One of the weak aspects of the E46 is the suspension. I find the stock setup a little soft and it wears quickly. The front control arm bushings last about 25K of sprited driving before they start to get mushy. You almost don’t notice because it starts to happen really slowly.
The same thin is true of the rear trailing arm bushings. All of these are made of rubber designed with a balance of performace and nice ride. I find that they detach you from the feel of the road so I replaced them with a medium hardness neoprene bushing set.
I also replaced the strut among shocks with a medium stiffness set and the handling is much improved without sacrificing the drivability. It is a little tedious on some of the rougher roads and speed bumps, but I think it’s a good tradeoff.
I have had a few sets of tires in the 200,000 plus miles. I started out with Michelin, and the were good. I moved to Tiger Paw for one set and found them to be just as good for a lot less money. Today I have settled on Toyo Extensa HP II 205/55R16. The are quiet, grip the road and are less than $500 a set delivered. The have lasted between 50k and 60k per set.
Somewhat related are the engine mounts. The collapse and you start hearing the engine inside and they need to be replaced. I put some aftermarket mounts in one time and it was unpleasantly noisy in the cabin. Stick with the factory mounts.
Rear Trailing
Arm Bushing
Front Control Arm Bushing
