BMW E36 323is Rear Trailing Arm Bushing Failure

Description

Warning: Language. ***Click 'More Info'*** Here's a video I recorded some time in 2005-ish with my good buddy, Richie. I used a throwaway Logitech 4000 webcam, lots of duct tape (...like 2 yards), and a laptop. You are looking at a failed driver side Rear Trailing Arm Bushing (RTAB) of a 1998 BMW 323is (E36 chassis). The bottom of the video frame is the front of the car, the top is the rear. Notice how the trailing arm (the thing that's moving in the video) is able to wobble about as it mushes around inside the RTA console as the rear wheel undergoes loading forces. This is a perfect example of: A) A failed RTA Bushing. B) Why you should install RTAB limiters to prevent this kind of behavior, and double (AT LEAST!) the life of your bushings. When the Rear Trailing Arm (RTA) moves left to right, the rear toe for that wheel is changing. If both left and right bushings are torn, you get toe out under acceleration, toe in during hard braking, and RANDOM toe whenever the wheel feels like it. This is bad. My car was crab-walking all over the place because of this bushing. I was having the 'rear steering' effect. When the car is under hard acceleration, the arm is allowed to move towards the front of the car (down,in reference to the video frame). Under hard braking, the arm moves backwards (up in reference to the video frame). Up and down (in and out in reference to the video frame) and rotational motion occurs when the wheel travels up and down over bumps. The bushing is there <b>...</b>

Keywords

BMW, 318, 323, 325, M3, E36, RTAB, RTA, rear, traling, arm, bushing, failure, limiters, auto

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