decisions to make on e34

[nuwde]

hey all,

brought in my 92 525i to a trustworthy and skilled mechanic earlier this week. he called and said i need to replace my upper control arms and bushings, air filter, and rear section of the muffler. he said parts and labor would cost $1250.

i'm thinking of getting the parts on my own since it will save me a lot of money. anyone have suggestions?

i think i'll just use the oem air filter and change that myself. any great aftermarket parts for the upper control arms or rear muffler? thanks a bunch!!

edwin

[Bruno]

Contact BMA, get the thrust arms with the bushing pressed into them (750i or M5 bushings).
BMA: www.bmautoparts.com

They can get all these parts for you.
And get the LEMFORDER ARMS NOT THE MEYLE OR OTHER CRAP.

And do the work yourself heheheh.

[1995 525i]

hey all,

brought in my 92 525i to a trustworthy and skilled mechanic earlier this week. he called and said i need to replace my upper control arms and bushings, air filter, and rear section of the muffler. he said parts and labor would cost $1250.

i'm thinking of getting the parts on my own since it will save me a lot of money. anyone have suggestions?

i think i'll just use the oem air filter and change that myself. any great aftermarket parts for the upper control arms or rear muffler? thanks a bunch!!

edwin

Hey Ed,
I'm having my control arms replaced tomorrow as well as fuel filter. Air filter will come next (will go with a K&N). Here are some sites I went to to price out the parts:
www.eap4parts.com
www.bmaautoparts.com
www.bimmerparts.com
www.alloembmwparts.com
BMW and EAP seemed to have the best price. Try to get the arms with the bushings. As for the muffler, I haven't gone that route yet but I will before long. Think I'll turn to Remus for an exhaust system.

Good luck!

[nuwde]

Contact BMA, get the thrust arms with the bushing pressed into them (750i or M5 bushings).
BMA: www.bmautoparts.com

They can get all these parts for you.
And get the LEMFORDER ARMS NOT THE MEYLE OR OTHER CRAP.

And do the work yourself heheheh.

thanks bruno...i would definitely do this on my own if i could. the contrl arms seem pretty difficult. i love bma. thanks for the reminder!

[nuwde]

Hey Ed,
I'm having my control arms replaced tomorrow as well as fuel filter. Air filter will come next (will go with a K&N). Here are some sites I went to to price out the parts:
www.eap4parts.com
www.bmaautoparts.com
www.bimmerparts.com
www.alloembmwparts.com
BMW and EAP seemed to have the best price. Try to get the arms with the bushings. As for the muffler, I haven't gone that route yet but I will before long. Think I'll turn to Remus for an exhaust system.

Good luck!

i was thinking of an aftermarket air filter myself, but i read some things on www.bmwe34.net that made me go with OEM. it specifically talked about the K&N. might be worth your while.

thanks for the suggestion on the bushings. will definitely check that out at bma. thanks!

edwin

[nuwde]

thanks bruno...i would definitely do this on my own if i could. the contrl arms seem pretty difficult. i love bma. thanks for the reminder!

i can't find the thrust arms on the site. can you give me a rough estimate? thanks

[Adnan]

Hi,

I believe they are listed at $99 per side.

Adnan

[1995 525i]

[QUOTE=nuwde]i was thinking of an aftermarket air filter myself, but i read some things on www.bmwe34.net that made me go with OEM. it specifically talked about the K&N. might be worth your while.

thanks for the suggestion on the bushings. will definitely check that out at bma. thanks!

edwin[/QUOTE

Thanks for the heads up. I used a K&N in my Honda and it made a noticble difference but that wasn't hard to do in that car. Let me know what type of muffler you get.

[nuwde]

[QUOTE=1995 525i]

i was thinking of an aftermarket air filter myself, but i read some things on www.bmwe34.net that made me go with OEM. it specifically talked about the K&N. might be worth your while.

thanks for the suggestion on the bushings. will definitely check that out at bma. thanks!

edwin[/QUOTE

Thanks for the heads up. I used a K&N in my Honda and it made a noticble difference but that wasn't hard to do in that car. Let me know what type of muffler you get.

got the eberspaecher (sp?) from my local man for ~$300. you can get it from bma.

[Geoff Hoad]

We had a big bedate about this a number of years back and someone went off and did some tests. Bill R, our resident BMW expert mechanic, also made some very clear observations. The upshot of all these discussions was that the stock filters were the best and whilst the K&N filters had a slightly greater flow through rate, they also had a far worse filtering ability. Bill noted the wear from K&N filters on the engine was in itself a real negative. Also if you look closely at a stock filter it has so many plets that in actual area size it provies good flow through, no restriction and very good filtering. Before anyone accuses me of being anti K&N I have one of their panel filters on my E30 318i which does increase the air intake to the engine and helps it to breath a bit better. But I would never put one on my E34.

Hope this helps,