Cost to install rear beam bushes

[Jonnysnapzzz]

Hi all,

when I bought my car it came with a boxes pair of rear beam bushes as in the image. Being a driver not a mechanic I am not going to be able to fit these myself so wondering what the cost should be for a local mechanic to do the work ? Any ideas ?
Also is it worth doing? What’s the benefit?
As I say I am just a weekend driver.

thanks
Jon

 

[NZ00Z3]

They are good bushings, that will stiffen up the rear of the car nicely. Make it sit on the road better in the twisties. The down side is that you will get more diff whine.

I have them fitted to my 3.0L Z3 as a precaution for the rear sub-frame failure. The 2.0L Z3 got new rubber bushings as it's my daily drive and I'm after comfort with it.

It's about a 8 hour job to change the bushings if you know what you're doing.

 

[Jonnysnapzzz]

Thank you, 8 hrs is a lot so I expect a bit of a bill !

 

[gookah]

Visit Lee, he can do them in half the time nowadays. he does them in his sleep.

 

[t-tony]

Visit Lee, he can do them in half the time nowadays. he does them in his sleep.

Those are just the nightmare ones Pete .....................

Tony.

 

[g8jka]

Visit Lee, he can do them in half the time nowadays. he does them in his sleep.

Much faster than the 6 weeks it's taken you to change a set. You probably did them in your sleep though, you don't do much else.

 

[Lee]

You could probably get it down to couple of hours if you buy another beam. Fit the new bushes to the new beam and switch them over lowering everything in place.

 

[mrscalex]

In theory they can be done with the axle beam in situ. In fact I have the tool set for it. But I didn’t buy it for that purpose. I wouldn’t fancy trying to be honest. You won’t find many garages with the correct tools to do this anyway unless they’re a BMW specialist. Those who do it on the forum tend to have the lot out and do a full refresh of the rear end. But that’s an expensive job at a garage.