I appreciate you taking the time to leave your feed back. Thank you! Hope this helps your E46 project as well. Those are really neat cars Mike.

Thank you Marty. It was a pretty big job, but we just stayed focused. Cheers!!!

A word of advice... "Be Patient". This will take quite a while. Take your time. My son and I kept plugging away at it and celebrated the small accomplishments. It was extremely rewarding when complete. Good luck with your project.

Here in Scotland the rust is my main concern, for example the anti-roll bar bracket is almost totally fused on to the subframe. I'm not sure what other things I'll encounter on the way haha. Have you had a chance to see the Redish Motorsport videos? A proper restore like that would be the dream!

We really didn't find much rust, the metal treatment appeared to be really well done. And yes, I have watched many of the Redish Motorsport videos. They are fantastic! Their approach is perfect.

Sweet! Those Diff Bushings are just a pain in the butt! Set your expectations properly and take your time. You'll get to practice a few good cuss words but when done, you'll think that was pretty cool! Cheers!

These are great cars and like any thing else that is 16 years old, they need some attention with failing parts. You can save a ton of money by performing these updates yourself over paying someone else. It's not rocket science... Ya know! Many thanks for this message! It really means a lot to me. We do have a couple more planned fixes that we will record and then there are always those unexpected issues! Cheers to you!

+UCanDoIt2 these are great cars haha I have a 2002 bmw e46. I agree on working on the car you're self. but you're welcome!

+UCanDoIt2 I will be liking and sharing you're videos my man haha.

Your* He is human, not a video. 🤦‍♂️

Hey man, one year later do you still feel the same way? Mine just made sooo much noise. I couldn't deal with it. I must have lubed and relubed them 5 or so times.

@@jf269 depends on what kind of silicone lube you use. Secondly using PU as bearing is not the best idea except for track use. For the subframe however it's a 50-50

It's a lot of work, but not hard work. Keep patient and have fun!

I’m pretty sure that we replaced the damaged sheet metal and re-tacked the inner bracket to that new metal. Since this was the weak part, we did better than normal tacks. Once it was all put back similar to factory layering, we then applied the reinforcement plates to that. The reinforcements plates extended outside of the initial repair area. Dry satisfied that it is much stronger than original. Good luck with yours. Cheers. Mike

The new ones went in 10 times easier than taking out the old ones. A little bit of lubricant and they pressed right in.

Great idea. While your there, you should be checking all of that type of possible damage. Mike

That would probably be a great investment as you could always resell it later. The most time consuming part of the Bushing repair was the removal. Installation went quickly with the bearing tool that I used. Thanks for your insight and information.

Honestly a ball joint press does not always cut it hombre. I've seen plenty of my mechanic friends go fuck that and hit the bushings with a torch or saw because they were sitting there all day with the gun trying to get enough torque on the screw press.

Completely agree. That part was definitely on our mind. We did two things to minimize the risk. 1) we used a fiberglass blanket to shield and cover those lines, and 2) used a fan to blow air across this area. Always good to think about safety!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

You might also drop a few chunks of dry ice in the tank (leave the cap lose to vent pressure), after a little time to let the CO2 replace all the air/vapor..... at least your tank cannot blow up in an instantly fatal fashion, but your blanket and some care is probably OK if done properly.

I bought the kit form Turner Motorsports. The Kit came with directions and photos of where to cut the holes in the trunk.

@@UCanDoIt2Mike Ok, thank you very much. Your video series has been very helpful.

Robert K true! I use some silicone paste on oe rubber.

Name Optional this was my first large welding project, but I have been around it quite a while. That makes me a rookie too. Depends on your comfort level and how fast you pick up on things. I would suggest getting some scrap metal and practice. Welding upside down is a little challenging. The harbor Freight welders are not very good because you cannot control both Amps and Wire speed. I would suggest if you are going to invest in a welder, to at least get those features. mine is a Eastwood. You might also be able to find someone that could come to your location with a welder and do that portion for you. Best of luck!

UCanDoIt2 that was very helpful. Thank you! I'll do some research, maybe I can get someone to come over and do just the welding portion as you said. Good idea.

@@3USRNAM3 or you could rent a welder machine for the job or simply ask a friend and have some beer together.

yup. 9 if you include trailing arm bushings

lutz gehtdichnichtsan Well my intentions were to use my new vertical press, but as good as I am at figuring out puzzles, I could not figure out how to get to the bushings due to the subframe getting into the way. I used a Drill to remove most of the rubber and a Hammer to remove the inner section, and a Hack Saw blade and heat to remove the putter section. This is very time consuming!!!!!

If you have a mad powerful drill you can try a hole saw to get out the rubber section and then stick a sawzall in there to finish off the rest of the rubber and casing. I'll warn you the hole saw bit and drill will get hot as hell--use discretion on the duty cycle.

Kroil. It is a very thin lubricant.

It is the "Front Wheel Bearing Adapter" Kit from Harbor Freight. I had to purchase an additional Bolt from a hardware store that would allow for the proper length of pull.

@@UCanDoIt2Mike hey man. I just re-stumbled into this video. Huge thank you. This is the video I used to do the job. Much love man!

Without out * )not south out)

I think you have the right idea. Get that original plate back into position and weld it in. Then add some additional plating, because it will not last without it. Make sure you do not "Heat Damage" your bushings. Cheers!

@@UCanDoIt2Mike yea I think I will just unscrew the bushings, and make sure there is a lot of support, maybe do the other side similar just in case, thank you for the good video and quick response, my left safe basically looks the same and I wasn’t sure what to do

@@UCanDoIt2Mike I guess I can put smaller plates under as well, cuz there’s a crack towards to middle from where it got ripped out, so that can be welded and also a plate there, then some more smaller plates around the mount just in cass

I would advise you to look around and get of the paint in a bigger are. Hairline cracks must be repaired as well! Drill a hole at the end of the crack to stop it and then I would cut in the crack and Tig weld it as it's better for the application but time consuming. (However Mig is just fine)

Congrats on deciding to tackle it yourself. Saved yourself a boatload of money. Like you said not too difficult, just tedious. Cheers!

Harbor Freight - Front Wheel Bearing Kit.

Those factory bushings still mostly looked great after almost 20 years.

Gabriel Lee I don’t. After putting all of the original sheet metal back, The reinforcement bracket was welded over that to crest the extra strength.

I think we had about 50-60 hours in it when all done. Sad part is that it is a lot of work and when complete, your just putting it back to a factory ride. It is extremely strong now that we have the reinforcement kit installed.

The Poly Bushings that I found were considerably more expensive. It is my son's car and while he does take it to some local car shows, the underneath side is never looked at. Otherwise we would have done Poly Bushings and some better performance Lower Control Arms. From a performance standpoint of the bushings, I doubt you would tell a difference. From a longevity standpoint of the bushings, the Polys would last longer, but the OEM style should last another 10-15 years and most likely outlast the car. We plan to keep it for another year and then upgrade it to possibly a 335i. That is a fantastic question and should be a part of your decision process when doing this. Wish I had thought of that and included a short discussion on it. Cheers!

+UCanDoIt2 I put a poly trans mount bracket on the jeep and it made it vibrate really rough. Idk if it stopped vibrating after a while or I just got used to it lol! great video. really good info! I want my videos to look this good eventually haha!

I bet your Poly experience is typical. While they will last longer, they certainly are more dense and therefore stiff. On another note, there are several handful of guys that I follow that I would love to see their Video setup and editing routine. Thinking through it is like brain-food to me. A video on how to edit video might make a good video!

+UCanDoIt2 All I use is a phone camera and a phone editing software. I know a lot of guys have nice cameras, computers, and expensive software. I plan on doing all that, but right now this is what it is. it's fun and convenient for me right now.

I primarily use a Canon video camera ($250) and I have several others, and a Windows PC running Sony Movie Studio ($60).

$3000 - $4000

Take your time and try to have fun with it. Cheers!!

@@UCanDoIt2Mike yes im taking it easy and enjoy doing it and your videos help me a lot!!!

i had to do exactly what he did took 4 days

@@moscowhq9978 hi pal yes I did the lot myself too .. never again :)

That's putting it lightly!!! It is a lot of work...

You are a very good observer! Not much experience, but getting better with each project.

Scary looking welds, might be OK just for re-enforcement plates but that wouldn't do otherwise. I can usually tell immediately that one doesn't know what they are doing if they go in circles, that's rarely the right motion with the exception of Oxy Acet flame welding. MIG is about as easy to learn as it gets, a few tips from an experienced welder might go along way. Anyhow I appreciate your showing it all even the ugly aspects.