I am looking to see what are the positives and negatives of using e46 front control arms on a e36 chassis. I am also looking at buying the SLR mini kit and from what I've learned from Paul is that you need e46 arms to run thier 'drift' set up which involves long tie rods, and all you need are the stock e36 front control arms and tie rods to run their 'race' mini kit.
The pros to stock e46 arms are that it’s cheap and you can find them anywhere. Crashed your car at the track 250 miles from home and not ready to pack it up and leave just yet? Go to the junkyard and buy some more. Cons? Well you probably won’t be doing backies with stock e46 arms and probably won’t be competing on a professional level, but that’s about it really.
Last edited by Liquidity; 01-31-2019 at 04:59 PM. Reason: clarification
The shape of the updated arms isn't ideal for angle, and finding the old style ones is next to impossible. We have a car locally that has e46 arms and the half kit and it damn near has as much angle as my e46 Ultra kit.
A few years ago, I took a picture of an E30/36 control arm superimposed over an updated E46 arm. The picture is either somewhere in the drifting section here or somewhere on r3vlimited.
You gain about an inch of frame clearance, but lose about 1.5~2" of control arm clearance at the center of the radius on the back of the arm. Take measurements and figure out if they'll be worth your time
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The Meyle HD arms are still the pre-update design. That’s all I use.
The geometry is the same, it’s the webbing that differs.
I meant wide across the middle (the webbing) where the wheel wants to tuck. So yeah, same length.
The webbing is still there, it’s just much thinner on them vs the updated ones. The webbing is huge on the updated arms and becomes a problem when running a lot of angle.
E46 arms work but you wind up hitting your wheel on the webbing (as stated above). If you're cheap and can weld, get the SLR extension weld on kit for your stock control arms.
Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?
Can you guys confirm if these "pre-updated" arms are just American problem? I bought a set and I can't tell the difference after searching on google to compare. Even the Meyle HD from Germany looks the same as what I got.
Anyways, I got steering rack spacers + E46 arms + polybushing in hex shape (no grinding) + angle kit alloy plates (no E90 tie rods needed). None of it is fitted apart from the rack spacers....so ermm yeah did I get my setup right or am I mistaken somewhere? Keep in mind I got my theory from this forum, from your guy's posts.
https://i.imgur.com/OeutLGx.jpg
The cost for this setup worked out to be peanuts to be honest in comparison to the 4 digits I've seen everywhere. I'm talking like 200 and everything is brand spanking new, apart from your E36 bushing holders that needs to be pressed out.
The picture you linked (https://i.imgur.com/OeutLGx.jpg) has the updated arms. The non updated arms give more clearance. But it isn't that much of an issue unless you run smaller diameter wheels (16s I think).
Or is that not what you're talking about? I'm kind of confused.
Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?
Ignore the weird text but the image is relevant.
e46_front_suspension.png
The original E46 aluminium arms (On the bottom in the photo) looked very much like E36 arms just 27mm longer center to center. Had loads of back side clearance. They were mostly found on '99 and '00 e46's. BMW updated the design to the one pictured above said "skinny" arms due to them bending easily. They are pretty sought after for drifters but I don't believe any new ones are made anymore and the inner balljoints are unreasonably difficult to replace so if you find a set of arms the inners are most likely trashed so not really usable.
I think the update you guys are talking about was more recent than that but sounds like a much more minor revision. Honestly I really do feel its better value to just buy a full SLR super kit (of course I would right?) since the half kit does require you to find a press or a friend with one and cock around with your control arms getting the outer balljoints out then pressing our being cup in (which people mess up and ruin the cups by accident from time to time) then getting a sway bar tab added or drilled in and then in 2 years when the inner balljoints are thrashed do it again on another set of arms. Vs the Tubular arms pressing the 3/4 bearings in and out every 15-20k miles is so much easier and cheaper in the long run.
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