Poly Bushes - Rear trailing arm

Cakesbaby

Member
Bedfordshire
Need some advice and hopefully some help !!!

Just had the suspension changed on my 3.0i 2010 to a B12 setup (lowered and upgraded shocks) and went to get the car aligned at the weekend. The garage pointed out the rear trailing arm bushes were in a pretty poor state and need replacing.

After a quick look up on realoem (part number: 33326785200) I thought it would be better to replace them with a set of poly bushes (easier to fit and hopefully will last much longer) but I cannot find any anywhere.

Can get them for the E85/86 without issue but not for my E89 - anyone know of a solution?

Steve
 
Hi tintoverano

I came across these on their european website (https://www.superproeurope.com/products.cfm?vehicleid=1431) but the OEM part number was different (33326770786) hence why:

a) I'm getting confused which is a real possibility
b) they don't fit
c) they will fit but different part number

hence asking forum members for advice. Have you fitted these yourself or do you know anyone else who has?

Steve
 
Well an update for you.

Looks like Powerflex do not make a rear trailing arm bush for our E89’s and according to SuperPro there version “should fit” does not fill me with confidence considering it’s the same one for the E85.

So armed with this info I took a trip down to Lancaster BMW in Milton Keynes this afternoon to get my hands on a couple of genuine bushes so I could compare the differences between the Powerflex ones I have (now to be returned), an E85 bush and as it turns out the only E89 bush left in the UK and Germany.

Quite a difference between them. The design of the E89 bush is a little different and a couple of mm larger than the E85 so it was worth checking before hacking (sorry extracting) the old ones from my arms.

Sometimes you just have to accept that it may, just may be worth sticking with the originals and not upgrading. Yes if the SuperPro ones fitted then great, but that’s £90 compared to £46.00 from BMW andcthe genuine ones are going to offer a vast improvement to what’s there.

Interesting fact that it’s the only bush on the rear axle that’s different to the E85’s. Who knew !!!!

To be honest they will last my lifetime with the car.
 
Let me know how easy it is to change them, my local oil change dealer did a 4 faults n refusal as it needed a special tool..
 
I removed mine out of the E85 M

I had the whole trailing arm off the car and drilled the rubber bit out then with a hacksaw cut and split the outer that is in the arm, would have been easier with the special tool but I managed, not for the faint hearted, or those that give in easy, once you start you are committed to finishing the job.

Sub frame bushes are much the same I won in the end.
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PDJ

FairPlay to you. This is not the first time of changing bushes although they were on my old Audi TT (sorry for swearing !!!).

Looking at getting a special tool to get the job done. Worth spending a few quid to avoid a lot of blood sweat and tears. Been down the drill and hacksaw route and your right, once started you are committed.

Looks like it’s going to be next weekend as I’m not going to get a special RTAB tool tomorrow. I’ll post some pics and guidance for others.
 
Well finally decided to fit some poly bushes last weekend. Sorry no pictures of the install (sorta forgot and pushed for time) but “google” videos of how to do it and there are loads for 3 series - not to different to ours.

In the end I went for Superpro bushes - what a difference !!!!!! Mine still had the originals and to be honest even after 82K and 9 years old I thought they would be in better condition than what they were. Totally shot!!!!!!

Handling improved and the backend much tighter than before. I must admit I did not think there would be such a difference but it’s a cheap, well worth it upgrade. As long as you have the right tools it’s quite an easy job and took me about 3 hours (having never done this job in a Z4). If I was to do it again then I would say a couple of hours.
 
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