My car has 93k miles on it and I think they started failing 15k miles ago I think. They failed very slowly so the effects were not readily noticeable. At its worst, my front end felt loose, was noisy hitting bumps, and there was a vibration in the steering wheel. Not the same kind of vibration you get with a bent wheel, this was a bit different. It was slight and the steering wheel felt rough. I finally bought a set of Lemforders and a set of retaining nuts from the dealer. I installed them this morning. I'm pretty good with my tools and have a complete toolbox for this kind of thing. This was an easy job. I was going slow and it still only took me under 2 hours. I pretty much used the how-to from here
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=778726
Main thing to remember it to tighten the frame side of the control arms while the suspension is under full load. I tightened/torqued the ball end of the arms while up in the air then threw the wheels back on and lowered the car onto ramps so the suspension was under full load. Torquing the frame side bolt was easy after that. The car drive SMOOTH now. Looseness gone, clunking gone, shimmy gone. All that is left is the road noise from the front tires. I spent $200 on parts, much better than the $400 to $600 for a professional to replace them. Seems like a waste of money to pay someone to do it. Next project is buying longer sway bar links to replace the factory that are too short, this will perk up cornering a bit.
