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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum
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Solid Subframe Bushing DIY tips
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06-11-2016, 04:41 PM | #1 |
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Solid Subframe Bushing DIY tips
Ill start off by saying that this was the biggest PITA of any project I've ever done on this car. I would rather do 3 sets of coilovers back to back than go through this again. If you could get someone to install these for less than 500 dollars, I would say go for it. I did this with the subframe still in the car
Getting the stock bushings out is pretty easy. You can make your own tool from stuff at lowes or home depot for less than 30 bucks. Getting the two rear bushings in is not too bad either, you just have to be sure that the subframe's bushing cavity is 100% free of any burs, or rough spots that stick out. Now the front bushings are the difficult part. For some reason they are just extremely tough to get in, even with the bushings fresh out of the freezer. I stripped the threads on two rods of my DIY tool, and I was pushing extremely hard on to get it to do that. I ended up making my own little portable press out of a 4 ton bottle jack, and some rods and steel plates i got from lowes. I got the bushing in another 1/4 of the way, and my tool bent beyond repair. The next day I thought of using some spare wheel spacers I had laying around as the top and bottom of my press, so I put it together, and it worked perfectly. No bending of the tool whatsoever, ad the bottlejack fit inside the spacer perfectly. I did have to cut off the lip of the spacer in order to remove the tool from the subframe however. I can confidently say this was the worst experience working on any car so far. I had my car on jackstands in the garage for 4 days, and spent every waking moment after work until I went to bed trying to get those bushings in. Relevant pictures below: |
06-12-2016, 06:21 AM | #2 |
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Im sure most shops that do these actually remove the subframe from the car.
I'm unsure if it can be done but from my machining engineering experience fitting solid bushes we use to submerge the bushes in a esky full of dry ice and heat the component up slightly and the plugs used to slide in easily with a small amount of force (this was fitting a splined bush to a railway axle for a train) |
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06-12-2016, 11:21 PM | #3 |
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I wish we would have taken pictures when we did the solid aluminum ones from Turner on my car. But it literally took 5 min per old bushing out and the same 5 min per new bushing in. We did freeze them in dry ice and had proper tools on hand. I think proper tools is the key word here. Same story on my friend's Turner delrin ones. All props to him for skills and tools.
Subframe was on the car but obviously lowered. |
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06-13-2016, 02:06 PM | #5 | |
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06-13-2016, 02:21 PM | #6 |
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http://www.kochtools.com/index.php?p=product&id=242
Like Yozh said. My delrin and his aluminum bushings took 5min to press in with it. As for freezing them with dry ice. I can't say it helps a great deal more then maybe just putting them in the house freezer but definitely didn't hurt. Other then the press we only needed 3 jack stands, 1 floor jack and normal hand tools. |
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06-13-2016, 02:29 PM | #7 | |
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Did you have trouble with just the fronts or the back ones also? |
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06-13-2016, 04:53 PM | #8 | |
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Couldn't really tell you why I had such a tough time getting them in, as getting the stock bushings out was 5 minutes tops for each one... |
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06-13-2016, 08:14 PM | #9 |
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Just pulled my whole subframe and pressed them in with a bushing press.
Pulled the differential while at it, replaced sway bar items, and cleaned up the entire subframe with a blast then coating while at it. Sure it took more time but good god was it more thorough and less stressful. EDIT: I did TMS Solid Aluminum/Delrin as well. If I'd done M3 or some insert I'd have left the subframe on and froze the new bushings. From what I had read doing the TMS bushings would be problematic at best, so just pulled the whole read end. Did my Quaife at the same time. Just wish I'd been in a position to do everything while in there, but couldn't swing all the control arms and springs/struts on top of the Quaife and diff bushings at the time.
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06-14-2016, 12:27 AM | #10 | |
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08-04-2019, 12:03 PM | #12 |
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08-05-2019, 01:59 AM | #13 |
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Aww man, u convinced me to do this dreadful DIY. Was yours done on your own diy style or did you get someone to do it? And big shoutout to the OP I’ll be using some 12mm spare spacers and the thread rod method. Wish me luck.
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08-07-2019, 12:58 AM | #14 | |
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08-20-2019, 03:42 AM | #16 |
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I´ve just added a diff lock-down this weekend and it has made a real impact on how the rear is planted now... very happy after all those try/error to fix the fishing while on-off WOT...
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08-21-2019, 10:51 AM | #17 |
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Only noise added is if you do aluminum diff bushings. Very minimal. No other NVH.
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08-21-2019, 10:52 AM | #18 | |
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