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It turns out that the bushings in the original end links were looking pretty ragged, so the Hotchkis-supplied adjustable rear end links with heavy duty ball joints and rod ends were a good thing. Plus, more grease fittings for future noise-free happiness.
Here’s another look at the Hotchkis adjustable end links. Yes, it should be the quality part itself that I’m most happy about, but I can’t help but have a smile when I see those grease fittings. Not likely that I’ll need to re-grease them any time soon, but it’s still nice to know that I won’t have to remove anything to do it when the time comes.
Just as with the front, always to check all mounting points are in good condition, and that seems particularly true with 3-series BMWs. Sway bar mounts and the subframe are known to have issues over time, so the occasional inspection can save a lot of headaches.
It’s always a good idea to do some sort of reinforcement with the rear sway bar tabs when upgrading these parts. It’s one of those items that you can almost bank on when, not if, they’ll crack or tear off, especially with hard usage on track. Reinforcements can be fabricated if you’re handy with that sort of thing, or you can get great weld-in kits from BimmerWorld. Even easier than that, however…
The Hotchkis rear sway bars come with something I’ve never seen with sway bars before: bolt-in reinforcement brackets! No prep time and no need to take your car to someone with welding experience. I’ve been not-so-secretly wanting to take up welding, but this kit saved me from making that investment. Plus, lighting up a torch near the gas tank was less than appealing. These were very simple to install, but they appear to be thought out rather well.
Once everything is prepped up for installing, the new end links get attached first. The one thing to be sure of during this process is to have the grease fittings pointing in the appropriate direction for access. Otherwise, you’ll find them to be somewhat pointless on these, a bit of attention will save you from making that mistake.
