New to forum 1998 328I

[Hkp7]

Hello everyone, new to BMW forum. Just got a 1998 328I four door about a month ago. There are some bugs Id like to work out and thought I might get some advise here. Curious if there is a common issue with feeling a vibration in steering while driving slowly through rough terrain such as a gravel driveway. The vibration feels like something is definatly loose. I was going to change the rack. The wheel itself does not shake, just a vibration felt through the column. Help is appreciated.

[Manolito]

There are several wear items in the front end, but it is not likely to be the rack, though some folks prefer to bolt on a rebuilt rack rather than mess with replacing inner tie rod ends and boots.

#1 wear item - rear bushings on control arms. They were mush when new and get softer and crack with age. You need a big vise or a hydraulic press to replace them. Most folks use M3 bushings because they are much stiffer and eliminate the wobble in the front wheels that is a characteristic of 328s. Most folks use dish soap to slide them on rather than using the solvent that BMW recommends. It makes the job much less stressful because it eliminates the "race against time" to get the car down to normal ride height before the solvent dries. Seems to work fine.

#2 wear item - ball joints. Depending on how you drive, you can go though stock BMW ball joints in as little as 50k miles. On a daily driver, the ball joints won't go more than 150k miles. You can press them out and replace them, but everyone, including dealers and indy shops, replace the whole control arm which comes with two new ball joints on it.

#3 Tie rod ends, outer and inner. To check the inner ones, squeeze the rubber boot and feel them while shaking the wheel to see if they have any play.

#4 Sway bar link bushings. On a 5 series, the sway bar links snap in two, which creates some interesting handling characteristics.

[Hkp7]

Thanks for the info. I will probably be checking out everything this weekend. I noticed you said stock ball joints and was wondering if you could give me some links to aftermarket sites. I also plan to rebuild my vanos unit and was looking for a site that sold the parts for this rather than swapping out entire unit. Where does everyone buy parts from? Thanks, Bill.

[Manolito]

Pelican is a perfectly good place to buy parts. Their job kits that suggest all the parts you probably want to replace while you have a certain assembly apart are quite helpful. They sell quality parts for fair prices and the service is good.

I usually buy my parts from a competitor just because they are a bit less expensive and I have had excellent service from them over the years for my Volvos and BMWs. However, the Pelican website strips the names of competitors from posted messages so I can't suggest any other vendors by name. Try this: Try the German spelling for Auto House and they are based in Arizona. I like a place that always tells you the brand name of the part you are getting.

There are a couple of other places that I really like as well. I have followed links from the RealOEM website to places that I had good luck with. With regard to parts for the Vanos, if it needs more than O-rings, I would not fool with it. There is a place on line that will sell you the O-rings and has detailed instructions for replacing them.

With regard to new ball joints, I have a pair of Meyle ball joints that I got for one of my '97s, still in the box, that I bought and then ended up buying a whole control arm. Meyle describes them as "upgraded design" meaning that they are all-metal and don't have the plastic bushing that failed in the original ball joint. They list for $77 for the pair. I paid $51 for them on line. Would sell for $20 plus $10 to ship.