E30 Zone

Not happy today, i took the car for its MOT and it failed on the following,
1. Nearside front bottom ball joint has excessive play.

2. Offside rear brake pipe excessively corroded.

im gonna try these jobs myself so was just after some advice before i go ahead and start,
what i wanted to know was shall i just buy the bottom arm or just the bush and press it in?
how should i go about sorting the brake pipe?

also on the old MOT it states the following,
Nearside front lower front suspension has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush.
offside front lower front suspension has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush.

so im assuming i should really change both bottom arms what do you reckon??

im new to E30 ownership and any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance, Steve.

Near side control arm has both joints gone, so replace that complete with a new Lemforder one from GSF/ECP. The ball joint on the offside one can be changed on its own, but it's a lot of work compared with changing the whole arm, so you may as well change that complete as well, and know that they are going to be fine for many years.
You will need new rear bushes for the arms as well, and I recommend you use genuine BMW for these. (E30 M3 ones, for a bit of an upgrade.)
The offside rear brake pipe could be the start of many hours of fun, depending on which pipe, and the state of the rest of them at the rear!

Balljoints and brakepipes are standard MOT failure fodder for 20+ year old cars - if thats all it failed on thats a reasonable result and fairly cheap and easy to fix.

I'd have a look at the rest of the brake pipes and either replace any that look dodgy or at the very least smear them in a thick coating of waxoyl.

I would suggest you do both sides if you are going to replace the control arm. Do one side at a time tho. Always a good idea to have an assembled one to refer to when doing this.

Thanks for the advice guys, sorted the brake pipe today wasnt too bad really, now just the bottom arms to replace these are on order from GSF and should be here tomorrow.

oh yeah just another quick question, the rear bushes on the bottom arms..ive bought m3 ones although i was told in the parts places i went to that they are the same as my standard 318is ones?? they were about fifty quid for both have i been sold e30 m3 ones or not? please.

E30 M3 ones are an upgrade for standard E30.

Best place for bushes is the main dealer - anything aftermarket even if its supposedly "OEM quality" can be and frequently will be rubbish.

Contact Cotswold via the genuine parts section of the zone - they will sell you the right bits and give you a 10% zone discount.

If you do a search in the genuine parts section you'll probably find the right part number for the E30 M3 bushes.

BlueEyes_1 wrote:oh yeah just another quick question, the rear bushes on the bottom arms..ive bought m3 ones although i was told in the parts places i went to that they are the same as my standard 318is ones?? they were about fifty quid for both have i been sold e30 m3 ones or not? please.

Probably not. Are they concentric (hole in the middle of the bush) or not? I'm not aware of anywhere to get M3 eccentric ones other than BMW or one of the genuine parts suppliers.

Pls excuse my ignorance but how does the Eccentric M3 bush affect the suspension geometry ? More Camber ? If you use them in conjunction with lowered springs will that hammer your tyres on the inside edge ?

Gives more castor. It might effect camber slightly.

BlueEyes_1 wrote:were about fifty quid for both have i been sold e30 m3 ones or not? please.

Half this price from BMW! Note that the bushes come as a pair - you only have to buy "one".
After you have done this work, the front tracking will need checking and adjusting, whether you need M3 bushes or not.
The M3 bushes have no significant effect on tyre wear, unless you make use of the extra 'turn in'.

Brianmoooore wrote: After you have done this work, the front tracking will need checking and adjusting, whether you need M3 bushes or not.

When i took my car in for tracking after it was lowered the guy at the tyre place asked me if it felt ok. I said yes, so he told me to come back in about two weeks, and in that time the suspension would have settled.

Was this good advice?

Half this price from BMW! Note that the bushes come as a pair - you only have to buy "one".
After you have done this work, the front tracking will need checking and adjusting, whether you need M3 bushes or not.

fluffs sake, er well i got them now and i was told they were 26 pound each from BMW but this was the guy from GSF telling me.

okay part numbers are, PB364PP and EMS8313 and yeah the holes are in the centre of the bush. i bought them in their mounts as i didnt fancy pressing them in/out.

bushes on their own were 5 pound odd.

any information greatly appreciated guys.

Take them back for a refund and get some BMW M3 eccentric ones instead

Part number for the E30 M3 Eccentric jobbies: 31 12 9 061 222 £21.64 from cotswolds the other day



Chris

If the holes are in the centre of the bush, they are NOT E30 M3 ones. If that's what you asked for, return them under the Sale of Goods act, for not being fit for purpose.
ONLY buy rubber bits from BMW, and remember to only order one, as one is a pair.

sihooker wrote:Was this good advice?

Yes, as long as the tracking is close to correct, otherwise it could be unroadworthy, and the litigation lawyers could have a field day!
Springs/suspension can take a few days to settle fully.

Thank you Brianmoooore,
Im going back to Herewards tommorrow and i will stay calm

then to BMW, to get the right bits

Thanks again dude.

just an update,

got the bottom arms both off today (laying on the floor in the rain) managed to get the right bushes aswell and also my money back on the wrong ones.

just a quick question....the new m3 bushes i have pressed into my "cups" i have been told these just then slide onto the bottom arms? should i get the arms in place then slide this on and bolt it all up or build up the arms away from the car and wiggle it all on in one go?

hope this makes sense and any advice welcomed, big thanks again to Brianmoooore

BlueEyes_1 wrote: i have been told these just then slideonto the bottom arms?

Depends on your definition of "just slides onto"!
Fit the arms back onto the car, and use a short piece of 3x2 to wedge between the arm and the subframe, to wedge the arm down so that it keeps still when you push the bush on.
Make up a 50:50 mix of washing up liquid and water, and lubricate the pin and the bush, then push the bush onto the pin by hand. IT WILL NOT BE EASY!
Bolt the lollipops back to the chassis rail, and drop the car back on the ground ASAP, so that the bushes can rotate on the pins to their normal rest position, before the soap/water mix dries out.
I usually then throw a bit of hot water over things to wash off as much as the soap as possible.
In use, the bush must not rotate on the pin. The bush is supposed to grip the pin tightly, and for the rotational movement to occur by deforming the rubber only. For this reason, it's important NOT to use a permanent rubber lubricant.

This was a very good read as i have mine to do after the M.O.T man said i need mine done before it gets its next M.O.T next year


Andy

Depends on your definition of "just slides onto"!

lol well that lad that told me this is a bit of a bruiser

okay dude i will try this tommorrow and let you know how i get on thanks again couldnt of done it without you.

I fitted new wishbones the other day and to get the eccentric bushes on I used a big clamp and a socket that was the same size as the inner pipe on the bush. 1st bit of putting it on can be without the socket untill you hit the wishbone end, socket then between the clamp and the bush and you'll have it on a few mins later

hard work today, the arms went straight on no problem but pushing them bushes on was a pain in the ar5e to say the least.
ended up with a piece of wood and a ratchet strap to get them on but bloody hell it took a few hours, with this and the brake pipe sorted i went and got the re test and then onto get the tracking checked.
This is where my next problem arose, the track rod ends were seized and the monkey at the garage couldnt get them to turn, he broke out the oxycetaline torch and they freed off mind you in between chatting to a mate of mine and the monkey doing the tracking i failed to notice he only adjusted one side?? now the steering wheel is pi55ed up big time im going back in the morning to push the geezer over and get my tracking done properly!!!!

if the wheels are straight, and the tracking is fine, then the steering wheel can just bolt off and on again in the correct position, though most decent tracking places will at least secure the steering wheel before doing this

secure the steering wheel

they did secure the steering wheel but i thought tracking should be adjusted equally at both sides of the car not just all on one side?

the steering wheel has never been this out of line?