I always had replaced my control arms on all of my e46s, it makes the biggest diffrience. so I wanted to see where you guys would buy your control arms from other then the dealership.

 

bought mine from ebay

:l

lower control arms only (since the bushing wore out and only needed that replaced)

cost under 200 for both if i remember correctly

 

thats not bad, did it make it a big diffrience on your ride. My Steering has a little wiggle to it. not bad for 200 bucks for both sets. My mechanic said theirs 2 parts for control arms.. is that true. I had told him i found a set for 130 on ebay. He said yeah buy those and get the other set.

 

theres a upper and lower control arm to each side

:l

the bushings is what wears out giving u that wiggle

on our models the bushing and control arms r 1 piece together (told this by bmw mech)

i got them installed for 100, which u could really do urself but i was feeling lazy

ride got better and that wiggle left

 

So what two control arms did you change?? I wanted to know this because I'm also in the market to change my control arms and would like to know where you bought them from. Thanks

 

i replaced the lower control arms

:l

those r the ones with the bushing that needs replacement every so often

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E...Q5fAccessories

fcpgorton has them on ebay for 150 shipped and they r knowledgable people

i have bought things straight off their site and am pleased with products and even helped me out when i was ordering the wrong part



good thing about the control arms is that all models use these... from the 528i to the m5... part doesnt change

here is off their site... they have em for 115 but shipping may differ so price will aswell

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exe...ategory_id/181

just to make sure this is what u r wanting...

i am talking about #11 on this realoem.com page, which go for $244 each

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...55&hg=31&fg=05

 

I just swapped out my control arms over the past weekend with the parts from the FCP Groton site. They are just as good as OEM in my opinion. You can't beat the price and it's not that bad of a DIY either. I have a DIY posted from last weekend's RR(sorry no pictures).

 

Yes!!! that is exactly what I am looking for....Thank you very much, I appreciate you taking time to help me out... I love this forum

 

Thanks for your input Jason, I appreciate it...

 

how do you know your control arm is going bad? Is there a test I can do to check it out? Thanks