I have a mild brake judder on my E61 520d auto that occurs under light to medium braking from about 65mph down to 50/45mph. Its apparent with a steering wheel shake, not significantly through the brake pedal. Front pads need changing soon but wanted to check ideas before I do this. Its a bit like how the judder began on my old E39 and thrust arm bushes solved that but I don't know if these are an issue on the E61 and so far the judder on this car has not progressed like it did on the E39 to a violent, oh gosh the car is falling apart, type of steering wheel judder. Are there common causes here on the E61? Sticky caliper? Warped discs? Thrust arm bushes? Something else? TIA
Thanks - I will get a wheel off and take a look. Pads need doing soon so if the discs need changing that would be the time to do them. Is the thrust arm bush issue fairly E39 specific out of interest? I dont know how the suspension setup differs between the E39 and E60/61
137k now. I owned it from 65k up to 95k then sold to my sister and recently bought back. I doubt she ever changed the discs. I think i only ever did the rears when the handbrake self destructed, so suspect they are on the list for a change. It needs pads so I might get discs and pads and do all at the same time.
It's quite likely to be the big bush at the front of the thrust arm. They're silicone filled and eventually split. The silicone leaks out and now one side is slightly different to the other. It's really hard to see. If you can get eyes on it with the wheels on the ground get someone else to wiggle the steering wheel (you'll need the engine running). One side will move a few millimetres more than the other side. Even with the arm removed it's not massively obvious one side as failed. Replace both sides and you should be good. It could be discs but the thrust arm generally is the wobble when coming off a motorway and braking for a roundabout.
The 'wobble when coming off the motorway' describes it - similar to the E39. If it is the arms, its these ones isnt it - https://www.autodoc.co.uk/lemforder/1264533? (that's left side only obviously) Lemforder is a decent brand, but the Delphi ones are around £56 I think on autodoc - Delphi has always been ok. What would you guys use? Meyle would be nice but they are £200 per side! Is there an essential need for an alignment after changing these (its probably good practice even if not essential)? Are there any kits of pairs of the arms that folk would recommend. I have a press etc but its a quicker job if I just change the arms and then the ball joints are new too.
Those look like the culprits. In my experience Meyle can be hit or miss. I really like Delphi parts but I can't say I've had BMW control arms from them. An alignment should be done but you might get away without - keep an eye on your tyre wear. Changing the bushes is something BMW do, apparently the ball joint is good for 2 rubber bushes. What I did was put a poly bush in. I have to say getting the poly bush in was epic, and I have a 20 tonne press. If not dead square on it would shoot out at a million miles an hour! If you can get split poly bushes that push in from each side it would be easy. Poly bushes did improve the car a lot and with no downsides.
Just coming back to this, I serviced the car at the weekend and while under there had a look at the front suspension. Nothing massively worn but little bits of perceptible play in various areas including the front and rear arms. I am wondering about changing the lot as its all original so on 140k now. Has anyone used this kit - https://www.autodoc.co.uk/meyle/8110733 ?? I quite like Meyle stuff on my land rovers so would be fairly happy to fit this but wondered if anyone else had. Includes all new nuts and bolts etc too. Also - the other reason for asking is that the part numbers for the rear arms don't match the current ones on REALOEM but if you follow them through on their reference on autodoc they do cross reference at that point. It comes up as correct for my car but don't know how accurate that search facility really is.
