So after beating on my car at Buttonwillow last weekend, I have developed a nasty front-end shimmy under hard braking. I realized that I haven't replaced the arms and bushings since um, 2003? :embarrasm I have the stock '95 m3 arms and offset bushings and would like to upgrade to something more track durable.

I have been looking at stuff on bimmerworld, turner and a couple other companies. What do you guys think about the treehouse bushings? Is there any need to replace arms? :dunno

Are you sure that's causing the shimmy? I had a bad shimmy that seemed to start after a trackday in Laguna. Replaced CAB's(CA's were replaced back in '04?), tie rods, sway links, tried different rims. I never thought it would be the pads because I still had the shimmy with my track pads and there was no pedal pulsing.
I still had the shimmy so I was baffled. Got new pads and now the shimmy is gone. Weird. But at least it got me to finally replace a few parts that were maybe due.
Just trying to keep you from replacing things unecessarily. But for your car I think it might be due anyway.
For arms I always thought stock were fine for the regular trackday/DE. For me, I stick with stock bushings since this is my DD.

Kimothy, I just sold a pair of Powerflex E30/E36 urethane control arm bushings yesterday. You shoulda told me!

From what I've heard, "reasonable" people consider the Treehouse CAB's to be a bit rough for street use.

Are you sure that's causing the shimmy? I had a bad shimmy that seemed to start after a trackday in Laguna. Replaced CAB's(CA's were replaced back in '04?), tie rods, sway links, tried different rims. I never thought it would be the pads because I still had the shimmy with my track pads and there was no pedal pulsing.
I still had the shimmy so I was baffled. Got new pads and now the shimmy is gone. Weird. But at least it got me to finally replace a few parts that were maybe due.
Just trying to keep you from replacing things unecessarily. But for your car I think it might be due anyway.
For arms I always thought stock were fine for the regular trackday/DE. For me, I stick with stock bushings since this is my DD.
My pads have <1,000 miles on them. I just installed HP+'s, Zimmerman blanks, Bimmerworld Evo SS lines, and solid brass caliper guide bushings. The tie rods are only about 6 months old and everything else has been replaced somewhat recently. I was thinking it could be pad deposit, but it only does it under high speed, aggressive braking.

Kimothy, I just sold a pair of Powerflex E30/E36 urethane control arm bushings yesterday. You shoulda told me!

From what I've heard, "reasonable" people consider the Treehouse CAB's to be a bit rough for street use.
I'm not terribly concerned about uncomfortable situations while driving on the street. I have my e30, so the e36 doesn't have to be the daily work horse. Between my coilovers, camber plates, urethane bushings and the roll bar, my car is already pretty uncomfortable. :eyecrazy

thr cabs arent that bad. i've put 30k street/track miles on them, they're more then streetable. they were originally designed for 24v e30 swaps (to gain exhaust clearance), but hey, they work on other cars too.

thr cabs arent that bad. i've put 30k street/track miles on them, they're more then streetable. they were originally designed for 24v e30 swaps (to gain exhaust clearance), but hey, they work on other cars too.
Plus, they're a pretty color. ;)

I think the new Powerflex two part bushings are a good compromise between stiffness/harshness while still removing some vibration and potential stress (maybe no big deal...) on the front end. I'm only mildly happy with PFlexs on my street car as they're brutal on city streets and occasionally rough on the freeway, too, even if the (stock spring and Koni) suspension does feel markedly better with them. FWIW, I did a back to back test with another car prepared identically but with the addition of poly rear subframe and diff mounts and those made a much smaller difference in ride quality and feel to me than the LCABs. However, I drove another M3 with a GC race setup (non street car) before and after the treehouse arms and I think they're a little over the top. Driving over bots dots now sounds like a hammer on the underbody of the car, where the suspension used to be surprisingly supple (dull and damped over bots dots) with stock bushings - even despite the stiff springs and hard shock mounts. The PFlex LCABs are somewhere in between the luxury smooth stock ride and the 'I'm driving a race car that sounds like it will break when hitting a bots dot' ride, and the improvement in steering feel between the poly and delrin bushings was small compared to the difference between rubber and either harder material. Just my $.02.

I finally got around to installing some new control arms and treehouse bushings. The install was pretty easy (thanks Neil). I drove around for about 20 min afterwards and I'd say that 95% of my front-end shimmy under hard braking is gone. The remainder could possibly just be wheel-imbalance.

Anyways, I'm very happy with them. :)

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6168/treehousebushingsmd8.jpg