Rear dif mount bush.

N

Neil Wilson

Dedicated Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
Points
39
The rear dif mount bush needs replacing on my 2000 2.8. Not checked price with bmw yet but note eBay suggests £200 plus for OEM. Note Powerflex do on for £51, has anyone used one of these and are they or any other alternatives any good?
 
It was the only power flex bush I used when refreshing my wife’s 3.0 . Didn’t fancy cracking the alloy cover and this just slips in as opposed to being pressed.
 
Peter1450 said:
It was the only power flex bush I used when refreshing my wife’s 3.0 . Didn’t fancy cracking the alloy cover and this just slips in as opposed to being pressed.
Click to expand...
Does the OEM have to be pressed in which presumably entails removing the dif back plate? I watched an American YouTube video where the guy cracked the housing but thought that might be down to user error?
 
Personally I wouldn’t go poly on the diff bush without strengthening the mounting. The poly ones are easier to fit..but you’ll likely need to take the diff cover off anyway to get the old one out. Having watched a couple at the zedshed it’s not a 10 min job
 
Did it when replacing the beam bushes so everything was off the car , like most things if you’ve done a few and have the correct equipment its probably fairly straightforward for me the poly was the easiest option
 
@Lee had two poly bush types in the for sale section might be still available.
 
Thanks guys, somewhat inconclusive really, I rang BMW today and was surprised to find OEM only costs £57, a fraction of what they are advertised on eBay. I’m going to ask my mechanic if he has the tools to refit OEM without either removing the backplate or the dif. My guess is he will have suitable pullers.
 
I went poly on just beam bushes. Even that alone transferred significantly more road noise and diff noise into the car which luckily you can only hear with the roof up which is almost never for me. So be prepared for a bit m9re NVH if you go poly. Nothing for nothing.
 
I’ve spoken to my mechanic and he’s got a tool to pull the bush in, he says he’s used Powerflex before in different applications and confirms they always transmit more noise, that combined with the extra stress put on the bracket has helped me make my decision.
 
Final update. After reading a lot of posts from the US I concluded OEM poses a major risk of cracking the housing when refitting, Powerflex even in its softest form is too hard made worse by the large washers used. The go to over there is AKG who make a polyurethane bush in different hardness ratings the softest being similar to OEM and they are easy fit, they post to UK and have that bush discounted by 20% currently giving a total delivered cost of under £64. Not sure if I’ll get charged import duty, we’ll see.
 
They're not bad to do but you need to heat the alloy cover in boiling water for a few minutes, and have the new bush in the freezer. Squeeze the new one in with a bench vice.
 
Picked my car up from local garage today having had the new AKG polyurethane bush fitted, mechanic said it was easy enough to fit, I could tell the difference as soon as I drove the car out of the garage, much smoother gear change. Fully recommend this upgrade and AKG for supplying the bush from the USA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top