Negative camber

[X5LAW]

Is this a sign that my upper and lower control arms need replacing?

If I get the parts, how many hours labour should i expect for each side?

I have signs of wear on the near side front lower control arm too, should I just replace both sides?  as I'm sure these are mot failures and I want to keep the car in good serviceable condition for at least two more years.

Hoping this won't break the bank, as parts for all four corners only runs to £180.

How much labour is the question?

[X5-D-Sport]

Ideally do repairs of any suspension parts in pairs of matching sides, the new parts will often show up the other worn parts quite effectively.
So, while the vehicle is in pieces, see what else you can swap out too of the parts are cheap enough...

If ever you change bushes & have ideas of swapping out for these HARD yellow bush things, these definitely show up wear or any minute slop in other joints. Additionally, the ride will get very hard & knocky showing up shock absorber weaknesses and other stuff.
The original joints are good for 100k, so it's best to stick with what they come with from the OEM.

Re copy replacement parts.... I have found these to generally be pretty good.
Personally for a track rod end for example, I can get one off E-Bay for £15 a pair delivered... and they are probably almost as good as the OEM part and done 20k miles so far without any signs of failure... the OEM parts cost..... don't even want to think about it lol

Regards

[andym3]

You could have some worn bushes, I'm looking into this problem with my X aswell!
My bushes seem fine so now want to change the camber & toe adjustment bolts as they are seized and then get the 4 wheel alignment done. 
I have seen & been told time & time again that the X5 does suffer from negative camber anyway!  >:(

[X5LAW]

Every time I see an x5 parked up I check and visually mine has more neg camber than almost all others I've seen. It chewed the inside edge of my winter tyres out in 4-5 months and they had 5 mm on when they first went on the x.

Time to chose a good fair garage.

[Steamyrotter]

The biggest bug bear is the rear rose bush..

That wears and the wheel will alter as you are driving..
You will probably not notice this if you jack it up unless you de-presurise the air bags (assuming you still have them fitted!!)

The norm is 3-5degrees negative, but to me that seems excessive.
Mine are about 2deg after changing the rose joint bush and the upper camber arms and the rears have lasted approx 4 years now (Admittedly 17 months of that was off the road!!)

Expect a right pain getting them out unless you have access to a good press..
I had to take the lower arms off, and had to cut the handbrake cables as they had siezed in the hubs.
Took approx 6 hours to do both sides, but with right tooling probably could be done in less.

The fronts conversely have been eaten through in 18 months and was due to the front bushes.
Just changed mine so will see if it gets any better

If the biatch doesn't fight you like mine did they expect around 4-5 hours to do both sides.
If yours is like mine then expect to factor in 11 hours from start to finish.......

[X5-D-Sport]

Hell this sounds awful..

Mine has 30mm hub extensions on the rear each side, and the camber issue is physically visible when viewed from behind, but even tho I do about 800>1200 miles a week, and the tyres are 3 months old all round, there is no sign of inner tread wear - all wearing exactly the same all over...

Wondering when there will become an issue or to how much neg' camber is
necessary to create a wear issue.... inevitable I guess ?

Has any one got a picky of the "Rose" bush - asw I've never seen one or know where it lives, then I may look some up ready for the inevitable ?
Is there a really hard bush replacement so it won't wear so fast, or is this not an option for the location ?

[X5LAW]

If the std bushes have a life of 100k I'm thinking no need to go overboard with harder bushes.

Thanks to those really helpful responders, especially the for give some indication of time.

Will be booking in soon.

Not for nothing, but I don't think you'd see excessive wear in the mileage that you've quoted. I did 600-800 miles per week for 4.5 months and only in month three did I notice real visible wear discrepancy and that was on tyres already down to 5mm when I started them on the x5.

[Steamyrotter]

Item no2 on here:-

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=33&fg=30