The M5 is a bit of a high maintenance car. I’ve spent quite a bit of time chasing various small electrical bugs, but they seem to be sated with electrons right now so the car is in fine form. So it’s time to turn my attention to the suspension. There are a couple of arms on the front suspension that take a big compressive load under braking. The bushings aren’t too happy about this over a long period of time, and I had the characteristic wheel judder under light braking at moderate speeds. When I pulled the arms out, the bushings were indeed looking sorry. But more importantly, the ball joints at the other ends were floppy like a 5 1/4” disk. I had new bushings but the only way to get new ball joints is to replace the arms. A big box from Pelican Parts later and I swapped all four front arms. Wow. I hadn’t realized how much movement there was in the steering. The car feels tight and precise. It’s a decade younger. Even a thump that I thought was from the back turns out to have been fixed. It’s always nice when you’re rewarded this much for your work.
