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I'll be damned if it wasn't a rare occasion where I happily considered myself some sort of genius. The hole saw cut through that beast of a bushing like butter, and even left a fantastic mess in its wake; billowing smoke and all.
The hole saw portion of the extraction was actually pretty fun and quick, so next it was just a matter of using a hammer and large screw driver to chisel the entire RTAB housing out. Not a pretty sight, but it saved me a couple hundred dollars in tool costs, or several hundred dollars worth of labor from a BMW shop.
As luck would have it, I still had a brand-new set of Rogue Engineering RTABs which I never got a chance to install on my old supercharged 325iT über wagon. Fitment is the same for E36s, so these were perfect. I chose the street compound of the bushings for a couple of reasons. Even though these are polyurethane, the street compound is just soft enough (Shore A 93 hardness) that they still allow enough movement that they don’t negatively effect the toe changes in the rear of the car under load. I don't like overly stiff RTABs, but these seemed to be only a bit harder than OEM bushings with limiters installed, yet should offer a longer life. They're also impregnated with silicone to prevent squeaking or binding, and they have a grease trap molded in, too. They basically slip right in with just a few taps from a mallet, as well, so installation is a breeze.
I knew the RSMs would need replacement since the previous owner skipped them when replacing dampers, and the rear shocks didn't quite control the springs as I'd expect given their newness. The rear shocks were set to full rebound, so I didn't pay much attention to ride control since I knew they weren’t matched to the OE springs. On the second day of driving, however, I suddenly started to hear a lot of clunking from the rear end. The photo above shows what the sound was and that the shocks weren’t really doing much of anything, regardless of newness or settings. Since the suspension is basically stock for the moment, it didn't make sense to invest in any aftermarket RSMs for now. New OEM units with Z3 reinforcement plates were included with the sale of the car, so those were installed for now. The process was simple, and taking the rear shocks out gave me a chance to adjust them to a more stock-friendly setting since the rears needed to be fully compressed to make adjustments.
The FCABs didn't feel nearly as bad as the rears. They looked well-aged, however, and the steering didn't quite have the direct feel I’d expect. I didn't want to deal with any NVH issues as I had with delrin bushings in the past. I'm a lot older and grumpier than I used to be, so I don't have the patience for annoying noises in my street car, even if it will see a good amount of track time.
The Rogue Engineering FCABs were the perfect solution for me. The have aluminum housings with polyurethane inserts, so you can easily replace the bushing insert if needed in the future. As with the RTABs, installation is incredibly simple if you plan things out. I’ll fess up to trying to install one backwards, which made it shockingly hard to take off.
