2018 430Xi F36 Thruster Arm Bearings

[PumpingPete]

Hi there,

First time poster here... I have only owned my Gran Coupe for approximately a year. Started getting a rattle in the drivers side front end. Took it to the BMW dealership and they determined that the bearings in the thruster arms needed to be replaced. I have done my own light mechanic work over the years, and was planning on purchasing new thruster arms and replacing them versus swapping out the bearings. The only question I had was around the how-to video's I am finding. Most of them around the F30's versus the F36. I can't seem to find one exactly for the F36. My question is, does that matter? Will I be able to follow those videos and still do this swap? For example, wanted to make sure the tightening pressure was the same, et. Thanks for your help!

[RBNetEngr]

It’s the same suspension on both, so any F30 instructions would apply to your F36 as well.

BTW, our F30 had a rattle/knock sound in the front, and it was just a loose bolt holding the thrust arm to the subframe. So before you replace them, just check the tightness of the bolts. The thrust arms have rubber bushings, not bearings, so I’m not sure what BMW is talking about.

[PumpingPete]

Thanks! I will check those bolts as well. They said bushings, not sure why I typed bearings... I really appreciate your response.

[dworthy]

Pro tip: When replacing bushings, make sure the weight of the vehicle is on the busing before fully tightening the bolt down. So to help explain why, if you tighten a bushing down with the car in the air, once the car comes down, it will cause the busing to be twisted, this will cause pre-mature failure of said bushing.