All the bushings I should replace

[septimus]

Hi all, new to the forum. I'm replacing the shocks on my girlfriends '95 ti that she just bought. The car is 10 years old and the front ball joints and control arm bushings are shot. While I'm up there, what other bushings should I just go ahead and do? And how much stiffer is urethane vs rubber?

[cali-ti]

i recommend this thread:

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4980

for most bushings, i would not recommend urethane but rather stiffer rubber. balls joints, imho, should be replaced with full metal ones (stock ones fail too quickly otherwise). you could either replace the ball joints themselves or get replacement control arms with the full metal ball joints already pressed in (something like $25 vs $90 each).

[septimus]

will the solid metal ones transmit alot of jitter to the steering whee/seat? Its for my girlfriend and she doesn't want a super stiff ride. She had a CRX si before and got rid of it because she was tired of the really tight ride.

[1996 328ti]

You can go with solid M3 control arms and bushings.
There really isn't much up there.
You might want to change the stabilizer links since they may be cracking.

[cali-ti]

i really haven't noticed increased vibration, but it really helped remove "wandering," poor tracking and looseness in the steering wheel. WAY more responsive. if she's opposed to "tight" suspensions, don't lower it or put sport shocks/struts on.