Control arm/Wishbone help......

[la21t]

Drive a 325 Touring, both outer ball joints are knackered, I understand these are 'pressed' in.

If I order a control arm from GSF, does anyone know what I get for my money? Bare arm? Whole arm with everything on it?

Or should I buy the £8 ball joint and get my pain in the arse press game on lol

Cheers in advance
Lee

[DanThe]

I think the only thing you will be missing on the arm is the rear bush, but it all depends on how handy you are with a press/vice

[la21t]

Thats the thing, even though the press option is cheaper, I really cant be arsed with pressing shit lol

The garage that looks after our company cars has said he'll do it for £30 per side if I supply the balljoint - I suppose thats best eh lol

[Brianmoooore]

325 touring should have aluminium control arms, not the steel ones used on the rest of the E30 range, except M3.

[charlE30]

325 touring should have aluminium control arms, not the steel ones used on the rest of the E30 range, except M3.

Why is that Brian?

[Brianmoooore]

325 touring should have aluminium control arms, not the steel ones used on the rest of the E30 range, except M3.

Why is that Brian?

Because that's what BMW sold 'em with.

[charlE30]

325 touring should have aluminium control arms, not the steel ones used on the rest of the E30 range, except M3.

Why is that Brian?

Because that's what BMW sold 'em with.

Oh OK, would using standard steel arms on a tourer affect anything ie handling etc? I'm not trying to be funny or anything just quite intrigued as to why BM fitted alloy to the tourer.

[Brianmoooore]

Standard steel arms are interchangeable (as a pair).
Presumably BMW thinks they affect the handling - that's why they fitted them to its two top of ther range E30 models, the M3 and the 325 touring.
If you decide to fit them, be sure to be sitting down when you are quoted the price for a pair!

[DaveD]

you're not kidding!!!

[jamesc]

Can the balljoints be changed on the ali arms? I can't afford to replace the arms on my tourer with new ali ones.....

James

[Brianmoooore]

Check your existing arms with a magnet. I've never seen a 325 touring that still has them.

[jamesc]

They are the ali ones, raw metal not painted.

[la21t]

My arms are the alloy ones, looked on Eurocarparts for a price, the genuine ones are £181 lol

And all the others say 'not touring' in brackets. Im struggling to work out how a steel one is so different from an ally one, unless its a diff. shape it cant affect handling that much can it???

Maybe I'll just have the balljoints replaced, in an effort to keep the car original, my mates' Dad owned it from new and he still sees it, dont wanna upset him hahahaha

[Dan318-is]

Neil, nelly was breaking a 325 touring, i asked him forthe wishbones as i want to fit ally ones in the summer an he sed they r steel?

magnet is a good way of testing tho i like that!

mite visit the breakers on wednesday

[Taylor325i]

Check your existing arms with a magnet. I've never seen a 325 touring that still has them.

Mine still has them but 99% of Tourings have had replacement steel ones fitted for obvious reasons.


Taylor.

[beardymat]

seem to remember reading somewhere that the ball joints cant be replaced in ally arms, dont think it went into detail as to why but think it might be that its difficult to do without cracking the arm maybe??

[fuzzy]

i just bought 2 steel arms for my touring from ECP for £32 each,they come with both balljoints fitted.the price for the alloy ones was £362+ vat for the pair .i also bought the other bushes needed for £16.

[Brianmoooore]

seem to remember reading somewhere that the ball joints cant be replaced in ally arms, dont think it went into detail as to why but think it might be that its difficult to do without cracking the arm maybe??

Think I've read that as well.
Also think I've read that there's a potential fatigue problem as well.

[Dan318-is]

So would the genreal concensus be not to bother fitting these to a non touring e30?

[Lordschleife]

Well...
You know me I'm always all for weight saving
But...
I dont think all e30 m3's had em as std even
and at that price, I wouldnt bother myself

[jamesc]

I think unless anyone can think of a good reason I might just replace my ali ones with some ECP steel ones.

What others have said about not being able to change the balljoints on the ali ones ties in with what I have heard too. Its a real bugger.

James

[la21t]

Ive just found this out too...........

Steel it is then

[charlE30]

I had the same at MOT time with my tourer, I fitted the steel ones from ECP with no problems but don't forget to get your tracking checked

[Jhonno]

ali ones make a couple of kg weight saving on unsprung mass so makes a difference to the way the suspension responds.. less weight to keep under control

early m3's came with steel, later ones ali and 325i tourings come with ali ones

even steel ones aren't cheap from the dealers @£95+VAT each

ali ones are reputed to have stronger ball joints.. a known failure point on harder driven (ie track cars) but i dont think they are replaceable due to the properties of aluminium