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330xi 63k weird clicking/flapping noise driver side help please!!!

8K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  greenhatchy 
#1 ·
ok so i have an auto 330xi i bought from a dealer ship.. mods are just basic lowered on coilovers and 18 2012 m3 wheels. and 90mm studs... but im getting a weird clicking noise coming from the driver side only when there is a load on the car.. it happens right at 2000rpm but when i go to accelerate it will maintain the same sound but not increasing at all.. same pitch and all..
sound best way i can describe is when you were a kid and put a baseball card on the spokes with a clothes-pin and the flapping/ticking noise... or like plastic shopping bag is hanging out the window and flapping in the wind... lol thats the best way i can describe.... its annoying and idk waht it is.. i check the awd diff fluid and its fine.. i check the front end its fine and tight.. i put the car on a lift and tryed to make it do the same sound and it wont i can only hear it while actualy driving... it doesnt make it if you cost or drive slow liek 5-10mph.. ..
only thing ive notice when it was on a lift is that the driver side axle boot is torn grease still in side for the most part and then on the inner axle point there looks to be grease all over the fram but the boot isnt torn.. (maybe prior to buying the car the dealer ship slapped a new boot on)?? please any help will be appreciated.. im jsut affraid to take it to bmw and have them say my after market bumper to bumper waranty (5 star) will be vied cause of the suspension i put on... thanx
 
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#3 ·
Could also be your extended bolts hitting the heat shields of the brakes. or as the above guy said, one of your axles.

Take a trip over to DMAX. He gives free inspections, I hear. He lives right by the new jersey turnpike next to the hudson river down by the trees. if you see a pile of beagle carcasses, you know you've gone too far.
 
#5 ·
I dearly loved each one of those beagles and had a proper burial ceremony for each and every one of them: trixie, samantha, cindy, debbie, and caitlin...oh, and daphne. Why I started loaning them out to Fanatics I'll never know, but have to say very few of you took proper care of them at all. The things you did with them; things which probably shouldn't have been done; unspeakable things...tsk, tsk, tsk.

OP, and now to your clicking. If you have a smart phone, there's a frequency app you could use and if you're good at math might be able to figure out the diameter of the things hitting another thing.

Mango could be right about the bolts being too long...dust shield often gets bent just a tad when wheels go on and off and that's enough to cause a clicking.

A friend might have put a ziptie on your driveshaft. Get underneath with xl50 and look...and try pushing out dust shields while the wheels are off too.

That you have a torn boot, though, makes me think this is a strong possibility too. All you need is a particle or two to get into the grease and that and time could be enough to give you a clicking sound.

That said, if it is the CV joint, I suspect you could live with a clicking for a while before you were in any danger...and by then, the sounds would be so bad you'd know you had to do something.

Also, it sounds a bit like just a front wheel bearing...which often only clicks when under load. Take a long sweeping turn at speed and see if you can attenuate this clicking...loaded side will be the one with the issue, but usually you'd replace both wheel bearings at the same time...supposedly an easy diy the front wheel bearing, as they're incorporated into the hub.

HTH
 
#7 ·
been a while since i been on here.. but yea i dont think its the bolts hitting cause i drove the car on the lift at work and hear no noise.. has to be on the road.. with a load... i dont think almost 100% sure the studs arent hitting.. and the sound isnt so much a clicking noise its more of a humming roaring noise while driving in the cab... but when i have the window down and in the "expres lane" with the devider next to me is when you hear the clicking/clacking sound,,,,

how hard is it to change the bearings.. and they bolt in hubs or are they press in bearings??
 
#8 ·
Since you have an XI, it def might be half shaft, but man those noises are hard to diagnose. I've had several xi owners write me when trying to diagnose my issue in this thread, and they said that the CV joints on XI's go bad frequently, especially on the fronts, and especially if you're messing with the stock suspension setup: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=937242&highlight=wa

But that thread is sort of about half shafts at first, and then all about wheel bearings, enjoy!
 
#9 ·
Oops, also, I've heard that the bad CV joints make a distinctive "clicking/clacking" noise, where as the bad bearings is more of a wa wa wa wa noise..
 
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