1999 E36 328is coupe wishbone help

[e36headcase]

So after my MOT today got play in ball joint nearside wishbone and play on the offside wishbone rear bush (lollypop)
The lolly pops are getting the poly bush treatment, done it on my rear wishbone front bush a few years back and they are lovely.
Question is what wishbone is good? I replaced the wishbone 4 years ago both sides and as its factory sport with 30mm drop im aware of a swift deterioration rate but 4 years is a bit excessive. They were cheap eBay specials though.
Meyle? Original BMW? cheers

[Eric93se]

Yeah, cheap ones will fail. You can rebuild the control arms if you have a shop press. The outer ball joint is the only tricky one. When pressing them out you have to first trim off those extra bits to allow for a support tube to fit over the old ball joint to press into. When installing the outter, you can convert it to the E30 style (solid ball joint) or press in the standard E36 but you have to make a tool to press on to push the new ball joint in.

[e36headcase]

Can I just get e30 arms as they have the metal sleeve compared to E36 rubber sleeve on the ball joints. Also can I fit eccentric m3 poly bushes to e30 wishbones and use my lolly pop carrier? Ive heard e30 arms are a popular swap pretty much plug and play

[jmo69]

So after my MOT today got play in ball joint nearside wishbone and play on the offside wishbone rear bush (lollypop)
The lolly pops are getting the poly bush treatment, done it on my rear wishbone front bush a few years back and they are lovely.
Question is what wishbone is good? I replaced the wishbone 4 years ago both sides and as its factory sport with 30mm drop im aware of a swift deterioration rate but 4 years is a bit excessive. They were cheap eBay specials though.
Meyle? Original BMW? cheers

You need to be careful of after market arms and joints. I found that some arms have the hole for the outer just large enough that the oe sized joint is too loose to stay in place. An original or Meyle arm accept the Meyle all metal ball joint. I have a small home made press that worked for the outer joint but I couldn't get the inner one in so a shop did that one. The combination of the new joints and solid off set bushings made a world of difference according to my friend.


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[bluptgm3]

Yes, you should use Lemforder.

Some folks have had good luck with Meyle HD, they do have the solid outer ball joint.

The Lemforder E30 FLCA will also work.

There is a thread about replacing the ball joints with Lemforder (E30 and/or E46) or Meyle inner and outer ball joints, but you need access to a 20-ton (minimum) shop press.


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