Unexplainable clunking!

[1erE88]

My fellow 1er fam, I'm in need of some guidance. I have a 2013, 135i vert with just under 48k miles on it. Car's been babied by both me and the former owner.

A few months ago, the car began to develop a clunking sound, primarily when turning right onto a driveway/ parking garage. I suspected it to be bad sway Bar Links but decided to take it into BMW for a second opinion. After keeping my car for over 2 weeks, they determined it was the front tension strut bushings. Rather than spending over $1500 on parts and labor, I picked up the car and purchased the M3/1M Control Arm Upgrade Kit from FCP Euro.

Since then I've replaced all the following and STILL there's clunking!

• Control Arms (both sides)
• Front tension struts (both sides)
• Front sway bar links (both sides)
• Front strut assembly- Both sides (new shock, strut mount, top hat, rubbers and boot)
• Sway bar bushings
• Wheel alignment

After each reassembly, I made sure to torque all bolts to factory spec. I also should note steering is firm, no play when turning right/ left/ right/ left… does not clunk.

I've exhausted my search on trying to figure out the root of the problem but before I completely throw in the towel and take it to a BMW specialist, I wanted to put it out there and see if anyone else has had a similar situation?

This is the sound from inside the cabin (sorry for the crappy camera placement- for sound purposes only).

https://youtube.com/shorts/v081iosfs-4?feature=share

I also tried recording from underneath (unfortunately the engine sound drowns out the clunking, but you can faintly hear it from the passenger side).

I really appreciate and welcome any feedback.

[Mr Gasser]

IF it still does it after this, I wouldn't worry about it, the wheels aren't going to fall off. 48K? Possible high water at some point? Who knows...

[drwillb]

I went through three years of chasing a clunk/clank kinda of sound from the front end. The noise could be heard as the steering wheel was reaching the end limits.

I tried 3 different kinds of camber plates, new struts, and rebuilt my 2 year old vorshlag plates in trying to figure it out.

I had done a 1M front conversion including every nut and bolt, control arms, tie rods, struts, sway bar and bushings, new strut hats, etc. I had also done water pump, oil pan gasket, and PS1 turbo. Each had its own session.

A couple of months ago I started searching through Google and came across a few threads on 1addicts and e90post that dealt with this issue. I had searched before but nothing had come up.

Long story short: the bolts holding the steering rack in place were not tight enough. I’m not saying loose. They were plenty tight, or so I thought.

I gave them a good dose of muscle and all the noise went away. That easy. Man, I could have saved a lot of time, aggravation, and $$ if I’d tightened those bolts first.

[tracer bullet]

The videos are awesome tools, by the way. That said my laptop speakers suck and I'm not hearing much. But to give some ideas -

* Is this a repeatable thing, or totally random? Is it only if you hit a bump, only if you do so at a certain speed, only if you are turning the wheel at the same time, maybe one of those things but not when you hit a bump, etc. Basically just asking if there's a certain scenario when it happens and as a bonus is it something you can make happen?

* Do you have any kind of a feel for the noise at all? Like is it something kind of tight but slipping, something loose, something metallic sounding, slightly deadened, and so on. Are you familiar with squeaky bushings? They can sound like clunks in a way, rubber binding tightly against something but then suddenly popping loose.

I'd say keep an open mind, sometimes a list of replacement parts can eliminate those parts as a noise source. But I've had times where even the replacement part is either also bad or was also installed in a way like the original that was bad.

[Mr Gasser]

I'm not saying bearings are the culprit, just peace of mind, test them first of course. Funny how fixing one little component can make the whole issue disappear.

[drwillb]

Tighten (crank down) your rack bolts first. It's free and super easy.


https://www.google.com/search?q=e82+...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by drwillb

I went through three years of chasing a clunk/clank kinda of sound from the front end. The noise could be heard as the steering wheel was reaching the end limits.

I tried 3 different kinds of camber plates, new struts, and rebuilt my 2 year old vorshlag plates in trying to figure it out.

I had done a 1M front conversion including every nut and bolt, control arms, tie rods, struts, sway bar and bushings, new strut hats, etc. I had also done water pump, oil pan gasket, and PS1 turbo. Each had its own session.

A couple of months ago I started searching through Google and came across a few threads on 1addicts and e90post that dealt with this issue. I had searched before but nothing had come up.

Long story short: the bolts holding the steering rack in place were not tight enough. I’m not saying loose. They were plenty tight, or so I thought.

I gave them a good dose of muscle and all the noise went away. That easy. Man, I could have saved a lot of time, aggravation, and $$ if I’d tightened those bolts first.

This

[iminhell1]

I was specifically watching for the rack flexing in the videos. I didn't see anything that stood out. But I also couldn't hear what you where either. The interior one, I couldn't tell if I was hearing you bumping the camera or what was going on there. Tie the camera to the passenger headrest or something so you don't have to hold it and it isn't jumping around, that mic pics up alot.

[1erE88]

Big thanks to all of you, a lot of constructive feedback. I’m going to look over the steering rack concern (tighten the bolts) as it’s the only thing I haven’t gotten around to doing. I’ve spun checked the bearings and they sound good/ feel good but who knows, they may be the culprit too.

It certainly sounds like something is loose. I’d say the clunking sound occurs when there’s any sort of flex in the front suspension. I hear it more predominantly from the passenger side. I don’t necessarily feel it on the accelerator nor the steering but the thump is substantially loud so you can feel it on the floor.

The knocking from the interior angle is exactly as it sounds, that’s not me obstructing the mic at all.

I’m going to lift the car up this weekend and re-examine everything as well as address some of the above mentioned. I’ll take a better video with better camera placement if the sound continues.

I appreciate the feedback!

[Mr Gasser]

If they are loose get some blue locktite and dab some on after cleaning the bolts.

[YakuzaWAFD]

Originally Posted by drwillb

I went through three years of chasing a clunk/clank kinda of sound from the front end. The noise could be heard as the steering wheel was reaching the end limits.

I tried 3 different kinds of camber plates, new struts, and rebuilt my 2 year old vorshlag plates in trying to figure it out.

I had done a 1M front conversion including every nut and bolt, control arms, tie rods, struts, sway bar and bushings, new strut hats, etc. I had also done water pump, oil pan gasket, and PS1 turbo. Each had its own session.

A couple of months ago I started searching through Google and came across a few threads on 1addicts and e90post that dealt with this issue. I had searched before but nothing had come up.

Long story short: the bolts holding the steering rack in place were not tight enough. I’m not saying loose. They were plenty tight, or so I thought.

I gave them a good dose of muscle and all the noise went away. That easy. Man, I could have saved a lot of time, aggravation, and $$ if I’d tightened those bolts first.

You just saved me.

I've been chasing this issue for a year.

Replaced most of the front suspension.

The steering rack bolts were the culprits.

Like you, I had been searching the internet and tried all the different fixes.

Thanks mate