E34 Tie Rods, Drag Link & Sway bar links - Sorted!

[roo 41]

I have a bit of lateral play in both my front wheels and have traced it down both inner and outer tie rod ends. I think you have to replace the whole bar w/ both ends. Where is the best place to get these? Waiting on a price from Team Mc and Speed have quoted $157 + GST each. Anywhere else I should try? They look like this and the part number (I think) is 32211135668.

Edited April 27, 2014 by roo

[Allanw 1073]

I use www.Milland.co.nz

[Eagle 1717]

Gavin @ Euroitalian

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2142]

yep either one of those guys are great

[kiwi328i 118]

Last year after much googling, I went with Lemforder centre, left and right from Pelican Parts. Pelican Parts is cool because many of their items have reviews and I found it cheaper via the states. Pelican used to be the cheapest, they aren't anymore for everything, but their variety is hard to beat. I also use FCPeuro and ECS tuning for stuff too. Cant remember the price, but I remember deciding that it was worth getting the good parts so I don't have to do it for...well as long as possible. In my opinion, get the best you can afford and literally replace everything that needs doing around whatever area you are focused on, not silly nilly, but it gives you good peace of mind when you are giving it the berries up your favorite mountain pass...or whatever. I have now replaced every suspension component on the front of my E34. It feels much better, I think its worth it, no one else does of course of course apart from aficionados here and that's cool by me.

[roo 41]

Thanks guys. I had the car serviced at Jerry Clayton yesterday and asked them to diagnose exactly where the movement is coming from. They came back with the following parts needing to be replaced followed by their full retail cost but said there would be some room to move as the prices are pretty old. I doubt anyone has ordered this stuff for a few years!

R/S Sway Bar Link $85

L/S Inner Tie Rod $332

Center Tie Rod/Drag Link $899

So I'm thinking I'll do drag link, both tie rods and both sway bar links. Like Lionel said above, replacing just the worn out parts seems like false economy to me as the others will need doing at some point too. I can't get over how expensive the drag link is.

Any other suggestions?

[roo 41]

Lemforder through Pelican seems pretty good. Made in Germany and apparently supplied parts to BMW?

Tie Rod $45 each x 2

Drag Link $132

Sway Bar Link $33 each x 2

Total: $288 USD + shipping ???

Edited April 10, 2014 by roo

[kiwi328i 118]

When I worked out my quotes from here and then from there, even with shipping it was considerably cheaper there. The thing you need to watch is the customs, someone here might be better at explaining this, but if you go over $400.00nzd you pay, a duty or tax of sorts. I argued with them with one of my orders, but as they keep it from you till you cough it up, its pointless.ha. Keep it under $400.00nzd or cross your fingers they don't pick it up, or stagger your purchases. Lemforder is one of BMW's oem supplier, and I think they are for what you want. People swear by them, at least for the parts you want, just google hard out, and you wont get higher praise than lemforder for E34 centre and ends. Again, it's just my view, others may and probably will disagree? If parts for our cars were cheaper I would buy them here, because I would rather collect the item, see the owner of the store etc etc, but hey the parts for our cars are not cheap, it kind of forces you to shop overseas. Most E34 owners I think do not go to team McMillan or jerry clayton, unless absolutely necessary because the maintenance alone would be more than the full cost of our cars in no time soon and that's without even considering performance enhancements! Cheap to buy, not cheap to maintain.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2142]

i replaced my complete front suspension using parts from pelican, think the bill came in around $800NZ. but thats everything, all of your stuff, plus new control arms, thrust arms, tierods, sway bar links etc etc

Edited April 11, 2014 by _Ethrty-Andy_

[roo 41]

All sorted, more detailed update here: http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/45437-e34-acs-540i-steering-overhaul/page-4