb.jpg

You will need to pull the bushing from the arm with a puller. We use either a cheap 2 jaw gear puller or the official BMW tool. That photo looks like it is NOT on an E46 though. Doesn't matter removal is the same.

Walter Ford

You will need to pull the bushing from the arm with a puller. We use either a cheap 2 jaw gear puller or the official BMW tool. That photo looks like it is NOT on an E46 though. Doesn't matter removal is the same.

Walter Ford

Thanks for reply,

So when I take out bolt for bushing brakets, will I have enough room to put tool or I will have to remove hole control arm?

You should have enough room to remove the bushing without removing the whole arm. I just replaced the bushing and control arms in my 330. After unbolting the bushing and holder, there was plenty of room if i wanted just to do the bushings. Folsom330ci is right, that picture don't look like it's from and E46. It looks more like one from an E36.

You should have enough room to remove the bushing without removing the whole arm. I just replaced the bushing and control arms in my 330. After unbolting the bushing and holder, there was plenty of room if i wanted just to do the bushings. Folsom330ci is right, that picture don't look like it's from and E46. It looks more like one from an E36.

Thanks,

I can find only E36 picture so I posted that. But E46 should be similar.

Thanks,

I can find only E36 picture so I posted that. But E46 should be similar.

It looks like from your info you have a 325XI? If so YES, on the Xi's you have to take the whole control arm off to get the bushing off. And if you are not careful you may likely toast your ball joints doing so, thus needing a whole new control arm anyway.

It looks like from your info you have a 325XI? If so YES, on the Xi's you have to take the whole control arm off to get the bushing off. And if you are not careful you may likely toast your ball joints doing so, thus needing a whole new control arm anyway.

I have 2000 323i so do I need to change control arm and bushing? I was thing to change just bushing since only bushing is bad.
Also I looked under my car and notticed there are only 2 bolt holding bushing braket, so I was hopping it will come off by taking those 2 bolt that is showed in picture.

The factory ball joints on E46's are prone to failure by ~60k miles so it's best to just put on new control arms/bushings all at once. Also I would recommend getting new rear bushings (~$30) and do NOT forget to do a 4-wheel alignment. It will drive much smoother/tighter all said and done.

The factory ball joints on E46's are prone to failure by ~60k miles so it's best to just put on new control arms/bushings all at once. Also I would recommend getting new rear bushings (~$30) and do NOT forget to do a 4-wheel alignment. It will drive much smoother/tighter all said and done.

Previous owner changed Control arm at 50k miles and car has 73K miles right now. Thats the reason I was thing to change only bushing I mean control arm still looks good.
Do you think I will be able to take out bracket from control arm by just taking out those two (braket) bolt? Because I do not want to take out hole control arm If I don;t have to.

Where can I get a control arms + bushings? i have 80k miles on original bushings and arms...and do you guys reccomende powerflex or oem bushings?

Previous owner changed Control arm at 50k miles and car has 73K miles right now. Thats the reason I was thing to change only bushing I mean control arm still looks good.
Do you think I will be able to take out bracket from control arm by just taking out those two (braket) bolt? Because I do not want to take out hole control arm If I don;t have to.
Hmm, that's not typical to change the control arm and keep the bushings (especially at 50k). You can't really tell if the ball joints are bad by just visuals (uness they are horribly shot).

Where can I get a control arms + bushings? i have 80k miles on original bushings and arms...and do you guys reccomende powerflex or oem bushings?
You can buy them from many places (Bavauto; Bimmerworld; Dealer, etc.). If you plan on just street driving the OEM bushings should be fine but if you want something a little more taut then you can upgrade (I don't have any personal experience with Powerflex).

At 80k I would def. do the rear trailing arm bushings too and have your diff mount/subframe mount/rear shock mounts inspected (not uncommon to go bad on your car and a good way to avoid subframe tearing). Of course when replacing control arms/bushings, always make sure to get an alignment, your car needs a 4-wheel one.

Jay,
Depending on the year of your xi the bolts for the bushing carrier are not accessable from under the carrier. They are above the subframe. Mine is an 01.
I had to lower the subframe to access these bolts. Not a biggie but a bit involved as you need to support everything correctly.
The bushings are a bitch to get out, you can buy them with the carrier or get them out of the carrier with heat, PB blaster and brute force.
I did this in an afternoon.
I did teach my kid a few new words in the process however.:eek:

Jay,
Depending on the year of your xi the bolts for the bushing carrier are not accessable from under the carrier. They are above the subframe. Mine is an 01.
I had to lower the subframe to access these bolts. Not a biggie but a bit involved as you need to support everything correctly.
The bushings are a bitch to get out, you can buy them with the carrier or get them out of the carrier with heat, PB blaster and brute force.
I did this in an afternoon.
I did teach my kid a few new words in the process however.:eek:

You took off the subframe? Holy hell. I didn't have to do that. I was able to fish a ratchet in there. Easy on the driver's side. On the passenger side there's a heat shield that you have to either remove or just kind of bend out of the way a bit (it is very thin). That was with a standard socket handle and head. I bet if you got one of those flat ratchet wrench things it would be even easier.

As for removing the old bushings from the carrier, without a press / tool (the common DIY shows it done with a ground down pipe cap and ball joint press) you can cut them out. I used a dremel cutting wheel and then hacksaw to carefully cut a slit on the bushing's metal wall (all the rubber had been cut out already) and then another slit on the opposite side. Then with a hammer and chisel you can pop the 2 halves out of the carrier. I saw this on a DIY somewhere for an M3. The author says even if youu cut a bit too deep and put a groove on the inside of the carrier wall it doesn't matter. The carrier;s are pretty stout, so I believe it.

You can buy them from many places (Bavauto; Bimmerworld; Dealer, etc.). If you plan on just street driving the OEM bushings should be fine but if you want something a little more taut then you can upgrade (I don't have any personal experience with Powerflex).

At 80k I would def. do the rear trailing arm bushings too and have your diff mount/subframe mount/rear shock mounts inspected (not uncommon to go bad on your car and a good way to avoid subframe tearing). Of course when replacing control arms/bushings, always make sure to get an alignment, your car needs a 4-wheel one.

sick thanks for the info, i'm behind on some maintenance...:(