As the title says just rolled 103k miles on my 03 745li an I have 22" wheels on the car since I bought it with 83k an I have started to notice front end poping or clicking noise like at low speed when I pull into my driveway or garage an I turn the steering wheel left or right seems to be louder if I turn it left but definitely a noise an I noticed its louder after the car is warm or been driven. If its really cold doesn't seem to be as bad.
Any ideas is this lower control arms or bushings? An ideas greatly appreciated seems to be getting worse over the past month.
The thrust arm bushings are a common wear item on these cars. The rubber bushing are filled with oil. When they fail, they leak. It is easy to spot.
It they are leaking, they are several good threads on how to fix them. The parts are easy to find on ebay. You can buy just the bushing and press it out of the arm, but my advice is to spend just a little more to buy the entire left and front thrust arms. I've tried both ways. Buying arms is way easier. It is good Saturday project and much cheaper than the dealer.
Thanks for the quick reply bobbrum! I think ill go ahead an order the both control arms like your suggested. Found them on eBay both new for 85.00 bucks shipped.
Check tie rod ends as well. When they wear out at the socket the same noises can be heard as well. My advice would be to do exactly what i'm doing right now - sitting in a dealer waiting room gladly paying the $125 to have them properly diagnose the issue, from where i will repair at home myself.
You can randomly throw money at it replacing parts however having a proper diagnosis will save you both time and money in the long run.
And just to reinforce my point the dealer just identified and corrected my issue - the anti rattle clips on the front brakes were loose and making noise. $138 well spent in my opinion where i was prepared to spend a few hundred in parts alone.
Just wanted to update everyone on where my noise was coming from and the FIX!
Felt like an idiot once I figured it out. I did replace my lower control arms the smaller set of the 2. WHich my old ones where wasted at 105k miles BUT didnt fix my clicking suspension noise at all.
So I did my scheduled oil change the other day in the garage got under the car while it was still warm and bumped one of wheels sliding under the car and BAM the NOISE it clicked!
So it was the Pressure plate under the car the big metal one that has the 5 bolts in it that reinforces the Sub frame yes they where not completely TIGHT! when I say Tight I mean I had to tighten them with a breaker bar :thumbup:
So I finished the oil change TIGHTENED the crap out of those five bolts tell they damn near snapped off and instantly Noise was gone silent no more popping clicking ticking nothing all because lose pressure plate. Just FYI for you guys im sure all issues arnt the same but its a quick check! and FREE to fix
As most people on this thread, I was experiencing a clicking noise at low speed and when I would turn my steering wheel when the car was not moving. It was embarrassing when I would pull into any place to park. I went through everything listed in this thread. For me, I was told that I had loose bolts on the steering column. After they were tightened, not only did the clicking noise go away, but the steering was much better.
And the repair was free. Got lucky this time - unlike that alternator bracket gasket!
Thanks for these posts
04 745Li
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