[330ci]

Have this popping noise from the Front Left Suspension when turning the wheel. Sound is drowned out with the car running but is still there there when car is on.

And there's also a knocking noise from the driver side which sounds like it's coming from the steering rack

Dealership insists all of this is normal but there is so many symptoms with the car:

• intermittent vibration through steering at highway (tried new set of wheels/tyres and didn't go away)
• feel every bump through the car
• vague/light steering at centre
• little difference between modes (yes it's on chassis & drivetrain) - other 4 vehicles with same setup had v obvious difference
• intermittent knock on driver side over bumps
• metallic rattle like a flutter over abrupt bumps at low speeds

Someone pls give some guidance coz my local dealership would call an engine on fire characteristic and normal.

Vehicle: 2017 BMW F22 M240i LCI (RHD Australia) with 25,000km. M-Adaptive Suspension with VSS Rack.

Video of Front Left Suspension Noise (Engine Off)

[overcoil]

I don't know anything, however, on my 2015 M235 the front thrust rod bushings were replaced and research says when they deteriorate and go bad shuddering in steering wheel over bumps.

Now if your M-Adaptive suspension were not to be firming up in SPORT, CHASSIS settings I'm pretty sure that would cause a warning light or fault light in the iDrive.

[330ci]

Originally Posted by Caravaggio

I don't know anything, however, on my 2015 M235 the front thrust rod bushings were replaced and research says when they deteriorate and go bad shuddering in steering wheel over bumps.

Now if your M-Adaptive suspension were not to be firming up in SPORT, CHASSIS settings I'm pretty sure that would cause a warning light or fault light in the iDrive.

The suspension firms up in sports mode, the steering hardly gets tighter though. And the steering always has a few degrees of light vagueness before it gets slightly tighter (isn't uniform the whole way around).

All other m240i's I drove had a clear distinction in steering feel between the modes - 1/10 on comfort and then 10/10 on sports. Whereas mine feels like it goes from 1/10 to 3/10. But the same slight bit of a deadspot is in the centre of the steering.

[330ci]

Update: solved some of the symptoms with the Steering Rack Thrust piece repair kit. Only issue was that I broke the rubber piece in the middle so I'm gonna redo it. I may have put way too much grease and I had a loud rotational knock when I got to over 80km/hr but it might have been from the wind flapping the under plate around (I didn't put the bottom plastic shield on when I went to test it). But who knows now because it's gone. Will just be redoing the whole procedure to be sure it's done perfect.

Solved the knocking noise (from steering rack with engine off), steering vagueness, and few degrees of steering lightness. Steering is much more direct and tight and uniform completely around (no dead spot like feeling).

Still have the vibration at highway speed. Will be getting road force balancing done to rule tyres out. Thrust arm bushing are showing slight bit of wear but I don't think replacing them will fix my vibration issue. If road force balancing doesn't solve the vibrations, I will move onto the thrust arm replacement.

As for the clicking noise, this may simply be due to the strut pinch bolt needing to be torqued down tighter (although it's never been touched since new but it appears to be a common issue from what I've read)

Edit:
this is an extremely late update. Did an edit of my oldest post so I didn't unnecessarily bump the thread. I ended up selling the vehicle last year before it depreciated more.
The thrust repair kit fix was placebo - the root cause of my issue was something else entirely. Car took some damage at some point prior to my ownership hence why it was much harder to diagnose. Not sure if i ever mentioned it but the car's front axle sat ever so slightly uneven with FR sitting slightly lower.
Car needed a complete new suspension on FR: new strut, new wheel king pin or knuckle, LCA, Tension strut, outer tie rod, sway link, sway bar, +- new steering rack.