Front suspension thumping ?

[Huge]

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I am new to the forum. I have an E46 320d - +- 156000 K's.
I once replaced all the suspension bushes (as a young man !) on my Fiat 124st which was very harsh (thumping and knocking) over small bumps. Magic results - like a new car.
My 320d is starting to sound the same - is it the same problem - worn rubber bushes ? damaged control arms sounds expensive (?) - who in Jhb, preferably central/north central (besides a BMW dealer) can undertake the work ? Hugo

 

[Stiffler_PE]

WELCOME :wave:

I just did my lower control arm bushes ( LCAB's as they like to be called ) and it wasnt actually that bad. Not saying it was all shits and giggles either LOL.

I have heard many a good thing about a chap called GIZMO... if your in GP then your in his neck of the woods i believe. I would suggest you go straight to him.
You can search for him onthe forum and PM him.

Cheers and good luck :thumbsup:

 

[StK]

Could be any number of things...worn shocks,worn lower control arm ball joints and worn bushes.

Most common though are for the wishbone ball joints to go(lower control arms balljoints) ideally you would need to get under the car and have a look :thumbsup: and its a good idea to replace the busshes in the lollypop(at the back of the wishbones) with polly bushes :thumbsup:

 

[zaleonardz]

Ideally, what you need to do is pop the car past anybody with a lift.

Once there, they can check for play on the components, and this is done by using a leverage device to check for play.

Visually inspecting rubbers will also give you an indication, a cracked/torn rubber means your in trouble.

Upper and Lower control arms are not that expensive, and are very easy to change, they come with the bush, and its just a case of strip and fit. WITH WHEEL ALIGHNMENT.

I had a bad drive from my E34, and it turned out to be bent tie rod ends, change that, and car was sweet again.

Autoquip control arm will cost you R600 and some better makes your looking at like 800 to 1200 per arm, and its 2 upper, and 2 lowers, so thats 4 arms will bushes. but once on a lift, you can figure out what has gone and they can fix it.

As Stk however points out, its quite likely that it is a bad shock as well...

 

[msm]

I have heard many a good thing about a chap called GIZMO... if your in GP then your in his neck of the woods i believe. I would suggest you go straight to him.
You can search for him onthe forum and PM him.

+1 on Gizmo.

 

[Huge]

Ideally, what you need to do is pop the car past anybody with a lift.

Once there, they can check for play on the components, and this is done by using a leverage device to check for play.

Visually inspecting rubbers will also give you an indication, a cracked/torn rubber means your in trouble.

Upper and Lower control arms are not that expensive, and are very easy to change, they come with the bush, and its just a case of strip and fit. WITH WHEEL ALIGHNMENT.

I had a bad drive from my E34, and it turned out to be bent tie rod ends, change that, and car was sweet again.

Autoquip control arm will cost you R600 and some better makes your looking at like 800 to 1200 per arm, and its 2 upper, and 2 lowers, so thats 4 arms will bushes. but once on a lift, you can figure out what has gone and they can fix it.

As Stk however points out, its quite likely that it is a bad shock as well...

Thanks very much for all the replies - all as I suspected - I will try and track down Gizmo and visit Autoquip