[nota_troll]

After noticing some wiggling I got the Powerflex bushings. Certainly an improvement. The steering feels more connected. Good upgrade.

 

[Diny]

Could you elaborate a bit more? Did you install them yourself? Bushings for what? Price? Difficulty of installation? Links to product pages?

 

[nota_troll]

My mechanic who is also an M5 owner did the installation. I bought 2 sets (me and him) from Bimmerworld.

On another note his car has over 100k miles and he let me use it while he did the install. His car runs really strong.

 

[Diny]

Here come more questions!

This this the page? Which option did you pick? I'm confused between options #3 and #7 (they both say E39).

The page says that those are for the front suspension. Did you not change the ones in the rear? Is it recommended?

How long did it take your mechanic to do it?

 

[Diny]

bump. I'm really interested in this!

 

[M5ROKIT]

I was getting very loud suspension noise from up front and I thought my JRZ shock(s) were defective. One BMW dealer said the right front shock was faulty but another ( Dinan dealer) said it was fine and that the sway bar bushings were shot causing the noise. I have Eibach sway bars so I had to find replacement poly bushings. NOT EASY. I ended up getting a set from Tire Rack with a spare for future. While at it I bought Powerflex bushings from Beastpower for the thrust arms and control arms. Noise is gone and the handling seems quite tight. It is tough for me to feel a huge difference on the street as I have not pushed the car yet. Going to LPR on 4/5 and will see then. Since it was at the dealer for the shock/sway issue they did the work. I think it was around $300 or so.

 

[nota_troll]

I did only the front "1 - Thrust rod or tension rod". Since my mechanic didn't say anything about the control arm bushings I didn't ask.

I think it took him 2 hours to complete the job.

M5ROKIT - I bet with the upgraded suspension the stronger busings would be really helpful.

 

[essex boy]

what colour bushes did you guys use?

 

[M5ROKIT]

The Eibach bushings are red and I think the Polyflex are blue. I also upgraded the rear sway bar bracket as that got torn twice during track days.

 

[Need4Spd]

FWIW, Powerflex are very popular with the M3 crowd for replacing the Rear Trailing Arm Bushings. RTABs in e46 M3s are a weak point, so a lot of people go to Powerflex when theirs fail, or sometimes even before they fail. Not many complaints about noise or harshness so long as you lube them very, very well with copper type anti-seize. On the other hand, a lot of M3 owners will put up with quite a bit more noise and harshness than most of us would. Same benefits, though, of far more precise steering and more predictable and crisper turn-in.