Can anyone please tell me what are the symptoms if Control arm bushing goes bad ?

 

The control arm that goes bad on the BMW E 60 is going to be the front lower control arm (stress arm). Symptoms of the bushing going bad would be when you hit the break or hit the gas you feel movement in your wheel that should not be there. A little play if you want to call it. Another way to tell is when you're hitting your brakes firmly your wheel or wheels will be feeling very bumpy. Kind of like when you have warped rotors, the same feeling as that.other than that you can also YouTube some videos on this. they usually go bad about 90,000 miles or even a little higher for someone who drive their car like a granny. If you are a spirited driver and enjoy driving your vehicle the way it was built to be driven, you will only get 60 to 70 thousand miles on yours. I changed mine out at 60,000.when you do change out your control arms if they are bad, make sure you order your sway bar links as well. They're inexpensive and it is definitely worth doing both of those at the same time. And if you're going to be purchasing a specific brand I would stick with either Meyle HD or Lemforder.

 

Thanks..... now here is the problem I am seeing.... I am feeling vibration in steering wheel when I am driving above 40-50mph... when I hit the brake, I do not feel any vibration... so it sounds like Control arms are fine,,,my car has 58k miles..... so what could be other reason... my car didnt had any wheel balancing or alignmnent etc since 35k miles.... do you think something over there?? the car drives perfectly straight ,,so I doubt Alignment will be bad..... what about wheel balancing ,,can that cause it ? or somethng else...

 

Control arms would do the vibration at 45/55 at least in my case.
Found bad control arms and I was able to see the cuts on the bushings . But before that I did balance all four wheels and the problem didn't go away . My suggestion will be to lift the front of the car , remove the covers and take a look at the bushings. .

 

The dealership told me that the front control arm bushings are leaking,,,, thats why i asked if that could be causing this... but there is NO vibration when I brake,,,its only when I am driving... does it makes sense?

 

It will have vibration with bad bushings with out stoping. Just while driving at 55

 

i'd check your wheel balance first. and inspect for bent rims while you're at it.
leaking control arm bushing may just be the start of failure and may still last a while. i wouldnt change it unless you get excess movement.

 

OK, what about tire balancing, can I goto any tire shop or is there anything special about BMW ?

 

Please see attached picture of my front wheel, what is this silver thing behind rotor...it looks kind of uneven with lots of bumps.... only on front tires...the rear tires look OK..

 

^ brake backing plate. its supposed to have those contours.

check your wheel balance.