01-23-2024, 07:51 PM | #1 |
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Bought a 2016 M235i X-Drive/Noise and Vibration
Hello All,
Last month I bought a one owner 2016 M235i convertible with 62k miles on it. I noticed a vibration that starts at about 40MPH then decreases over 60MPH. Also hearing noise from the right front of the car when going over any road imperfections at all. Sounds like a bad sway bar link. Took it back to the dealership that I bought it from and they said the front end is tight, the left front wheel is bent. Said they had a company that straightens them. Waited two weeks for the appointment and they had the car for a week to straighten the wheel and replace the heating element in the driver's seat base. Got the car back and the heated seat works great but the vibration and noise are still there. Read a bunch on here and went out to my garage with the car shut off and when I move the steering wheel back and forth I hear clank, clank, clank, clank as clear as can be coming from the passenger side of the car. Apparently they didn't test drive the car or they would've noticed the vibration and noise. Thinking it may be the steering rack bushing I called back to see about getting it back in the shop. Told them what I'd read and they said they thought the repair would take more than a day so now i have to wait two weeks for them to have a loaner available. As a result I have a few questions at this point: 1. Does the M235i steering rack use the bushing toward the passenger side like some of the other series do? 2. Does clanking when moving the steering wheel typically end up being a bad bushing or steering rack if it doesn't use it? 3. Are there any known issues with this model that would cause the vibration? 4. Are the BMW dealerships typically pretty good or are they typically sloppy. I used to ride Harleys and learned that I could usually fix my Harley much better than they could so wondering if this is the same. I was a mechanic in a past life so if it weren't so cold I'd jack the car up and look to see if it has the bushing or not and fix it myself if it has it. The only benefit to this is they put me in brand new loaners. I had a new 230i X-Drive loaner for a week in the ice and snow while my car sat safely in their parking lot. |
01-26-2024, 07:17 AM | #3 |
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Not experienced with AWD but I'd be looking for a second opinion. Maybe look for an independent mechanic that has experience with BMWs and their AWD systems. The mechanics at the dealer are sometimes hit and miss.
Sounds like you've narrowed it down to a corner, that's not easy. Is the vibration dependent on road surface? or consistently just rotational speed of the wheels? I wonder if if the tie rod end is loose causing the clanking... Hows alignment? Does the car at least drive straight? |
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01-26-2024, 01:43 PM | #4 |
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If it happens when you turn the steering wheel, it could be the strut top mount bearing going bad. However, this would not create a vibration at different road speeds. Is there any play in the front wheel? A wheel bearing going bad could create a vibration at variable road speeds. Same thing with other suspension bushings. It would be easy to check for axial play in suspension components if it wasn’t cold out. The steering rack doesn’t use any bushings that you’d see from looking underneath the car.
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03-22-2024, 12:07 PM | #5 | |
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03-22-2024, 12:09 PM | #6 | |
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03-22-2024, 01:23 PM | #7 | |
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Where do you feel the vibration the most; e.g., steering wheel, throttle/brake pedal, the seat, etc.? |
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03-22-2024, 02:12 PM | #8 | |
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03-22-2024, 02:40 PM | #9 | |
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03-22-2024, 03:23 PM | #10 | |
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However, it’s a good time to replace the oem top mounts with a set of street camber plates. Vorshlag, Ground Control and Millway make camber plates that work with stock springs. If you’re not tracking your car, Millway makes a street version that should not increase NVH at all, allow you to properly align front camber (same value left and right or increase it to something reasonable around -2.5 deg), and eliminate a common issue. |
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03-22-2024, 03:34 PM | #11 | |
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03-22-2024, 04:00 PM | #12 |
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The spring should be in compression when the suspension is at full drop. This means the spring and damper should move together without any play/relative movement (one develops force proportional to displacement, the other develops force proportional to velocity but they move together). What you’re describing sounds more like a main spring with zero preload on it. Stock front strut spring has a decent amount of preload. Can you take pictures or a video showing the motion?
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03-22-2024, 04:19 PM | #13 | |
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I just replaced the struts on a friend's Prius that had the same symptoms and all noise is gone now that they're were swapped out. Agreed on swapping out the mounts when I do the struts assuming that these adaptive struts aren't supposed to do this. I can't imagine they would but am not 100% sure. |
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03-22-2024, 04:22 PM | #14 | |
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03-22-2024, 05:11 PM | #15 | |
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Last edited by LivNLearn; 03-22-2024 at 05:19 PM.. |
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03-22-2024, 05:54 PM | #16 | |
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The adaptive struts/shocks are a conventional monotube gas charged damper with an electromechanically controlled valve stack on the piston. Except for the electromechanical valve actuation, the edc damper works just like any other monotube damper. For the front strut, the spring will be preloaded/compressed between the top strut mount and the strut lower spring seat. There should be zero play in the axial direction between the spring and the strut piston rod. If you can move the strut body any distance without the piston rod immediately moving the same amount then it suggests either the strut is blown or the top mount has failed. Does it do this on both front struts or just one side? |
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03-22-2024, 06:01 PM | #17 | |
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03-22-2024, 06:50 PM | #18 | |
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Here are more pictures of the spring seat. I can't get great ones as I can't hold the flashlight and the camera at the right angles together. And yes, it does this on both sides. I put the video on YouTube if you'd like to see it. Here are more pictures of the spring seat. I can't get great ones as I can't hold the flashlight and the camera at the right angles together. And yes, it does this on both sides. Last edited by LivNLearn; 03-22-2024 at 07:50 PM.. |
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03-22-2024, 06:51 PM | #19 |
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Here's the strut mount.
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04-01-2024, 11:55 AM | #20 |
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Vibration
For anyone else that may run into this I took the car to a local indy BMW-only specialty shop. They checked the car out and found nothing wrong with it aside from the right strut just starting to leak.
We then went for a ride and when it started vibrating I told the technician "there it is". He said he could feel it too. I asked what was causing it and he said it's because it's a convertible. There's more flex in the car and it's not uncommon for this to occur. If you Google this you'll find scuttle shake and cowl shake. Guess the dealership is unaware of this or they'd of told me long ago. |
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05-12-2024, 08:04 PM | #21 |
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I just bought a used 2018 M240iXdrive with 13K miles on it and drove yesterday from Tampa FL to Raleigh NC and that damn lane assist came on here and there on the highway and I was WTF...lol...after I turned it off, smooth as silk...duh me.
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05-12-2024, 11:23 PM | #22 |
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I for one think the lane departure feature is nice if you drive mountain roads at night. The vibration never annoys me. The thing that I don't understand, 240's never came with blind spot monitoring. 340i's have them.
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