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      09-29-2021, 08:56 AM   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyP View Post
Anyone who has fitted m3 front control arms...

I just recieved a set of m3 arms and soon going forward with the install.
I know that alignment is needed.. thats common knowledge and selfexplanatory.

But..
Do headlights need any adjustment too? Or are they completely fine after install? Attaching level sensor rod to the new arm wont throw it off?
That is a good question. I have never seen anyone say they had a problem with it in the 3 series or the Z. I have them installed and have not noticed any problems.

Makes me wonder how it works now
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      10-19-2021, 09:43 AM   #46
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Got M3 arms installed yesterday.
Definitely an improvement.. though my old upper arm (tension strut) bushings were pretty much done.
impressions:
Less understeer, car turns a lot better... on a roundabout you can just add and add speed with no sign of front trying to push wide.
Steering is also lighter. Not as heavy as before in sport+. And its more precise aswell.
Havent really noticed any increased harshness...

So all good!

Now regarding headlight adjustment... Decided to do a headlight test just in case... Headlight testing machine was right there after install and it really didnt take long to check and do the adjustment.
It came out that lights were a bit high... so adjusted them a bit down. To be honest it wasnt much off and people even may prefer to have lights a bit higher and light up further, surely wouldnt complain about it.
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      11-11-2021, 05:28 AM   #47
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Kenny, from the 2nd post:

“One other note (search threads here) is that you will have to fashion a mount for the passenger-side wishbone mount for the self-leveling lights - totally different on E89 than E92 (thanks BMW).”

How did you tackle that?

Thanks,

Marc
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      11-11-2021, 05:25 PM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcoose View Post
Kenny, from the 2nd post:

“One other note (search threads here) is that you will have to fashion a mount for the passenger-side wishbone mount for the self-leveling lights - totally different on E89 than E92 (thanks BMW).”

How did you tackle that?

Thanks,

Marc

Used the same level clamp that was used with original lower control arm.
M3 arm is thicker so it would not reach all the way around. So i got some stainless steel cable ties to fix it in place.
Also original arm had 2 notches that kept that clamp from sliding on the arm. To fix that we grinded a little slot into the arm to imitate those notches.

If you google "slightly fettled z4" you will find a e89 forum thread on Pistonheads with pictures partcodes and everything. Has pictures of that clamp aswell.

And people have used ordinary cable ties to do that. But i know with time those can get brittle and break. So i went with stainless steel cable ties to be sure.
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      11-11-2021, 05:47 PM   #49
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edit.. no pictures of the clamp on that thread... Anyway i had pictures saved on my pc. Dont remember where i got them from... it was some forum thread. So these pictures are not mine.


pictures:






And here is a pic from Asbjorn on this forum from 2018:

link to thread

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Last edited by KennyP; 11-11-2021 at 05:52 PM..
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      11-11-2021, 07:19 PM   #50
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Thanks, Kenny. All that work and mods gives me pause. Right now my car is perfectly planted. With the mods listed below, it's zero understeer, 100% confidence. You know, if ain't broken, don't fix it. And the KW kit is still to arrive, to replace the H&R. My indy says it'll be even better. I'll ask AKG tomorrow if their tension strut bushings fit the E89 stock arm. I may consider that. Thanks again. Super generous of you. Marc.
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      11-12-2021, 02:44 AM   #51
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My upper control arm bushings were wearing out, so had to replace them anyway. My plan was to upgrade to M arms when i needed to replace those arms. And thats exactly what happened.

Upper arm you can just get aftermarket bushings... would probably be even better. Lower arm has a balljoint instead of bushing on the m arm.
Main thing with lower arm is that its a bit longer and gives extra camber. Also looks better imo, matches the rear better as rear has camber anyway.

Also i wanted to get a full set of TRW arms. But 1 upper arm was out of stock everywhere. Cancelled orders multiple times because i got a message back saying they cant get it. Finally got 3 TRW arms and 1 BMW OEM arm.
That 1 BMW arm cost almost the same as other 3 TRW parts combined.
Dont know whats up with TRW parts. Read that TRW was sold to new owners and thats maybe why there isnt any in stock. They maybe dont make them any more. Retailers werent even sure if they were ever able to get it in stock. No backorder date and so on.

Also replaced all the arm bolts and nuts. Service manual says to replace them.
Its about 10 eur per bolt, times 4 its 40 eur to replace bolts aswell. Bit much for 4 bolts but thats how it is.
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      12-20-2021, 05:52 PM   #52
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I replaced my front pads and rotors over the Thanks Giving holidays and during the operation I noticed some play between the lower control arm and the mounting bolt. One side only. Being a holiday and not having any spare parts, I finished the brake repair and started researching replacement bushings.

I don't think the play was in the bushing, it looked more like bushing to securing bolt "play" I went ahead and ordered new control M3 TRW control arms with the then intent to swap out the arms during the upcoming holiday.

Parts arrived today and it seems to me that the securing bold is smaller than the control arm bushing. It's a simple all thread bolt and there is no way an all thread bold will have be a tight match against and control arm bushing.

I'm I missing something, Does the bolt actually clamp the control arm bushing against the frame or should the bolt be tight against the bushing?

Trying to decide if I was wrong with my original thoughts that the control arm bushings are bad. 71K on a 2012 E89. I'm sure the M3 arms are an upgrade but I hate replacing parts that are not broken.

Tuner Motor sports control arm set with bolts.

Photo is not my car, just an illustration of the movement noticed.
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      12-21-2021, 10:45 AM   #53
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My bolts werent a tight fit aswell.
i ordered 3 TRW arms and 1 BMW OE M3 arm, because that one arm was out of stock everywhere(TRW). That 1 OE arm cost almost the same as other 3 TRW arms combined. Also ordered new OE BMW bolts and nuts for the job.

I was a bit suprised aswell how loose the bolt fit into the arm when my parts arrived and i test fit things while unboxing.

Went on with the install and seems fine.
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      12-21-2021, 04:37 PM   #54
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyP View Post
My bolts werent a tight fit aswell.
i ordered 3 TRW arms and 1 BMW OE M3 arm, because that one arm was out of stock everywhere(TRW). That 1 OE arm cost almost the same as other 3 TRW arms combined. Also ordered new OE BMW bolts and nuts for the job.

I was a bit suprised aswell how loose the bolt fit into the arm when my parts arrived and i test fit things while unboxing.

Went on with the install and seems fine.
I was lucky, Turner Motorsports had the full set TRW control arms, bolts and headline level link. Took a few weeks but I was not in a big hurry.

I suspect the bolts are mostly clamping the Frame against the bushing. I'll go ahead and swap everything out sometime during the Christmas Holidays.
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      02-21-2023, 04:00 PM   #55
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No new information to share but did end up installing the e92 M3 front control arms on my z4 other day.
OEM arms bushings and whatnot was wornout on passenger side after 50K miles so upgraded to M3 arms like everyone else here lol

Got this kit from FCP Euro:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...e9xm34piecekit

Recommened to replace these as well:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...s3-31106767496


Everything was pretty straight forward but if I had to give some tips that would've helped me personally it is:
  • Use a filer to shave off some of the metal on the car body so the wishbone fits in a little easier. You'll still need a rubber hammer and some kind of punch but filing it down a little helped soooooo much.
  • The steering rack cover gets in the way when removing the bolt from the wishbone, I ended up having to turn wheel all the way towards the side you're working on so the steering rack cover thing is fully expanded, they'll give you some leeway to get the bolt out.
  • You don't have to touch the wheel well fender liner, just remove the under tray cover to gain access to the tension strut bolts
  • The 21mm nuts torque is 129 ft-pounds
    Counterhold T40, after a certain point you don't need the counterhold so don't risk breaking it.
  • The 18mm bolt/nuts torque if it says 8.8 on the bolt is 50 ft-lbs + 90 degrees
    if your 18mm bolt says 10.9 its about 73 ft-lb + 90 degress turn
  • For the auto light sensor, I just used metal zip ties to secure it, felt a little safer with those than regular zip ties.

Car will feel really unstable and weird right after installation but once you get an alignment, its a really great upgrade. Hard to say if its just replacing the worn arms with something new and better alignment but overall wow huge improvement. Definitely worth it.


Passenger side with the light sensor bracket held together with a mess of metal zip ties lol



Driver side with the hole thats supposed to be for the leveling light but obviously its pointless on these cars
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      02-22-2023, 10:52 AM   #56
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FWIW I used some aerospace epoxy to glue the ‘knob’ which I sawed off the old mount then glued on the new arm…slightly more high tech..

Also I found replacing the OE steering tie rods with the Meyle HD versions to a good / noticeable affect ��
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      02-23-2023, 09:41 AM   #57
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oohh if i keep the car long enough until the steering tie rods starts going, i'll keep that in mind haha. Thank you.
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