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Old 12-19-2015, 06:43 PM   #11
ptbowman
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Pittsburgh
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I did a 1988 325iX rear-suspension rebuild last winter: it is absolutely identical to the 318ti rear suspension. I went with PowerFlex subframe bushings, Trailing Arm Bushings, and a Rear Diff Bushing. I dropped the entire rear subframe, rolled it out, and then cleaned painted everything and replaced the bushings.

I do not believe that the noise/vibration/harshness has deteriorated at all, but I do realize that can be very subjective with some people having a more sensitive ear than others.

The biggest challenge we had was that the OEM subframe bushings were absolutely corroded into the body due to 27 years and 150,000 miles of driving in salty environments (first Chicago and then Pittsburgh). On the E30 forums, the general conclusion is that with cars that have never seen salt, are relatively easy to do, while any significant salt exposure can lead to one HORRIBLE job. We fiddled around for nearly 3 days before figuring out how to get them out. I can provide more details if anyone is interested. The fundamental issue is a bad design by BMW: the inner "sleeve" of the bushing is aluminum, while the cavity in the body that the bushing sleeve presses into is steel. When these cars were built, no grease was used when pressing the bushings into the body. Steel + Aluminum+ Salt led to serious galvanic corrosion, where essentially the bushing is "welded" to the body.

Last edited by ptbowman; 12-19-2015 at 06:49 PM.
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