BlueHorse

The red arrows in both photos attached point to the leaking rubber seal in front wheel. I have this same leaking problem on both sides.

When the tire is running straight forward, the seal seems to cover properly, as seen in photo #1. But when the tires turn to side (photos #2), the rubber seal opens up exposing grease inside.

What is this part called? Control arm? What does it do? And is this rubber seal broken? A DIY job?

Given its thin size, it is not weight bearing, right?

Thanks!

turboawd

those are sway bar links. its a ball and socket type of joint with grease to lube it. your boot is torn. it will slowly fail and the joint will wear and get loose and probably make noise. i'd just keep and eye on it until it wears out.

BlueHorse

Turboawd,

Thanks!

Will this degradation at some point create a dangerous driving condition?

By the look, how many more miles do you think it can last? Thousands, or 50K miles?

Any idea what kind of grease is in there? I am thinking to add more there every few months to make it last a bit longer.

Is it a difficult DIY to replace the boot? It does not appear this area is weight bearing, so replacing it could be simply unscrew one or two bolts, and slide in a new boot?

Wolrab

I think it's item 8 here, although your car may have different actual parts:

RealOEM.com * BMW E60 545i Stabilizer, front

Looks as if it would cost you about $100 or so to replace both sway bar links right now. That's what I would do. You won't be able to re-lube the current ones or replace the boots.

Having it break off wouldn't be life-threatening, but it could take out something else if it hits the road and bounces around. For $100, easy peace of mind.

Edit: Conventional wisdom says when working on the suspension, replace parts in left and right pairs. That may be overkill for this part, but it won't cost much just to go by the rules.

BlueHorse

Looks like the DIY simply requires unscrew the two nuts numbered 10, and install part #8 before screw on the two bolts #10. Is there any weight and/or tension on this part #8 I have to deal with?

I will certainly do both front sides, given both rubber boots were torn.

Wolrab

So long as the left and right suspension are compressed the same amount, there should be no loading on those link arms. They just transmit an imbalance from one side to the other. So front end on ramps or jack stands. You'll have a problem if you try to jack up one side at a time and do them separately.