Rear bushes

[Mike-evans1]

Last MOT in september I got advised on changing my rear bushes and now september aint to far away I think I should crack on and get them changed.

Does anyone know waht sort of price these are going to be?
How hard will they be to change?
I recently changed the 2 front wishbones and bushes on my car and I had a nightmare to get the bushes in their housing, I had to take them to a local garage to press them in for me....
Are the rear bushes going to have to be pressed in? If they are then I will take it to a garage to have the job done, if not I will do them myself.

Can anyone take me to a link on how to change these, or give me any info on this?

[bullmand]

Are you talking about the rear subframe bushing or the trailing arm bushings? If it's the subframe then it's even worse than the control arm bushings you already did. A lot of people remove the subframe from the car and melt them out with a blowtorch. I'm not sure if there's a write-up here or not, but Google will probably find something.

[Mike-evans1]

Im not sure.
I am asuming that its the Rear trailing arm bushes.....but not 100%
I just found a write up on replacing these and I think I can manage to do these.

When I look just inside the rear wheel arches and infront of the rear wheel I can see a long rubber bush about 2inch diameter and about 4-5inchs long that is inside the rear axle carrier ends, these look WORN to me so it could be these that need to be replaced?
Are these the ones they melt out?
The Part Number for these is 33311090946 on Real OEM, I dont know how to add pics...if I can.....

[bullmand]

Yep. That's the subframe bushing. I'm not sure what sort of replacement interval those things have or how to check them. There's a guy on the Yahoo group who made a tool to remove them but I haven't seen him post in awhile. There are some folks on here who have changed these out and there should be some threads where the process is described.

[branden]

Yeah, I just softened the bushings with a torch and they pretty much fell out. It's a pretty involved process if you are going to drop the whole subframe.

[Mike-evans1]

Looking at the bushes from the outside of my car they look pretty worn....will these fail the MOT? or will it be the trailing arm bushes that the garage is refering to?

[Den]

Dunno 'bout MOT requirements, but it is probably the rear subframe bushes rather than the trailing arm bushes. Maybe both. :biggrin:

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/318isfaults.html#rearsubframebushes

[sfj642]

Last MOT in september I got advised on changing my rear bushes and now september aint to far away I think I should crack on and get them changed.

Does anyone know waht sort of price these are going to be?
How hard will they be to change?
I recently changed the 2 front wishbones and bushes on my car and I had a nightmare to get the bushes in their housing, I had to take them to a local garage to press them in for me....
Are the rear bushes going to have to be pressed in? If they are then I will take it to a garage to have the job done, if not I will do them myself.

Can anyone take me to a link on how to change these, or give me any info on this?
If it is the main sub-frame bushes you can see under the front of the rear wing (fender); these commonly let up around 100,000 miles - had to do both my E30 318i and E28 528i. Cheapest way, believe it or not - was the BMW main dealer.

In the UK they are given a set price to do this work and the bushes are (not "can be") pigs to get out - you should've heard the hammering that went on at the main dealers - I could hear it and I was in the customers lounge !

I wouldn't fancy someone sticking a blow torch up in there!

[Mike-evans1]

Just had a quote off a local BMW dealer on the bushes and labour to fit them....
Bushes are £20 per pair,
Bushes and labour £414.......he said it will take about 4 hours to do.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I will buy the bushes and get a local mechanic to do them...Cheaper option..

Do the trailing arm bushes myself and the rear stabilizer link rods myself.

Is there an other rear bushes that I should do?

[sfj642]

OUCH !

It cost me £109 including VAT and bushes for my 528i from a main dealer down here in Somerset in 2001.

It cost me £162 including VAT and parts for my 318i for both the rear bushes AND front wishbone bushes from a BMW specialist in 2005

I've heard of inflation but that is ridiculous.

Try ringing around to find out if it is still a rate fixed by BMW - if so you might get it cheaper.

My 316i Compact may need doing soon - hope the prices don't go up too much !

[Mike-evans1]

Have you got the number for the BMW dealer you used in Somerset?

I wouldn't mind travelling down there if I can get it done for that price...

[sfj642]

Have you got the number for the BMW dealer you used in Somerset?

I wouldn't mind travelling down there if I can get it done for that price...
Irvine's of Bridgwater - web: http://www.ljirvinebmw.co.uk/service/

The Showground
Taunton Road
Bridgwater
Somerset
TA6 6DD
Tel:01278 429122

Just maybe the Compacts are more costly for some reason - please let me know any quote you get.

Thanks

[Den]

Do the trailing arm bushes myself and the rear stabilizer link rods myself.

Is there an other rear bushes that I should do?
Shops here want ~$500 to do the subframe bushes.

One of the most logical solutions I've heard is to drop the subframe + trailing arms, and carry the whole mess into a machine shop to have the subframe and trailing arm bushes done. . .and the rear wheel bearings too(also ~$500 if done while on the car.)


http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=78367&page=2
Keith M

I took the rear subframe to a machine shop today to have the new bushings pressed in (also the trailing arms and the one on the diff cover). Pick them up tomorrow morning, then start painting.

The total was $220 for all the bushings and rear bearings. $ 20 ea for 6 bushings (the one on the diff cover was free I guess), and $ 50 for each bearing with hub removal and install. More than I wanted to spend but it was done in a day and I did have to screw around for a half a day with the press.


You may want to check the diff mount and shock mounts too. They're not part of the subframe assembly, but they complete the rear rubber stuff.

[Mike-evans1]

Just had a quote off Somerset BMW,
£230 parts and labour, about 2 hours work.
How can 2 BMW dealers vary so much in price???:mad:

Not a bad price tho, but I think I am going to get a price off a local mechanic and see what they say....

Just looked under my car now and I see that there is 2 bushes on each of the rear training arms, 1 on the outer edge and 1 just on the other edge of the training arm.
I think that I should be doing the 2 (4 in total) at the same time is it?

I found 2 links earlier and it only mentions the outer bushes being replaced....

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200815

http://home.comcast.net/~matthew.c.smith/mods/RTAB/index.htm

Also do I need the alignment tool one guy uses?:confused:

[sfj642]

Mike - I think the thread you refer to is for the E36 cars and coupes - don't forget we have the earlier E30 rear suspension set-up on our Compacts with a total of 4 bushes in the rear trailing arms.

These bushes are still OK in my 1989 E30 3i8i though I did have to replace the two large vertical subframe rubber mounts.

A quick look just forward of the back wheels will confirm to you what type of suspension you have. See picture from the ETK which should be the same layout as yours. I am talking about the big bushes (no 3 on the diagram)

[Mike-evans1]

Ye No 3 is the rear sub frame bushes that I have been quoted £230 to have done.

On that diagram the trailing arms look alot different than the ones on my car....There is no sign of the trailing arm bushes on that diagram....Is that the diagram for the compact?

[sfj642]

Ye No 3 is the rear sub frame bushes that I have been quoted £230 to have done.

On that diagram the trailing arms look alot different than the ones on my car....There is no sign of the trailing arm bushes on that diagram....Is that the diagram for the compact?
Hi Mike - £220 would seem about right after inflation etc and they now know how difficult they are to replace when they are corroded in after many years !

The diagram is from the ETK for my 2000 W reg Compact, though the diagram seems more or less identical for all the Compacts and indeed the E30's, though part numbers are different.

The trailing arm bushes I am talking about are item 8 on the diagram and secure the trailing arm to the axle beam at two widely spaced mountings on the axle beam (item 1) itself.

Have a look at the on-line parts manual page
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=CG52&mospid=47454&hg=33&fg=30

Hope this is helpful

[Mike-evans1]

Ok so from the diagram, Number 3 is the sub frame bushes, which are £220 to replace at BMW, Number 8 is the trailing arm bushes?

There is 4 of these in total to do, 2 on each trailing arm am I correct?

If so how hard are these to change?

[sfj642]

Ok so from the diagram, Number 3 is the sub frame bushes, which are £220 to replace at BMW, Number 8 is the trailing arm bushes?

There is 4 of these in total to do, 2 on each trailing arm am I correct?

If so how hard are these to change?
I would agree - though of course it would be up to you to determine for certain which bushes were faulty beforehand. I have only ever needed to change the sub-frame bushes myself which is no guarantee !

If one BMW main dealer can do it for £220 it occurs to me that your local dealer thought it was "per side" and just doubled up ? Or thought he had to do the sub-frame AND the trailing arm bushes ? Might be worth going back to them after you determine exactly what needs doing.

I haven't any experience of the trailing arm bushes but I know they are pressed in very tight. I do most of my own work, but wouldn't attempt to do these myself.