Hi All,

After years of E36 ownership I have recently added a 2006 530d to the garage. Bought it used with 80,000km on it.
With my E36 I went through the entire car and replaced every bushing I could find. It handles beautifully, but I am sure some of the bushings would have been just fine as original. I had to drop the rear subframe to weld in M3 reinforcements anyhow, so I upgraded the 4 big subframe bushings while it was out. etc etc


I am now starting to work my way through the E60 to update any bits of previous owner neglect. I have to go about this a bit backwards and order parts before I start taking it apart.

At the moment I am trying to figure out which suspension bushings are commonly worn out on this car so I can do as many at the same time as possible.

The hydro bearings on the front tension struts have a little bit of play in them so I will be replacing the entire struts. I will be changing out all the shocks to Bilstein B6s at the same time and refreshing the top mounts, pads etc.

How is the rest of the front end on this car usually? Are there other frequent-fail items?
Tie rods? Front wishbones?


On the back of the car, the rear wheel bearing carrier bottom ball joint seems to be a usual suspect so I'll likely do that as well.
Has anyone here torn through the back suspension? Are there other bushings that are better of replaced?
I've heard a lot of X5s wear out the bushings on the "swing part" swing arm where it attaches to the subframe. They use the same bushings as our cars, but are of course a lot heavier.

How about the subframe bushings?

Thanks!
S

 

truthfully they all wear out, I own a small independant garage, and an e60 and a few of my customers run them too. at one point or another everything gets changed. I wouldnt compare to heavily to x5's they go thro brake reaction rods(front) rear lower rose bushes and the upper rear arm thats shaped like a boomerang for fun. I presume due to the weight, these are all wear out on e60's but you find other things worn too as they take longer, if you are going to the effort you imply, just buy all new arms and rose bushes and topmounts and call it a day. even quality items arnt that dear and if your spannering yourself its a fairly plesant car to work on.

 

I'm currently digging through the Lemforder parts catalog to see if there are any possible upgrades as well. On the E36 you could put M3 FCAB lollipop bushings in place of the stock E36 ones for a stronger option etc.
I know E39 guys have used E53 X5 parts as upgrades so I'm checking if the same is applicable to the E60.
I'll post up if I find any good options.
If anyone has any suggestions fire away!

 

Thanks Evo,

How about the subframe mounts are they pretty solid or is it worth dropping that as well and replacing them while I'm at it?
When I have the car apart, I'll be able to see better what sort of condition they're in. I'm just wondering If I should get the parts in advance as I can expect them to be pretty worn.
Cheers
S

 

Actually it seems they aren't that tough to do. Might be able to avoid dropping the subframe to do it. Might as well do it all right the first time.

I think I will do Lemforder for all of them.
Was thinking about Meyle HD, but heard a few poor reviews of some of their parts so I think I will stay with the ODM unless anyone has a good reason not to.