Powerflex centered FCAB problems

Here is the photo of the xi cab I just installed. It has a offset rubber outer bushing that presses into the lollypop, and a blue plastic inner bushing that slides on the arm. Very easy to install compared to the OEM style. I just took a trip to the shore and I really like how these busing feel. Tight without any harshness. Also no chance that the bushing can slide up the arm as the shoulder on the blue bushing fills the gap.

I just got these bushings and I have removed my old ones. Just I can't seem to get them to fit into the wishbone, How have you guys done it? soap and water? vice? just need a little advice as Im having some problems with it.

A vise will help, I like to use the foaming type window/glass cleaner as a lubricant.

Ya, I tried using a vise today, but it kept poping out one side of the wishbone from uneven pressure and I couldn't get it to go in, so right now my car is on jacks and I have to hit it back up tomorrow and hopefully get them in lol

Make a mixture of dish washing detergent and water, put some on the lower control arm and some on the bushing and slide it on. When the mixture dries, it will be snug.
Or you can use some talcum/baby powder.

Originally Posted by 325xittt

Here is the photo of the xi cab I just installed. It has a offset rubber outer bushing that presses into the lollypop, and a blue plastic inner bushing that slides on the arm. Very easy to install compared to the OEM style. I just took a trip to the shore and I really like how these busing feel. Tight without any harshness. Also no chance that the bushing can slide up the arm as the shoulder on the blue bushing fills the gap.

Looks like the bushing you have is a new and improved version for our cars. The other xi bushings i've seen the inner piece sits nearly flush with the outer therefore they slide out, but your bushing has no room for movement to do so.
This is gerat news
Who is selling these? Im definitley buying them.

Originally Posted by tomoyer

Make a mixture of dish washing detergent and water, put some on the lower control arm and some on the bushing and slide it on. When the mixture dries, it will be snug.
Or you can use some talcum/baby powder.

Got them in this afternoon, and then drove 350 miles form 29 Palms, cali to San Tan valley, AZ and everything seems good. The bushings haven't moved at all They are also the new ones that were posted above, with the middle piece not being flush. Excellent bushing!

Bought them straight from the PowerFlex website. They are awesome, have them on both my girlfriends car and mine. Firm but not harsh and quiet.

MMMMMMMM, must be a "new" design for the PowerFlex Urethane Bushings for an E46 XI. Mine do not have the washers nor do the center stick out of the outer part of the bushing. In 325xittt's photo posted on 9/16, curious about how far the Lower Control Arm goes into the bushing. With the older style, you can maintain the 18.0mm plus or minus .3mm from the back edge of the "lollypop" to the chamfered end of the Lower Control Arm, not seeing any of the Lower Control Arm protruding in that photo. This "new" design may take that into account besides keeping the center of the bushing from "riding" out of the outer part of the bushing if installed incorrectly. Mine have not slipped. Was the center hole for the Lower Control Arm centered or offset 325xittt?

Tomoyer ,on the new powerflex bushings the hole where the control arm goes is centered. However, the black outside parts are offsent, so it offsets the entire inner part of the bushing. I never saw the old design, but i think this new version helps prevent slipping. I have used them over 700 miles so far and i have had no slipping happen or movement of any kind.

Tomoyer
The hole in the outer black rubber bushings are offset slightly. This outer bushing is a big heavy solid (except for the offset hole) bushing with large shoulders. I put the offset towards the inside as per the Bentley and PowerFlex instructions. You could orient them to the center or to the outside if you felt that that was an advantage as per some of the discussion in the earlier part of this thread. I used a press at work to push the black bushing into the lollipop, they press in with much less force the the steel/rubber OEM CABS and could be done with a bearing press or even a vise with some ingenuity.

The inner purple bushing is a hard slippery polysomething plastic bushing with a large shoulder which fills the space from the shoulder at the end of the steel control arm and the black bushing on the lollypop when installed. The supplied washer prevents the poly bushing from riding up the arm. As you have surmised this fills the space perfectly and gives the proper measurement from the hole in the control arm to the Lollipop.

Installation is a breeze as the poly bushing slides easily onto the control arm shaft and into the black bushing especially with the supplied grease.

This is the second install of CABs on both my car and my girlfriends car and I would never go back to the OEM style.

I've been using PowerFlex Lower Control Arm Bushings for quite some time (on several of my E30s besides me E46s). Guess they decided to make them this way for those that didn't install the version I have correctly (having the inner part of the bushing "walking" up the Lower Control Arm). I used a good bench vise and 3 flat aluminum plates to press the outer part of the bushings into the lollypops. So they are suppling grease to install the inner part of the bushing into the outer? In the model I have, it was a never-seize compound and from one of the photos I saw attached to this thread, the copper colored "grease" is never-seize compound. Previously PowerFlex told you to be careful and not use too much when putting the inner into the outer.
Anyways, thanks for the additional info on the "new" E46 XI PowerFlex Urethane Bushings. And glad that you like them, you know, if they don't get damaged, you can reuse them when you have to replace the Lower Control Arm because of worn Outer Ball Joints?