Control Arm Bushings for BMW 3 Series E46 (1999-2005)

Our sealed Monoball Rear Trailing Arm Bushings (RTAB) are the best solution for completely eliminating deflection and unwanted toe changes on the rear of the E36, E46, and Z4. While rubber and urethane bushings flex during load, the toe can change widely giving you nervous and unpredictable handling. These RTABs have a solid aluminum housing with a high-quality sealed OE bearing. These bushings were developed from years of competition use in various racing and HPDE events. There is simply no better RTAB unless your racing class rules prohibit the use of mono or spherical bearings.

The rear trailing arm bushings take a lot of abuse from acclerating, braking and cornering. The stock rubber bushings are just not up to the task of keeping rear wheel alignment in spec for very long, especially if you have upgraded to stickier tires and a better suspension. The pliable rubber flexes and twists which slows down reaction time and leaves you with a car that feels nervous and 'tail happy'. Urethane helps to control the alignment but issues with fitment, maintenance, and longevity keep us from recommending urethane on anything but a street car. We also offer a Delrin RTAB for cars that must conform to certain racing class rules. These sealed spherical bearings are the best at controlling rear toe alignment.

Our aluminum RTABs are very well made - high grade aluminum alloy and steel CNC'd out of a billet by an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer, each component is either hardcoated or nickel plated. While multiple manufacturers offer two piece designs, our research showed that a one piece bushing is a better design featuring a sealed bearing to keep contaminants out extending the life of the bearing.

Features:

Key Benefits:

• Rear Trailing Arm Monoball eliminates unwanted deflection, maintaining alignment settings and minimizing wheel hop.
• Allows full rear trailing arm articulation for low friction movement and eliminates binding found in rubber and poly bushings.
• Completely streetable: utilizes an OES Lemforder brand sealed, greased ball joint for an extremely long service life with no increase to NVH.

Design Features:

• Housing: Billet CNC 6061-T6 aluminum, type II anodized for exceptional durability and corrosion resistance
• Bearing: OE Mercedes/lemforder 2043520027 Sealed ball joint
• Bearing inserts: CNC machined 303 stainless steel.
• Rebuildable

Clickhere for installation instructions.

This item fits the following BMWs:
1992-1998 E36 BMW 318i 318is 318ic 323is 323ic 325i 325is 325ic 328i 328is 328ic M3
1999-2005 E46 BMW 323i 323ci 325i 325ci 325xi 328i 328ci 330i 330ci 330xi M3
2003-2008 Z4 BMW Z4 2.5i Z4 3.0i Z4 3.0si Z4 M Roadster M Coupe

Stock rubber front control arm bushings are designed to allow significant fore/aft movement of the front wheels to help absorb road impacts.  This soft flexible design maximizes daily driving comfort and helps to add the “luxury” feeling to your BMW, but it is far from ideal for the performance or racing enthusiast that is looking for optimal handling and braking performance.  Being a bonded rubber bushing that is constantly twisting and deflecting when in use, stock rubber bushings really take a beating and often fail prematurely, resulting in further degraded handling, braking shimmy or even clunking felt under your feet.

In the past, the only upgrade option to improve handling of your E46 M3 was to replace the stock rubber with poly bushings, or delrin bushings that wear prematurely and are not serviceable or rebuild-able.  While well-designed poly bushings can vastly improve handling characteristics and offer good road feel with minimal increase to NVH, they are still a compromise when it comes to ultimate handling and braking performance.

Introducing the new Turner Front Control Arm Spherical Bearings!  The Turner engineering team set out to design a no-compromise solution that requires no modification and offers instantaneous cornering and braking response.  Our control arm bearings utilize a unique grease-able spherical bearing that is both serviceable and replaceable, with integrated dust seals to help keep dirt and moisture out.  This bearing offers considerable improvement in both precision and durability compared to other unsealed poly and delrin bushing inserts previously available, which can wear prematurely due to contamination.  The bearing assembly utilizes the highest quality materials, precision machining quality, and components to ensure a perfect fit and longest lasting component life possible.

The result is the ultimate in terms of low friction, no binding, and no unwanted deflection, as well as exceptional steering precision, turn-in response, and direct braking feedback with minimal increase in NVH.  These spherical bearings are a must have for any track car, but are also completely street-able and are a great upgrade for any enthusiast that enjoys spirited driving.

Features:

Bearing

• Extremely robust, greaseable, double lip sealed spherical bearing (Rated for 20,000lbf Dynamic, 90,000lbf Static). 

Housing

• 6061-T6, anodized housing with needle grease zerk for easy maintenance. 
• In house designed knurled OD to provide the perfect fit for the wide range of housing diameters among brands. 

Bearing Insert Arm adapter

• Precision CNC machined Delrin, providing a tight fit between the bearing and the control arm. 

Performance

• Instant, crisp steering and braking response.
• Easy to maintain, long lasting performance. 
• Improved road feel without undesirable NVH.

Grease before installation and with each oil service with high quality Moly grease for maximum service life.  Need a Grease tool?

Our experience with spherical front control arm?ball joints go back to those we designed and used in our IMSA E90 328i and E92 M3 racecars (GS class Champions in 2011).??We wanted to offer e30, e36, and e46 owners similar levels of handling precision and control for the track and street, but weren?t satisfied with the other options out there.? Instead of a Delrin? bushing or unsealed spherical bearing alone, we selected an oversized sealed greaseable spherical monoball to offer unparalleled durability and precision, but designed a Delrin? adapter sleeve to help isolate the added noise, vibration, and harshness that a full solid monoball bearing will have.?While race-ready,?our hybrid Delrin?/monoball control arm bearings are more at home on the street than other kits that are advertised as??race-only? bearings. We did extensive street, autocross, and track testing to ensure the spherical bearing used in this bushing design excelled in each setting.

The stock rubber bushings, even?those found in the M3,?allow significant fore/aft movement of the front wheels to help absorb road impacts, especially when being pushed hard. ?This soft flexible design maximizes daily driving comfort, but also allows considerable alignment change.? This unwanted deflection?stands between you and a crisp, confidence-inspiring driving experience. ?The advantage of a monoball bearing is that it will not deflect under load, eliminating all unwanted deflection while still allowing?complete freedom of movement?in the desired angles. What you get is superior steering precision with better handling from more consistent alignment?and direct braking feedback, with exceptional service life.? Thanks to the?Delrin? insert and double lip seals, there's none of the extra noise or reduced service life?often?found on?other?spherical bearings.

In short, if you're seeking front control arm bushings that offer precise, predictable handling, crisper braking feel, with a long service life free from noise - look no further. We have you covered.

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Watch to learn more about Turner Monoball Bushings

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Features:

Bearing housing

• Precision CNC?machined from 6061-T6 blue anodized aluminum with a pre-installed grease fitting and grease distribution channels making this a serviceable design
• Knurled for smooth press fit in a wide variance in ?lollipop? dimensions.?Want front control arm monoballs pre-installed in lollipop brackets??Click here.?

Bearing

• A high quality sealed bearing with Delrin? inserts. Delrin? was chosen due to durability under pressure, while still soft enough to create a perfect play-free fitment on the control arm.
• Replaceable for infinite service life - no need to replace the entire mount in the event a bearing happens to fail.

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Includes new hardware. Grease before installation and with each oil service with?high quality Moly grease?for maximum service life.?Need a grease fitting tool?

Installation is relatively easy - see our instructions here.

This item fits the following BMWs:?
1999-2005?E46 BMW?323i 323ci 325i 325ci 328i 328ci 330i 330ci - not for xi models?
2003-2008?E85 BMW?Z4 2.5i Z4 3.0i Z4 3.0si?

For all 2001 to 2005 325xi and 330xi. For convenience, we have assembled this bushing carrier bracket kit, to save you time when changing our control arm bushings. It includes two bushing carriers with pre-installed bushings (one left, one right) and mounting bolts.

 These bushing brackets fit all 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 model BMW 325xi and 330xi.

Here at Turner we understand the importance of an upgrade that will get the results you need on the track and still be tolerable on the drive around town. When it comes to control arms on the track, making them as stiff as you can (usually using solid mounts) is the best way to increase your driving precision by eliminating the deflection of rubber. The next best thing to create a balance would be to stiffen up the control arm with polyurethane, giving you the option of a more stock like feel with 80a or closer to the solid feel with 95a durometers. These poly bushings will give your control arms a direct connection between your suspension and the body of the car eliminating the slop felt under take-off and braking so you feel more in control of your vehicle.

*Featuring a delrin sleeve to eliminate heat deformation and premature failure.

This item fits the following BMWs that use a centered-style bushing: 

2001-2006 E46 BMW M3 

Factory bushings are more than adequate for street driving on the E46 M3. However, once the miles start to pile up, the bushings are meant to be replaced. Common side effects of worn factory FCABs include, but are not limited to the following:

• Steering wheel shutter when brakes are applied
• Wheel (and steering wheel) shimmy
• Mysterious and irregular tire wear
• "Overboosted" steering feel (very light steering)

Replacing with new factory bushings will return the factory feel. These urethane core bushings, however, offer something MORE. These bushings are designed to deliver performance that surpasses the stock E46 M3 bushing, while still allowing them to be used in everyday driving scenarios on public roads.

With the numerous delrin/urethane/hybrid replacement bushings in the market, we wanted to offer bushings that were not only effective, but simple. No clips, no washers, no multiple sleeves, and no "race parts in street cars". They have an aluminum outer sleeve with a replaceable, compliant urethane core that is serviceable and rebuildable. These urethane inserts prevent unwanted control arm deflection, while allowing noise/vibration/harshness (NVH) isolation -- a must on any bushing being used on a street driven car. And because of their compliance they remain very comfortable for daily use. But because they are a heavier-duty design than stock, these eliminate steering shimmy and wander, especially with the addition of big brake upgrades. They maintain BMW's original suspension geometry, and give your M3 a directly "connected" feeling with the front end of the vehicle. Perhaps best of all, these bushings are easy to install and are designed for longevity. Professional installation on suspension components is always recommended.

Installation Instructions

This item fits the following BMWs:
2001-2006 E46 BMW M3