Control/Thrust arm Q's

[Jjcarr]

Couple of questions. I have a 95 525it, about 111k miles. I have the front end shimmy, not really bad, more significant when I hit the brakes, so I'm thinking thrust arms. I get the car on ramps and take a look and there are two things I'm not sure about.

First, the lower control arm is alluminum, did the 95's come with this stock?

Also, in the picture below you can just make out the inner bushing of the thrust arm. I notice that the trapezoidal plastic part is blue. Is this possibly a stock bushing or an upgraded one?

[Bill R.]

That thrust arm bushing looks stock.

Couple of questions. I have a 95 525it, about 111k miles. I have the front end shimmy, not really bad, more significant when I hit the brakes, so I'm thinking thrust arms. I get the car on ramps and take a look and there are two things I'm not sure about.

First, the lower control arm is alluminum, did the 95's come with this stock?

Also, in the picture below you can just make out the inner bushing of the thrust arm. I notice that the trapezoidal plastic part is blue. Is this possibly a stock bushing or an upgraded one?

[Jjcarr]

That thrust arm bushing looks stock.

Good, I was afraid it was replaced already so that I'd have to start hunting around for another cause of the shimmy...

[SchnellE34]

Are you planning on replacing the entire thrust arm or just the bushing? I want to perform this repair on my 95 525i sedan but I don't want to bang out the bushings. Plus, I want to have confidence in the new arms as well as the bushings.

Let me know how it goes, if you do replace them. I am hoping I can do this myself. Bruno’s site and the Bentley manual call it a moderate repair, and it looks straightforward enough.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Buy a new arm with the bushing already pressed in. You'll be mad if you just replace the bushing, and a few months later the ball joint at the other end goes bad.

[Kalevera]

I think it's a waste of money to start throwing parts at the car without properly diagnosing it.

Recently, it seems like most of the shimmying I see is due to a bad tire (or tires), out of round wheel, or a warped rotor. Almost anything in the front end could be the cause. At 111k, anything's par for the course. So, unless you just want to start indiscriminately spending money on the car (hey -- can you send me some money while you're at it?! ), it'd be smart to get it up in the air and go over it, or have it gone over by someone who knows what they're looking at.

best, whit

[Bellicose Right Winger]

I think thrust arms are blamed for far more shimmy problems then they're responsible for. Do you get a bang when you abruptly stand on the brakes at 15-20 MPH? If so, then change thrust arms or replace bushings.

If not then I'd:
1) Check for bent wheels,
2) Balance front tires,
3) Check (10) ball joints for play
4) Check idler arm for play
5) Check steering for play including coupling nut above brake pedal
6) Inspect and cut/replace front rotors
7) Now consider changing thrust arms.

Paul Shovestul

Good, I was afraid it was replaced already so that I'd have to start hunting around for another cause of the shimmy...

[SchnellE34]

I recently had the tires replaced and wheels balanced which solved the ‘over 65 mph shimmy.’ But the hard braking shimmy is still present. It seems like the whole car shimmies when braking from 35 mph (brake pedal, steering wheel, and my a$$) One question, I hear its best to change the brake pads along with the rotors when solving a problem like this, would anyone recommend changing the pair if indeed that is the problem?

[Russell]

so did the 95 sedan

[Bill R.]

steel and aluminum for the sedan but only aluminum for the touring

so did the 95 sedan