How To Guide Replace BMW Z3 Front Lower Wishbone Trailing Arm Rear Control Arm Bushes

[spurs fan in a coupe]

As title,

Needed to replace the (I assume original) Z3 front lower arm rear control arm bushes.

So here goes

- Jack up car and remove front wheel (this car has been lowered so I had to use the jack from the boot kit to get it up a bit to get a better trolley jack under - as a fair amount of tugging/pushing/pulling is involved I also secured with an axle stand and popped the wheel under the front of the car too)

- Remove the two bolts that hold the mount in place (17mm)

- With the use of an air powered angle grinder the old ones were removed, this is a tricky job and clearly has an element of risk, so best undertaken at a garage.

The old bush can be prised apart with a lever and removed

Old vs new

- With a fair amount of elbow grease and a bit of lube push/pull the replacement part on (be careful to make sure you put the correct one on as they are 'sided').

- Do up the two bolts and you are done.

 

[Low Rider]

Many thanks Andy for taking your time to help the members of Zroadster.org.
Your write ups are invaluable.

 

[hard top]

Nice one Spurs....
Do us a favour, don't delete any more of you Photobucket stuff....

 

[Rudyrov]

I did this too, but I used M bushings. M Bushings have solid rubber all the way around and provide a firmer base for the control arm. As a result the car maintains its steering geometry much better. The stock Z-3 bushings allow for side to side changes in the position of the control arms and this cause over steer and under steer.

 

[Eddie Zedder]

Another popular option (for reduction of tramlining) is to chop the old bushes out of the lollipops and pop in some Powerflex poly bushes.

 

[5harp3y]

a much easier way of getting the old bush off is some lubricant and a 3 arm gear puller (zero chance of damaging the shaft too)

 

[madleemark]

nice pics and write up, I did mine last year, I fitted the solid type, and at first thought I had made a mistake, I could feel more thro the steering wheel, but a few miles later and all good,

 

[roadvoyager1]

nice pics and write up, I did mine last year, I fitted the solid type, and at first thought I had made a mistake, I could feel more thro the steering wheel, but a few miles later and all good,

Do you have the supplier/part no. for the solid bushes you could share with me please? I thought BMW stock Z3M bushes were solid but when I checked on RealOEM they came up with the same number as the standard parts.

 

[madleemark]

I got the bushes off ebay, these are similar item number 301834902963
i remember it felt odd at first, but some 12,000miles later, i dont notice

 

[roadvoyager1]

Thanks for the info @madleemark . I was also considering changing to PU bushes but read that somebody had problems with aligning the arm into the bush and ended up "modifying" the bush, which didn't seem a good idea to me.

Has anybody on the forum who has fitted Powerflex bushes to the front control arms had problems with them?

 

[Brian H]

Has anybody on the forum who has fitted Powerflex bushes to the front control arms had problems with them?

I did have an issue on my 1.9, need to modify them but they just popped in on my 3.0i no problem.

 

[Dobiwallah]

How do you know when you need to replace the bushes? Mine has done 76.000Km/47.000mile

 

[roadvoyager1]

How do you know when you need to replace the bushes? Mine has done 76.000Km/47.000mile

Checked mine using a pry bar and could get about half an inch play without putting a lot of force on them. Not enough play to be of concern for our annual M.O.T. test which looks for excessive play in bushes. All very subjective I'm afraid.
I'm looking at mine because of tramlining when I change front and rear wheels around (all the same size but different tyre manufacturers). If you don't have any concerns with you steering performance then probably no need to change them.
My car is a 2. 8 and has done 90, 000 miles.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Thanks for the info @madleemark . I was also considering changing to PU bushes but read that somebody had problems with aligning the arm into the bush and ended up "modifying" the bush, which didn't seem a good idea to me.

Has anybody on the forum who has fitted Powerflex bushes to the front control arms had problems with them?

Fitted Powerflex to my 2.2 a couple of months ago, no problems at all. Not a lot of help, then.

 

[roadvoyager1]

Fitted Powerflex to my 2.2 a couple of months ago, no problems at all. Not a lot of help, then.

Certainly does help to know that the Powerflex bushes fitted without a problem. Thanks

 

[madleemark]

my main issue at the front was a clunky feel, i could feel going over bumpy roads, i know the z3 is not a limo, but i felt something was wrong, i did the bushes first, and they made an improvement, next job i did was to replace the anti roll bar bushes with powerflex ones and new drop links, and the clunky feel had gone