Questions finalizing suspension refresh

[Subfra///Me]

Okay, so leaning towards the Turner or SDW rtab.
Meyle HD rear shock mounts with reinforcement plates
Stock rear sway bar bushings
Stock fcab
Basically all new rubber shims and bumpstops
Turner street camber plates (want to be able to change camber for those occasional track days)
Stock sway bar bushings
Most likely replacing control arms/tie rods/sway bar links with OE parts based on mileage and the fact I don't want to deal with it in the future.

Likely to stay with Koni/Dinan, but looking into the Bilstein B12 kit or B6 with stock springs as well as possibly adding a Hotchkis front sway bar. If the B12 kit or B6 on stock springs are a significant upgrade in performance over the Koni/Dinan option without being too much more harsh, I'd consider them.

[Nleeumd]

Has anyone or is there any reason to change the rear upper inner control arm bushing, part# 33321092247. I’ve already done the rear outer upper and lower and RTAB

[Subfra///Me]

I guess I completely overlooked rear control arm bushings.

[Nleeumd]

Yep, I’m at 61k miles, and the rear upper and lower ball joints in the rear were already getting loose. Cheap part to replace and I already had the bushing removal tool, so i tackled that. I don’t have the tool for the rear inner one though, i guess i would have to fabricate one

[bmwfnatic]

Has anyone or is there any reason to change the rear upper inner control arm bushing, part# 33321092247. I’ve already done the rear outer upper and lower and RTAB

From what I know, those seem to hold up reasonably well.
If you do end up replacing them with stock, remember they need to be torqued at ride height, which you will need to estimate/measure due to bolt access.
Could also go with poly or a bearing to eliminate the need for that.

[Cubieman]

I wish I had the proper tools for those bushings (inner/upper control arms), I had spent close to $400 in bushing install kits and none covered that one.

At that point I just wanted to finish the job and convinced myself for aesthetic purposes I should just get new control arms. Those bushes look like a PITA even with the correct tools, could be wrong.

I'd like to buy the kit that does those as I have bushes/original upper CA's.

[oceansize]

I got them out fairly easily after settling on the right tools which for me was 24mm and 27mm sockets plus a couple pieces from the BAV bushing removal kit and a vice.

[EthanolTurbo]

The Bilstein B8s have a shorter housing so they're designed for lowering springs. I would go with those. And also do solid rear subframe bushings.

[eacmen]

I wish I had the proper tools for those bushings (inner/upper control arms), I had spent close to $400 in bushing install kits and none covered that one.

At that point I just wanted to finish the job and convinced myself for aesthetic purposes I should just get new control arms. Those bushes look like a PITA even with the correct tools, could be wrong.

I'd like to buy the kit that does those as I have bushes/original upper CA's.

The rear inner bushing can be done with some threaded rod and a couple sockets.


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[eacmen]

Good writeup on tools that can be used for removal/installation of rear bushings and ball joints. But I will say that buying the purpose built kit for the rear ball joints made a ton of sense and made the whole job MUCH easier.

E46F Thread with very useful info: https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/...tools.1104247/

Ball joint tool kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018VAWETU/

McMaster Hardware I found useful:

https://www.mcmaster.com/93325A335/

https://www.mcmaster.com/98498A100/

https://www.mcmaster.com/94744A293/

https://www.mcmaster.com/94744A289/

I don't think the Amazon toolkit can do the upper rear inner bushing. But it can do all the ball joints with the trailing arm on the car. For the rear upper inner ball joint I used the threaded rod and some sockets. This was is tricky because the wall of the bushing is so thin its easy to damage it. You need to make sure that the socket you choose will not slip into the rubber part of the bushing. I forget the size I used but its pretty meaningless as the outer diameter of the socket is more important than the drive size. Use the measurements from the thread above and choose a socket from your toolkit that is the closest.

[Tbonem3]

The Bilstein B8s have a shorter housing so they're designed for lowering springs. I would go with those. And also do solid rear subframe bushings.

No B8s for the E46 M3, only B4 twin tube or B6 monotube, and ofc the b16 pss10s.

[Cubieman]

Good writeup on tools that can be used for removal/installation of rear bushings and ball joints. But I will say that buying the purpose built kit for the rear ball joints made a ton of sense and made the whole job MUCH easier.

E46F Thread with very useful info: https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/...tools.1104247/

Ball joint tool kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018VAWETU/

McMaster Hardware I found useful:

https://www.mcmaster.com/93325A335/

https://www.mcmaster.com/98498A100/

https://www.mcmaster.com/94744A293/

https://www.mcmaster.com/94744A289/

I don't think the Amazon toolkit can do the upper rear inner bushing. But it can do all the ball joints with the trailing arm on the car. For the rear upper inner ball joint I used the threaded rod and some sockets. This was is tricky because the wall of the bushing is so thin its easy to damage it. You need to make sure that the socket you choose will not slip into the rubber part of the bushing. I forget the size I used but its pretty meaningless as the outer diameter of the socket is more important than the drive size. Use the measurements from the thread above and choose a socket from your toolkit that is the closest.

Nice info, thanks!

I have that kit and it cannot do the upper/inners unfortunately, but worked pretty well for everything else. Wish I would have read up a bit more and avoided buying new control arms, but I was in the middle of the vincebar install and just wanted it done easily.

[EthanolTurbo]

No B8s for the E46 M3, only B4 twin tube or B6 monotube, and ofc the b16 pss10s.

Wow that sucks, did not know that. Would definitely be one of the best options if it was around.

[01SG]

Has anyone or is there any reason to change the rear upper inner control arm bushing, part# 33321092247. I’ve already done the rear outer upper and lower and RTAB

For what it is worth, I replaced the camber arm and upper arm at different times. Both between 120-130k miles. The camber arm made a significant difference. I did not even notice the new upper arm. Still, it cannot hurt to replace them at this age.

[sleeks]

For what it is worth, I have the Dinan monoball RTABs and did not notice any NVH increase when going to them.