best1

i am leveraging and pushing but the knuckle will not more down. It did a little, barely

best1

ok i gave up. Anyone interested in buying a new pair of control arms?

sahiljain22

Can you post the part numbers?

pjinca

Post exactly where you're getting stuck (and with which control arm), I did mine already and so have some other members. We can help if there was a little more detail.

best1

2008 550i with sport suspension and 80,000 miles. I was told they need replacement after i complained about noise in the front end and some jerking when braking. I had the hole control arm loose. After loosening the bolts on the strut (clamp?) I could not get the knuckle? to slide up and create clearance to remove the arm. Are they glued in place?

I am taking it to a shop. The posts i have read made it sould like it should move pretty easy after it was loose. no success here.

I will take pictures of the parts and repost them later. They are Febi.

Thanks,
Roger

pjinca

It is pretty easy, to remove the strut from the knuckle you don't go up, you push down. It will slip out of the knuckle. I would suggest you disconnect the sway bar end link to prevent it from coming apart during this procedure (something I have seen and heard of). Then the strut can be easily freed if you have the pinch clap already loosened, I have done more than enough coilover installs to know this.
Hopefully you have removed the belly pan under the engine (makes the control arm bolts MUCH easier to get to). After the strut is out you have the nut on the ball joint to remove then the REALLY long bolt on the control arm base to remove and you're done. ***NOTE: On some cars it makes it easier to remove the bolts that hold the sway bar bushings in place to make getting access to the control arm bolt easier - it's a long bolt you need room to pull it out and put it in. ***

jgt

I experienced the same issue when I replaced my OEM struts/shocks for coilovers. I did the rears just fine by myself but the front struts were frozen stuck in the pinch collar and I couldn't remove them. I chalked it up to all the salt and road crud we get in the northeast and gave it to a local mechanic I trust. Suffice it to say even he had trouble removing the struts out of the pinch collars even with some extra help and tools.
Moral of the story is they'll come out but not without a little extra work so don't feel too bad if you can't do it yourself because I felt like a useless shitbag until he told me it took quite a bit of work.

pjinca

It's actually pretty easy to lossen them from the knuckle if that is where they are getting stuck. What I did was stick a prybar in the split of the pinch and pry it open slightly, remember you don't need to open it much to get the strut free, a half milimeter should be fine.

toyota2bmw

Listen to the man. He helped me put coilovers on mine. Make sure that the end links are disconnected from the sway bar when you are getting the knuckle loose.

best1

Thanks for the advice. My car had been up in the north so maybe like jgt said it is just frozen. I took the bolts completely out and put a pry bar in to separate. Still no luck. I am done with it now. I will see what the shop says next week when they do it.