[Dextrek]

Originally Posted by Nguyenhu0106

when i say preload that means when the bolts to the control arms are still loose you compress the suspension and then you tighten the bolts.. there are a few ways to do it as it was previously stated you put the car on the ground and tighten the bolts. if you have access a lift, it would be alot easier... you just lift the control arm slowly until the car is raised just a bit on that corner.. be careful when doing it..

not sure if this was linked correctly but if it does not start at 5:30... fast forward to it. it will show what we are talking about

now if you did not do this, then you would be adding alot of stress on the control arm bushing and that is why it is sitting high because the bushing is supporting most of the weight of the car instead of the spring which is bad. There is a good chance you will rip the bushing and have to replace the arm.

video worth thousand words. Thank you!

[Dextrek]

Originally Posted by ajsalida

Actually your way might be better than what I said, if you can load up one corner safely with the wheel off with a jack stand or something. You could get to all the bolts a lot easier.

Ideally you'd have a rack of course.

edit: what you want to avoid with this version would be too much uneven loading one side to the other so that the sway bar is not engaged. So maybe you could put blocks under one tire, take the other side off, lower onto one jack stand. Or I guess you could disconnect sway bar link while doing this.

well noted. I am gonna put my car on jack stands, then jack my tires up with couple 2x4's on them. Hope this works. I will post the after picks and see if it works out!

Thanks for the tips fellas!

[Julian2485]

Originally Posted by Dextrek

well noted. I am gonna put my car on jack stands, then jack my tires up with couple 2x4's on them. Hope this works. I will post the after picks and see if it works out!

Thanks for the tips fellas!

How did it work out for you and while driving befor preloading did you hear any clunk sounds coming from Rear end ?

[David1]

You do not need to preload anything in the rear when doing subframe bushings or installing rear shocks. If you unbolted control arms or the sway bar, then you would need to preload those. But you do need to touch those to do subframe bushings or shocks in the rear.

[Julian2485]

Originally Posted by David1

You do not need to preload anything in the rear when doing subframe bushings or installing rear shocks. If you unbolted control arms or the sway bar, then you would need to preload those. But you do need to touch those to do subframe bushings or shocks in the rear.

Ok thanks I got my m3 subframe bushings and m3 rear bar done and after that I started hearing clunk noises maybe the shop didn't preload my swaybar when bolting things back together I'm guessing

[David1]

They did something wrong or did not tighten everything.

[Julian2485]

Originally Posted by David1

They did something wrong or did not tighten everything.

I had 2 other mechanics check out the suspension and they said everything looks tight I even changed my upper shock bushings. I'm going to change the lower one and see if that fixes anything. If not I'm guessing the suspension needs to be preloaded