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Front end creaking and popping issue SOLVED

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  thekubiaks 
#1 ·
In the last year or so I started having creaking, popping, and clicking in the front end of my 01' 330i as well as some drifting while driving straight down the road. I thought it was my PSS9 suspension or UUC Sway Barbarians making the noise. I replaced the front end links, got new poly bushings for the sway bars but couldn't get rid of the noises. I was getting very pissed but stumbled on to a thread talking about the control arm bushings as being a frequent culprit.

My car has 45,000 miles on it but I haven't replaced the control arm bushings yet. So, I ordered a set of 66mm control arm bushings from Turner Motorsport. I also was going to to replace the control arms too since the ball joints can be a problem too (more on that later :evil: :evil: ) Replacing the bushings was very, very easy. There are a bunch of DIY's on this board. A trick I used that helped getting the old bushings off of the control arms is to "pop" them with a knife and drain the oil out of the bushings before I tried pulling them off of the control arm. WATCH OUT, the oil will spray in your face when you initially pop them. I guess this relieves the pressure in the bushing and makes it very easy to pull the old bushings off with a three jaw puller.

I lubed the inside of the new bushings with green Dove liqiuid hand soap and literally popped them onto the control arm with a pop of my hand. The control arm finger as well as the bushing are shaped like a hexagon, be sure and orient them correctly before popping them together. I thought it was going to be harder but it was a breeze. I bolted everything back up and took the car for a test drive a few hours later (give the bushings some time to settle in) After the test drive, I didn't hear a single noise and the front end felt solid.. Well I'll be damned....

Now for the control arm dilema... The hard part of removing the control arms is getting the two bolts off that are on top of the inner and outer knuckles of the control arm. The passenger side wasn't too hard but it was a serious :censor: to get the steering knuckle to seperate using a pickle fork. I beat the SH%t out of the pickle fork but finally got the joint to seperate. I then easily replaced the passenger side control arm . The hard part was the drivers side control arm. Since I have a TX2 supercharger, the intercooler pipe is right in the way of where I could get to the center control arm 21mm knuckle bolt. I was going to have to damn near take the supercharger out of the car as well as the intercooler pipes to gain access to the knuckle bolt....Screw that.... I ended up keeping the original control arm on the drivers side but replaced the control arm bushing. Whenever the drivers side ball joint finally fails, I am going to have a major PITA project on my hands. I know it is bad to not replace the control arms as a pair but I didn't feel like pulling the car apart for one bolt. As it turns out, I fixed the problem anyway, now it is time for an alignment. Hope this helps someone out there in TV land. :) Cheers...
 
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#3 ·
UPDATE: I don't like to admit defeat with regards to the drivers side 21mm ball joint bolt. I got the bolt off by buying a 13/16" crow foot, grinding a little to 21mm and then using a wobble extension to get at the bolt from the front of the car side....MOFO....PB peneterator fluid helped loosen the bolts. After that, all went quick, once again, I had to bang the hades out of the steering knuckle with the pickle fork.
 
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