[SmellyGreek]

Originally Posted by LMB335IS

A dremel with is small grinding stone will work.

That did the trick, thanks! Got car aligned, feels great now.

[nickitp]

Ok so after ordering all the recommended parts I get it all together (drivers side first) and the passenger side is a pita to get on. After muscling the parts on my wheels are sitting far back in the arches and are both pointed at a 15-20 degree angle outwards! Where the hell did I go wrong?

Might also mention this is a 335i e93 and I also changed out the strut for koni yellow and springs are eibach pro.

[DarrenO]

Originally Posted by nickitp

Ok so after ordering all the recommended parts I get it all together (drivers side first) and the passenger side is a pita to get on. After muscling the parts on my wheels are sitting far back in the arches and are both pointed at a 15-20 degree angle outwards! Where the hell did I go wrong?

Might also mention this is a 335i e93 and I also changed out the strut for koni yellow and springs are eibach pro.

Fitted all the front arms myself (recently changed to Bilstein B6's, so removed top pin). Straight away it had pushed the back out resulting in changing the tracking. Both towing in massively so had to do a rough guage until it goes in on Friday to get aligned properly. Hoping all negative camber gets sorted to somewhat near to M3 all round.

Fingers crossed its sharpe and very responsive unlike before! I can then get on with ordering my new steering wheel👌🏻

[nanoo]

Is there a M3 control arm kit for e90 xi?

[335ithrust]

Hi Guys, my upper and lower control arms arrived and intend installing them this weekend. I have been reading several posts that mention filing/Dremel burrs so the control arm will slide into the sub-frame. Wondering if I would expect the same or happens on occasion?

[madmantwo]

Originally Posted by chriscpurr

Hi Guys, my upper and lower control arms arrived and intend installing them this weekend. I have been reading several posts that mention filing/Dremel burrs so the control arm will slide into the sub-frame. Wondering if I would expect the same or happens on occasion?

Try knocking them in with a mallet first. I was able to get the driver's side ones on without any grinding, but the passenger's side one started digging into the subframe so I had to grind it down and slide it in after that. You should be able to get away with no grinding if you're careful

[JoeyH335i]

Originally Posted by nickitp

Ok so after ordering all the recommended parts I get it all together (drivers side first) and the passenger side is a pita to get on. After muscling the parts on my wheels are sitting far back in the arches and are both pointed at a 15-20 degree angle outwards! Where the hell did I go wrong?

Might also mention this is a 335i e93 and I also changed out the strut for koni yellow and springs are eibach pro.

j
15 to 20 degree angle! How does that happen?
I can see a 2 to 5 degree outward angle if something was done wrong but not that much.

Mine were done and I had the strut tower redrilled to clock the strut to get the angles right.

Below are 15 degree and 20 degree angles just to show how much that would push out the tires.

[tdavis42]

Is that 18.7" the same for non-sport, sport, and Msport suspension?

[F31cruisin]

Just did this upgrade, and so far so good. I also did the BMW performance shocks at the same time.

Also, in case anyone is about to do this, I have the headlight leveling arm thats needed for this upgrade, You really only need the piece to bolt into the arm. If anyone needs this, and do not want to spend the $30 for a whole arm, message me.

[tadaska]

Thinking of doing this on my car but there is something I can't understand... if the M3 control arm is shorter how does it give more negative camber? I thought it would have to be longer and push the hub out a bit to give more negative camber

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by tadaska

Thinking of doing this on my car but there is something I can't understand... if the M3 control arm is shorter how does it give more negative camber? I thought it would have to be longer and push the hub out a bit to give more negative camber

The m3 control arms are longer

[tadaska]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

The m3 control arms are longer

There is a picture of the OEM arm and M3 arm side by side in the op and the M3 looks shorter. Have they been marked wrong or are my eyes deceiving me?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by tadaska

There is a picture of the OEM arm and M3 arm side by side in the op and the M3 looks shorter. Have they been marked wrong or are my eyes deceiving me?

The upper control arms for the M3 do not have as much bend in them, if you look really close.

The m3 lower control arms are straight all the way through, where as the OEM 335i control arms have a bend at the end.

The lack of bend at all or reduced curve makes them longer and gives you a -.75 camber. It has to be longer or you would not get a negative camber.

[tadaska]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

The upper control arms for the M3 do not have as much bend in them, if you look really close.

The m3 lower control arms are straight all the way through, where as the OEM 335i control arms have a bend at the end.

The lack of bend at all or reduced curve makes them longer and gives you a -.75 camber. It has to be longer or you would not get a negative camber.

Oh I see, it's the lower ones. I was looking at the upper... I thought it was them that gave negative camber. My bad. It's all new to me.

I'm looking to refresh my suspension (arms/bushes/balljoints) to tighten things up a bit. It's the full height suspension, I don't want to lower it. I am after a nice sophisticated feeling ride. Some people say the M3 arms make it feel a bit harsh. What do you guys think? OEM or M3? I don't really do fast driving anymore.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by tadaska

Oh I see, it's the lower ones. I was looking at the upper... I thought it was them that gave negative camber. My bad. It's all new to me.

I'm looking to refresh my suspension (arms/bushes/balljoints) to tighten things up a bit. It's the full height suspension, I don't want to lower it. I am after a nice sophisticated feeling ride. Some people say the M3 arms make it feel a bit harsh. What do you guys think? OEM or M3? I don't really do fast driving anymore.

M3. They don't cost a whole lot more. The steering wheel will tighten up a lot.

Get them from FCP Euro. I'd also do the tie rods too. That's a "while you are in there" item.

[sd306]

Thank you for this! Along with spacers the handling is and fixed my steering wheel shaking issue!

Alignment is needed after +1000000 on this, I could barely drive the damn thing after and had alignment setup for 7am next day. After you first drive it you will think you installed the arms backwards...lol

[tadaska]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

M3. They don't cost a whole lot more. The steering wheel will tighten up a lot.

Get them from FCP Euro. I'd also do the tie rods too. That's a "while you are in there" item.

You tilted the scale in favour of the M3. This morning on the way to work I drove round the roundabouts faster than normal and the front handling felt disconnected from the steering and dull. I just ordered M3 arms from eBay (I am in the UK so no FCP Euro for me, though I like their website, over here online car part websites are so bad). But I forgot about the tie rods... Should I replace the inners as well? My car has almost 130k miles. Also shoyuld I get the M3 tie rods or just normal ones?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by tadaska

You tilted the scale in favour of the M3. This morning on the way to work I drove round the roundabouts faster than normal and the front handling felt disconnected from the steering and dull. I just ordered M3 arms from eBay (I am in the UK so no FCP Euro for me, though I like their website, over here online car part websites are so bad). But I forgot about the tie rods... Should I replace the inners as well? My car has almost 130k miles. Also shoyuld I get the M3 tie rods or just normal ones?

You can't buy m3 tie rods. Lemforder is the OEM provider; they will be much cheaper than OEM BMW. Last, you should also replace the sway bar end links too. Another "while you are in there deal". Again, Lemforder is the OEM provider, and they will be much cheaper than the ones made by Lemforder but have a little BMW sticker on them

Yes, if you have 130k on your car, I would replace them. They are probably not dead yet, but by 160k or 100,000 miles they will be.

[tadaska]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

You can't buy m3 tie rods. Lemforder is the OEM provider; they will be much cheaper than OEM BMW. Last, you should also replace the sway bar end links too. Another "while you are in there deal". Again, Lemforder is the OEM provider, and they will be much cheaper than the ones made by Lemforder but have a little BMW sticker on them

Yes, if you have 130k on your car, I would replace them. They are probably not dead yet, but by 160k or 100,000 miles they will be.

Just had a quick look on eBay and for what they cost it would be silly not to replace the inner ones. I will leave the swaybar links as they are for now. Eventually I will be getting new shocks/springs and might decide to lower or maybe fit an M3 ARB... I'll do it later. Arms and tie rods will do for now. Any idea if I can remove the inner tie rod without a special tool? Will I be able to get in there just with a spanner?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by tadaska

Just had a quick look on eBay and for what they cost it would be silly not to replace the inner ones. I will leave the swaybar links as they are for now. Eventually I will be getting new shocks/springs and might decide to lower or maybe fit an M3 ARB... I'll do it later. Arms and tie rods will do for now. Any idea if I can remove the inner tie rod without a special tool? Will I be able to get in there just with a spanner?

If you decide to lower it, get the Bilstein B12 kit. You will need to get adjustable sway bar links if you lower the car. Hotckiss makes a great kit for front and rear.

http://www.hotchkis.net/product/e92-...r-endlink-kit/

[N54CoupeHP]

Originally Posted by robc1976

Note:

Very easy tutorial, hope this is of help to somone!

Rob

Thanks for the DIY! Question; how wide of a tire would you guess could fit on a 10 inch wide rear wheel? I want to go 295 in the back on a 19 inch wheel. Thanks

[The Nightman]

Thanks for the DIY. Just replaced my tension struts and wishbones on my 2009 E90 328i with 70k miles and it only took 2 hours at a slow pace. My tension strut bushings were both leaking and I started noticing that the steering feel wasn't as tight as it used to be. My wishbones were still fine though. For whatever it's worth, the factory control arms on my E90 were TRW.

I didn't want to deal with M3 wishbones (new headlight level, issues fitting the bushing end into the subframe and an alignment) so I just used the TRW M3 tension struts with new Lemforder stock wishbones. The M3 and stock tension struts are the exact same dimension so no alignment is needed. This is a sensible compromise as my original wishbones were still in good condition. The fluid filled bushing on the tension strut are the main problem, which is addressed with the M3 tension strut.

The M3 tension struts alone are a great upgrade. Handling is much tighter and more responsive to steering input. Fore and aft movement is reduced and the car feels rock solid under heavy braking when it would previously wander. Road feel is increased and so is NVH, with slightly harsher bumps and a bit more vibrations transmitted to the cabin. I have Michelin AS3s for reference.

I soaked all the hardware with penetrating fluid overnight and my Mastercraft 7.5A impact wrench (240 ft-lb max) took the 21mm balljoint locknuts off without any issues. A short extension was required to access the wishbone balljoint nuts.

All parts were from FCP who pricematched RMEuropean.

Leaky tension strut bushings at 70k miles:


Stock tension strut vs. M3 tension strut: