E36 M3 - Control arm woes, and wheel offset question.

[BillyBob]

Okay, so....

New shocks and springs in - car's easier to get in and out of, way more comfortable to drive, the knocking in the right front is gone, and the car feels fantastic at low speeds.

The shimmy over 80 km/h is still there, but MUCH less pronounced, and now only seems to be coming from the front of the car, especially when braking - pull it onto the wheel alignment machine, feel the right front wheel, and there's a knock - control arm balljoint is stuffed, and seems to be missing the retention bracket in the bottom. *facepalm*

So, while the LCA bushings seem to be okay, I'm guessing balljoint replacement is in order - unless someone could recommend a full aftermarket control arm assembly with balljoint?

BMW wants R650 just for the bloody retention bracket..

Also, the right front wheel is tucked in under the car - it sits probably 20 mm further inwards than the left... WTF? Could anyone shed some light as to why? Control arm doesn't look to be bent - but will have it checked and replaced if it is - I'm clueless as to suspension though, so what else determines the offset of the hub and wheel assembly?

Thanks in advance!

 

[B16A4]

need corect control arm with corect bush for your car model

 

[Peejay]

Which number is it?

 

[BillyBob]

Not seeing it in the pic - assuming that might not be the E36 M3 diagram, or that my car has the wrong control arms on?

According to that diagram, it should be something that fits around the base of 19

Will take a pic in the morning and post.

---

Think I may have this one figured out - according to the reference attached, E36 M3 3.0 OBD-I Coupe uses offset mount bushings, while the facelift / 3.2 OBD-II uses centre-mount bushings..

On my car, the Bushing on the right front control arm was definitely a centre-mount item, so that most likely explains the wheel offset looking so wrong

http://tarmacspecialist.com/suspension_faq/index.html

Now, for my next question - poly-mount bushing sets - where to find them? My concern is Especially for the rear - between the trailing arms, diff mounts and the subframe mounts there's a whole shedload of bushings back there... While it seems that only the forward subframe bushings have excessive play on mine, they still require the entire rear subframe to be dropped - so while we're at it, might as well replace everything back there and ensure the back-end remains solid well into the future...

 

[moranor@axis]

i got powerflex subframe bushes from koni sa they the agents form them in SA and prices are in line with what you find on the net so you may as well get from them and save the hassle of importing yourself...

apparently the e36 can get rips on the front mounts for the subframe lets hope you dont find that is the cause of the movement when you drop the subframe...

 

[Doomsdaya]

Bob where did you get Monroe Sensa Trac Shocks from and how much did it set you back ?

 

[BillyBob]

Got them sourced and fitted through a guy named Kyle at SupaQuick Fourways... all in all it cost me around R6500k, but that was other work done as well.