» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | looove 04-16-2024 01:18 PM 04-16-2024 01:18 PM 0 Replies, 1,639 Views | | ![](http://www.318ti.org/forum/clear.gif) | ![Reply](http://www.318ti.org/forum/images/buttons/reply.gif) | ![Share/Bookmark](http://static.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save_171_16.png) | 11-12-2015, 05:07 PM | #1 | Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: CA Posts: 8 | Rear sub frame urethane bushing 97 318ti with 200k miles Looking for brand recommendations for a non-squeaking urethane bushing with a softer (daily driving use) vibration (75A?). Also, since labor is up to 90% the cost of this service what else should I look to take care of while the differential, etc, is out? In other words, is it worth it to do the differential mount and rear trailing arms as well even if they are in decent condition. My plan is to keep the car for five years and I bought it 18 months ago. Last edited by Mathieu; 11-12-2015 at 07:53 PM. Reason: incomplete information | | | 11-12-2015, 10:19 PM | #2 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: MD Posts: 126 | I've been running Powerflex street bushings in my subframe for a few years now and have been happy with them. No squeaking, just make sure to apply a liberal amount of the grease they supply. I'd do the RTABs as well while they're out. Diff, maybe. I did, but it seems easy enough to get to at some other point if it's in decent shape now. __________________ '96 318ti Base - few mods installed... | | | 11-12-2015, 10:35 PM | #3 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Greenville, SC Posts: 9,356 | STOCK! __________________ ...steven BMW CCA #146825 1996 BMW 328ti • 2003 MINI Cooper S • 2016 M235i www.bmwcca.org | | | 11-13-2015, 12:33 AM | #4 | Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: CA Posts: 8 | Yeah, I'll do the RTABs and the diff probably too as I don't know it's condition, it will be an upgrade, it will be cost effective, and I can forget about it. Thanks for the feedback on Powerflex. Anybody out there use Revshift? They're almost half the cost but the low profile is a concern. | | | 12-17-2015, 10:11 PM | #5 | Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Duluth, MN Posts: 20 | I'm about to put some AKG Motorsports Street/ Race bushings in with an LSD swap. I'll let you know my initial thoughts Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk __________________ Blitzing backroads on the shores of Lake Superior. | | | 12-18-2015, 02:20 AM | #6 | Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: CA Posts: 8 | Thanks | | | 12-18-2015, 03:57 AM | #7 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: norcal - 94590 Posts: 3,186 | Unless you are seriously tracking your car, OE bushings are just fine. If you want to upgrade, get OE bushings for an M-coupe. __________________ James 95 active w/leather interior and sport interior conversion, Vaders, full M-Tech exterior conversion. Now m50 swapped* Eibach sway bars, D2 Coilovers, Depo's w/AE's, blacked-out sides and grills, LeatherZ console and door armrests, 1 series starter button mod, and custom finished Style 5's <--- in this color! Named "Roddy": *M50 6 cyl. swap with fan delete, S50 cams and chip, AFE stage 2 intake, M3 clutch and 11.5 lb Fidanza flywheel, 3.15LSD, battery relocated to rear and complete custom exhaust. Sweet! 97 318ti sport, Alaska Blue, Contours, coilovers, Dove Vaders and custom black/grey interior named "Max" 95 318ti Active in Cosmos, S50 swap in progress... named "Pit" SUPPORT 318ti.org! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE! Hosting a forum like this is not free. 318ti.org is one of the best BMW forums on the web because it is member supported, not vendor supported. The cost to become a Supporter is a nominal $10.00... A YEAR! DO IT! NOW! | | | 12-18-2015, 07:27 AM | #8 | Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: CA Posts: 8 | Unless you are seriously tracking your car, OE bushings are just fine. If you want to upgrade, get OE bushings for an M-coupe. * The problem with OE's is that I'll be kicking myself down the road if I throw another $1K plus for a manufacturer's planned obsolescence when I could've resolved it for posterity while improving the handling. Are the M-coupe's comparably priced? | | | 12-19-2015, 01:04 AM | #9 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: US Posts: 315 | Last week did subframe and RTAB with Ireland Engineering urethane. Did without any of the proper tools and left trailing arms on car. Was a complete pita but did it. What tools do you have? Get the AKG bushing removal tool, it's $35 or make your own. There is a noticeable increase in noise and handling. If you want quiet get stock. Only reason I changed to urethane is for motor swap. | | | 12-19-2015, 07:13 AM | #10 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: norcal - 94590 Posts: 3,186 | Quote: Originally Posted by Mathieu Unless you are seriously tracking your car, OE bushings are just fine. If you want to upgrade, get OE bushings for an M-coupe. * The problem with OE's is that I'll be kicking myself down the road if I throw another $1K plus for a manufacturer's planned obsolescence when I could've resolved it for posterity while improving the handling. Are the M-coupe's comparably priced? | Yes, the m-coupe bushings are very reasonable. I've been tracking for 2 years with those and they are fine... A serious point to make is that if you are going to upgrade the bushings on one of the rear suspension components, you should do them all with comparable bushings... i.e., don't just do the subframe bushings, do the RTABS and Diff with something similar... Otherwise you end up putting undue stress on other components.. __________________ James 95 active w/leather interior and sport interior conversion, Vaders, full M-Tech exterior conversion. Now m50 swapped* Eibach sway bars, D2 Coilovers, Depo's w/AE's, blacked-out sides and grills, LeatherZ console and door armrests, 1 series starter button mod, and custom finished Style 5's <--- in this color! Named "Roddy": *M50 6 cyl. swap with fan delete, S50 cams and chip, AFE stage 2 intake, M3 clutch and 11.5 lb Fidanza flywheel, 3.15LSD, battery relocated to rear and complete custom exhaust. Sweet! 97 318ti sport, Alaska Blue, Contours, coilovers, Dove Vaders and custom black/grey interior named "Max" 95 318ti Active in Cosmos, S50 swap in progress... named "Pit" SUPPORT 318ti.org! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE! Hosting a forum like this is not free. 318ti.org is one of the best BMW forums on the web because it is member supported, not vendor supported. The cost to become a Supporter is a nominal $10.00... A YEAR! DO IT! NOW! | | | 12-19-2015, 06:43 PM | #11 | Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 13 | I did a 1988 325iX rear-suspension rebuild last winter: it is absolutely identical to the 318ti rear suspension. I went with PowerFlex subframe bushings, Trailing Arm Bushings, and a Rear Diff Bushing. I dropped the entire rear subframe, rolled it out, and then cleaned painted everything and replaced the bushings. I do not believe that the noise/vibration/harshness has deteriorated at all, but I do realize that can be very subjective with some people having a more sensitive ear than others. The biggest challenge we had was that the OEM subframe bushings were absolutely corroded into the body due to 27 years and 150,000 miles of driving in salty environments (first Chicago and then Pittsburgh). On the E30 forums, the general conclusion is that with cars that have never seen salt, are relatively easy to do, while any significant salt exposure can lead to one HORRIBLE job. We fiddled around for nearly 3 days before figuring out how to get them out. I can provide more details if anyone is interested. The fundamental issue is a bad design by BMW: the inner "sleeve" of the bushing is aluminum, while the cavity in the body that the bushing sleeve presses into is steel. When these cars were built, no grease was used when pressing the bushings into the body. Steel + Aluminum+ Salt led to serious galvanic corrosion, where essentially the bushing is "welded" to the body. Last edited by ptbowman; 12-19-2015 at 06:49 PM. | | | 09-29-2016, 06:52 PM | #12 | Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Georgia Posts: 595 | Quote: Originally Posted by ptbowman Rear subframe mounts: The biggest challenge we had was that the OEM subframe bushings were absolutely corroded into the body due to 27 years and 150,000 miles of driving in salty environments (first Chicago and then Pittsburgh). On the E30 forums, the general conclusion is that with cars that have never seen salt, are relatively easy to do, while any significant salt exposure can lead to one HORRIBLE job. We fiddled around for nearly 3 days before figuring out how to get them out. I can provide more details if anyone is interested. The fundamental issue is a bad design by BMW: the inner "sleeve" of the bushing is aluminum, while the cavity in the body that the bushing sleeve presses into is steel. When these cars were built, no grease was used when pressing the bushings into the body. Steel + Aluminum+ Salt led to serious galvanic corrosion, where essentially the bushing is "welded" to the body. | ptbowman, I know this is an old post, but can you share how you got the original aluminum sleeve off the steel stud on the rear subframe? Did you have to spray a lot of PB Blaster to get it unstuck? Did you heat it up with a propane torch? Let me know if you don't mind. __________________ 1996 Ti 280k miles and still going.... 1993 964 - holding on to this one 2001 Burban, 240k miles 2018 Suburban Z71 | | | 09-29-2016, 06:57 PM | #13 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: US Posts: 315 | Heat and air hammer worked for mine. Not as stuck but worked Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk | | | 09-30-2016, 11:22 PM | #14 | Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 13 | Quote: Originally Posted by bazar01 ptbowman, I know this is an old post, but can you share how you got the original aluminum sleeve off the steel stud on the rear subframe? Did you have to spray a lot of PB Blaster to get it unstuck? Did you heat it up with a propane torch? Let me know if you don't mind. | It was a PAIN!!!! I have worked on cars for decades- biggest pig of a job I have ever seen. I tried do many different things that just didn't work. Lots of penetrating oil (even stuff better than PB Blaster) did not work. There is just no good way to get the fluid in thst aluminum/steel interface. Finally I went crazy with a drill. First I drilled multiple holes around the circumference of the rubber bushing in order to separate that from the inner aluminum sleeve. I then carefully cut away the rubber bits from the aluminum sleeve. I was hoping to grab the aluminum sleeve with a giant visegrip hoping that torque would break the corrosion. Nope! So finally I bought a series of drill bits and very carefully enlarged the center hole in the aluminum sleeve until it was thin enough that it literally fell out of the body. My sons and I were whooping and hollering and high-fiving because we had been fighting this for days- my wife came running to the garage thinking someone was hurt! We did not use a torch because I was really concerned about the gas tank being so close to everything and the last thing I wanted was a gasoline explosion especially in a garage integral to the house. We could have probably rigged some heat shields but I just didn't want a hot flame within inches of a gas tank And fuel lines in adfition, a flame will definitely set the rubber bushing on fire creating a hortible smoky mess. In hindsight I could gave done this in an hour by just drilling out the aluminum sleeve and not messing around with everything else I tried. 20/20 hindsight. BUT be incredibly careful NOT to damage the bushing locating point in the body (the steel sleeve that locates the aluminum sleeve). If you mess up the steel sleeve you'retotally screwed! It wasn't that hard though- the aluminum is soft and the drlll bits cut easily through it. Run a slow drill speed and go slowly, frequently stopping to check your work. No problem on first few bits but that last where you have thinned the aluminum sleeve enough that it loses all strength- BE CAREFUL Last edited by ptbowman; 09-30-2016 at 11:27 PM. | | | ![Reply](http://www.318ti.org/forum/images/buttons/reply.gif) | Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Posting Rules | You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |