Slightly OT - E46 Knowledge required! - Winfred, Bill...;) 330 issues

[SharkmanBMW]

I have 60k on my 330xi.
I just noticed grease on my driver side front wheel, so after investigation I found that the CV boot is ripped and the grease is flying out!

My questions are:

Is a jobber CV boot as good as oem from the dealer?
There are NO symptoms of any CV joint issues , it just happened and I don't drive much... it should be ok with just changing the boot?..? no tick tick sounds...

While inspecting that, I also found:

The rear table bushings (for the front end) are both toast, is OEM from the dealer the best as a replacement?
Or is there another brand or model I should consider?
Thanks

[winfred]

if the joint is still wet and not full of sand a boot kit would fix it right up i've never done a e46 front but a cv is pretty much a cv and therefore a pain in the ass to take apart but it ain't the end of the world, inner # 31 60 7 507 403 $42 list, outer # 31 60 7 507 402 $33 list, 2 clamps a boot and a bag of owl ****, i like to completely dissasemble the joint to clear out all of the old grease and pack as much fresh moly (owl ****) in the cup part of the joint as possible and squirt the rest into the boot side after you work the joint so the grease starts coming through. the front rear control arm bushings suck ass on e46s but they aren't too hard to change, the worst part is getting the old ones off, the new ones can be pushed on by hand if you put some dish soap on it first and the bracket part now comes on the new bushing unlike the e30/36 where you needed a press to reuse the bracket

[Jr ///M5]

I seen something the other day on the TV about how engineers have developed a boot that has epoxy cells impregnated into the boot. When the boot starts to tear, it bleeds the epoxy glue and it heals itself.

Now that is forward thinking....

Sorry Chris, but I would take it back to the dealer and ask them to honor the repair. The chances are good that they just might because it's not that far out of warranty.

[SharkmanBMW]

Warranty? I wish!! lol
I bought it used, with 50k, which is out of warranty here in Canada.

Is there anything special about the cv boot replacement on the XI?
The guy doing the job knows CV boots... but it will be his first XI for sure!
Any special tricks a regular joe may need so nothing gets scrapped?!

What brand of bushings?
I have read about polyeurathane bushings, but I want the stock ride. I miss the 540 smoothness, so I don't want to do anything to make the 330 more "rough", as it is less "comfy" than the 5er.