Just changed both tension struts

[blue dragon]

.....otherwise known as lower control arms. You need a 27 mm 12 point wrench for the ball joint side, and two 18 mm sockets for bolt side.
It the entire arm can be removed without having to remove the entire splash shield

As weird as it sounds, there is less vibration in the wheel at a stop, and the ride is noticeably smoother. Braking is smoother as well.

[StatenEye]

Originally Posted by blue dragon

.....otherwise known as lower control arms. You need a 27 mm 12 point wrench for the ball joint side, and two 18 mm sockets for bolt side.
It the entire arm can be removed without having to remove the entire splash shield

As weird as it sounds, there is less vibration in the wheel at a stop, and the ride is noticeably smoother. Braking is smoother as well.

Weird, maybe the car feels tighter? Did they or you re-align the car after installation, maybe this relieved the vibrations? Vibration is usually wheel related and will be less noticeable with weak links; chassis to suspension. Did you change the bushings? Are you getting good feedback from the road? Brainstorming.

[blue dragon]

No need for realignment, you aren't touching the tie rods or anything that changes the alignment. The new tension struts come with new bushings and balljoints

[StatenEye]

Originally Posted by blue dragon

No need for realignment, you aren't touching the tie rods or anything that changes the alignment. The new tension struts come with new bushings and balljoints

Yea I was just thinking maybe you performed an alignment since you were working on the suspension and coincidently that relieved vibrations. How is the feedback from the road? Are you feeling all the bumps in detail? We just changed these on my brothers X5 and realized the problem was bad CV joints, changed those too. Now the truck feels tight, stiff and has plenty of road feed back.

[GregWX5]

Originally Posted by blue dragon

.....otherwise known as lower control arms. You need a 27 mm 12 point wrench for the ball joint side, and two 18 mm sockets for bolt side.
It the entire arm can be removed without having to remove the entire splash shield

As weird as it sounds, there is less vibration in the wheel at a stop, and the ride is noticeably smoother. Braking is smoother as well.

I just ordered the PowerFlex Polyurethane bushing for my X5M. They are cracked after 50K miles and a few road course sessions. Do you know the torque specs to tighten these to?

[serge1]

So, are you keeping the X5 now?

[blue dragon]

Nope, but I still have to drive it, over the last couple weeks I've done 2000km driving to cottage country.

[blue dragon]

Originally Posted by StatenEye 535i

Yea I was just thinking maybe you performed an alignment since you were working on the suspension and coincidently that relieved vibrations. How is the feedback from the road? Are you feeling all the bumps in detail? We just changed these on my brothers X5 and realized the problem was bad CV joints, changed those too. Now the truck feels tight, stiff and has plenty of road feed back.

Suspension just tighter, and there is plenty of feedback (in a good way). What symptoms made you realize you had bad CV joints?

[RickM5x3]

Originally Posted by GregWX5

I just ordered the PowerFlex Polyurethane bushing for my X5M. They are cracked after 50K miles and a few road course sessions. Do you know the torque specs to tighten these to?

I went through bushings at 29k on the M. My other X5's have always made it to at least 75k.

[GregWX5]

Originally Posted by RickM5x3

I went through bushings at 29k on the M. My other X5's have always made it to at least 75k.

These bushings also went out on my E53 too! There was definitely a noticeable improvement after they were replaced! I'm also going to change out the front sway bar links (RealOEM calls Swing Support #5) while I'm at it, since these also get loose pretty quickly!

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=31_0857

[m5 guy]

Originally Posted by GregWX5

I just ordered the PowerFlex Polyurethane bushing for my X5M. They are cracked after 50K miles and a few road course sessions. Do you know the torque specs to tighten these to?

Here is a link to my post about the powerflex bushings. I went with the 'race' spec ones as I do not care about harshness. Easily one of the better mods I have done to the beast. Should also have the torque specs. I replaced just the inner bushings and will do the arm later. You will need new hardware, at least new nuts.

http://www.xbimmers.com/forums/showp...&postcount=372

[GregWX5]

Originally Posted by m3 guy

Here is a link to my post about the powerflex bushings. I went with the 'race' spec ones as I do not care about harshness. Easily one of the better mods I have done to the beast. Should also have the torque specs. I replaced just the inner bushings and will do the arm later. You will need new hardware, at least new nuts.

http://www.xbimmers.com/forums/showp...&postcount=372

Thanks! I also ordered the race ones!! Can't wait to replace them! Thanks for the head's up about the new nuts!