2.5 Si convertible wheel alignment issue

[Mark R]

Hi all,
Looking for your thoughts please, just had, or attempted to have full 4 wheel aliment carried out on our 2007 2.5 Si convertible.
The problem is that both the front tie rods have seized apparently this is a common issue on a lot of BMW's ?
Looking for advise on, can these be removed and freed off ?, he did say he tried heat on them.
Replacement doesn't seem to be to hard however what make do people recommend ? there seems to be a massive choice from the cheep £19 units from somewhere like GSF etc to Meyle or Lemforder at about £50 each.
Any recommendations on make and where to purchase would be gratefully received.

many Thanks Mark

 

[brillomaster]

well, they sit under the car in all the crud from the road, and have possibly been on there since the car was manufactured, so yeah, they often go pretty crusty. personally for the sake of £30 a side id go with meyle or lemforder, don't really want your steering to fail.

im surprised that the rear camber bolts havent completed rusted solid... went for an alignment on my 2006 car, and 3 of the 4 bolts at the rear end simply sheared off and needed to be drilled out.

 

[Mark R]

Hi Brillomaster,

Agreed we had a 3 series that suffered exactly the same issue.

Will probably go for Meyle, best not take chances with steering failure.

They said one of the rear camber bolts was rusted, but got the rear in spec for now.

Thanks.