[tonyzale]

There is no fix for this issue.

Sorry to break it to everyone. I have been dealing with this for more than 1 year. 2012 335i Sport Line with Adaptive M. Have had struts replaced, 3 steering racks installed. Noise is exactly the same. I finally decided to just blow it off (in a 24 month lease). Have been following issue on and off and recently found out that BMW has determined that this there is no fix for this sound we are hearing. I do give them credit for spending a bunch on my car trying to get it right. I am getting a 2014 with M Sport and NO Adaptive suspension. I will look into stiffening up the suspension another way. M Sport handles much better than Sport Line in my opinion.

Good luck to everyone.

My advice, when you are not happy with something there are always 2 ways to solve it. Externally then internally.

[Rudy K]

Originally Posted by tonyzale

There is no fix for this issue.

Sorry to break it to everyone. I have been dealing with this for more than 1 year. 2012 335i Sport Line with Adaptive M. Have had struts replaced, 3 steering racks installed. Noise is exactly the same. I finally decided to just blow it off (in a 24 month lease). Have been following issue on and off and recently found out that BMW has determined that this there is no fix for this sound we are hearing. I do give them credit for spending a bunch on my car trying to get it right. I am getting a 2014 with M Sport and NO Adaptive suspension. I will look into stiffening up the suspension another way. M Sport handles much better than Sport Line in my opinion.

Good luck to everyone.

My advice, when you are not happy with something there are always 2 ways to solve it. Externally then internally.

I think you are right and I will know it in this several days ahead.
Finally they agree to replace rack steer, rack sleeve, rack column and a pair shock absorber. Last Monday I brought my car to the service station and not finish yet.
If the problem still persist I will sell my car absolutely.

[Sladester100]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Interesting news. Mine's a standard suspension setup and I have 'the clonk' from the front offside (plus I have the slight knocking from the steering when at rest). Also get noise from the rear but think that's just the natural resonance from the boot and lack of acoustic dampening.

Car has to go back for the rusty seat base issue, so will ask them to check top mounts at the same time.

Rob did you ever get an answer to this as mine does exactly this but they have found nothing yet; last answer I got was dirty brakes

[Rudy K]

hi guys,

sorry for late update. finally after they changed rack steer system, the noises was gone.
but unfortunately the suspension noise still there, and engineer said all adaptive suspension are like this. need 12 days to serviced it, and i complained it since April 2013. really bad after sales service.
i deleted my dream to have another one.

[atomicS]

I have a May 2012 335i with adaptive suspension. It has been clonking annoying over bumps since delivery. Sounds like suspension noises from the front wheel arch. I have brought up the matter to Performance Motors and the car spent a good number of months in the workshop but there is no solution.

It is really not acceptable for a top of range 3 Series and especially when we pay more than US$200k for it here in Singapore. I am praying that BMW AG will come up with a fix for this irritating issue for this otherwise wonderful ride.

[GavinG]

Hi all,

I am posting on this forum although I have run a 2012 F11 520d SE.

The problem you describe sounds identical to the problem I (and others) are having on some of our 5-series.

I do not have Active suspension and, as a touring, it has self-levelling suspension on the back. The back is perfect, the front is horrible...as many of you describe and as is documented here in this post on a 5-series forum (including more details on my own experiences) http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/85272-...-to-ask/page-2

Having hammered away at them about this mid last year and got nowhere, I had it in for it’s first service today and asked them once again about this problem. On request, I went out with the Service Manager (as BMW UK simply referred my complaint last year back to him and it was left, as you have also found, with “we are aware there is a problem that affects some cars but we have no fix for this”.)

We drove my car over the much loved small speed bumps (Asda car park) and demonstrated my noise which was acknowledged. We then went out in an MSport F11 over the same bumps. The bizarre thing was that going over these bumps at an alarmingly high speed of approx 15mph the car sounded absolutely perfect – totally solid as you would expect, but at a lower (more sensible!) speed, there were traces of the similar noise to mine, albeit not so pronounced.

Now, I am on Winter tyres which are NON-RUNFLAT with the standard SE suspension. The MSport obviously has stiffer suspension and was shod with runflats. Yet, it was far better than mine. As for it sounding perfect at 15mph, after the service, I then took mine over the same two bumps at the same speed and it sounded horrendous.

I am at an impasse with the dealer although the problem is acknowledged as I mentioned.

OK, apologies for the preamble – but thought I’d give a brief background by way of intro. I am continually searching and looking for insight into this intensely irritating problem which ought to be solvable and have landed on this thread after widening my search from being 5-series only.

I’m sorry to hear about all your problems and can totally empathise with you.

What I really would like to know is how many of you have had success with replacement of the shock absorber top mounts as is mentioned in this thread? I’d be really grateful if you could let me know as this could then be something I could progress with my local dealer.

Cheers,

Gavin

[330cdsport]

Hi Gavin, I can sympathise with you on all of this. I am now in the lucky position of having two cars that exhibit this problem.

1. My M135i with adaptive suspension - which I went through an awful rigmarole with my dealer and had no success. They changed top mounts and adaptive shocks and finally just said that thats the way the adaptive suspension works. I did get the 5yr service pack thrown in to keep me quiet.

2. Recently got a F11 525 MSport for the wife and it has normal suspension but the front sounds awful in it too - like there is loose bushings or something. I have not even bothered mentioning it to the dealer as I don't see the point anymore until there is a known solution

So there you have it - a good deal of modern BMWs have a lousy suspension setup which cant be rectified. This is worse than the 19" cracked rim fiasco from a couple of years ago. I suffered two of those too on my E92 335d

[Arwmjc]

So is this happening on all the adabtive suspension cars or just some? ?

[Palmnuts]

Watchdog? Seemed to work with publicising the cracked rim issue?

I'd be furious if I was stuck with a noisy car that BMW couldn't fix - our M135i has adaptive but doesn't knock although it sounds like there's every risk that when the M3 arrives it could gave this trait.

[Sabo]

The 1 and the 3 series shares the same adaptive suspension which isn't the most advanced system on the market unfortunately, the 5 series has a bit more sophisticated version. I personally opted not to have adaptive on my new car I've just ordered due to far too many issues and bad experiences also I'm perfectly happy with the passive m sport suspension which is a lot more more comfortable then it was on my e90 Msport.

[Sabo]

Originally Posted by Palmnuts

Watchdog? Seemed to work with publicising the cracked rim issue?

I'd be furious if I was stuck with a noisy car that BMW couldn't fix - our M135i has adaptive but doesn't knock although it sounds like there's every risk that when the M3 arrives it could gave this trait.

Apparently the new M3 will have a better system

[GavinG]

Hi 330cd. I can't believe you have 2 cars with this problem!! - what a huge pain in the backside and disappointment that must be for you.

There is clearly something fundamentally wrong with some component that somehow affects some cars but not all.

I am astonished that BMW say there are not enough complaints for it to be a priority to resolve. I strongly suspect they know what the problem is but are keeping quiet about it as word would soon spread once a few people began to receive corrective action and this would snowball into much expense and unwanted publicity for them.

Like I said the comparison 520d MSport F11 I was taken for a drive in didn't bat an eyelid going over the speed bumps at around 15mph...whereas mine sounded like something on the front end was badly broken. How can that be Mr BMW??

Not that I believe it will get me anywhere but I may well have another go at BMW Customer services now that I have had this comparison test drive with the Service Manager.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by atomicS

I have a May 2012 335i with adaptive suspension. It has been clonking annoying over bumps since delivery. Sounds like suspension noises from the front wheel arch. I have brought up the matter to Performance Motors and the car spent a good number of months in the workshop but there is no solution.

It is really not acceptable for a top of range 3 Series and especially when we pay more than US$200k for it here in Singapore. I am praying that BMW AG will come up with a fix for this irritating issue for this otherwise wonderful ride.

$200k for a 3 series!

How??!

[stevelup]

Singapore's Vehicle Quota System

[jtuds]

I noticed a creak from the front suspension this morning. I'll monitor it this week and of it persists I'll take it in

[fae irvine]

Not sure if related, but I have been aware of suspension noise but nothing noted by dealer at first service.

Second service at 45k, yesterday, was advised needed new suspension bushes. Never needed those on a car before.

[batty]

This thread is very interesting reading. My F31 with adaptive and VSS has a very annoying rattle over small bumps. It's only on the front suspension and seems worse on the off-side.
I took it to the dealer a few weeks ago, but was given a very pleasantly worded "fob-off" as they spotted the tyre pressure was high (it was set high as that weekend I was fully loaded - obviously not fully loaded when taking to the dealer.
As the mileage increases - now 9.5k, if anything it's getting worse, so will persevere with the dealer, with suggestions of steering rack, top mounts, etc.

[Megajasperdog]

Hi guys
My 2012 330d m sport touring has been into Williams liverpool regarding the same front right suspension clunk as lots of people,on the second visit after telling me the car was normal they told me they where replacing the steering rack and lower steering shaft which they did and suprise suprise the car is exactly the same even though it was road tested and signed off by the head tech. I've only had the car 6 weeks and it's already spent 13 days at the dealer. I'm heading down there tomorrow to do a road test with the tech on board. Let's see how I get on.

[Isow]

Originally Posted by Megajasperdog

Hi guys
My 2012 330d m sport touring has been into Williams liverpool regarding the same front right suspension clunk as lots of people,on the second visit after telling me the car was normal they told me they where replacing the steering rack and lower steering shaft which they did and suprise suprise the car is exactly the same even though it was road tested and signed off by the head tech. I've only had the car 6 weeks and it's already spent 13 days at the dealer. I'm heading down there tomorrow to do a road test with the tech on board. Let's see how I get on.

Let me know how you get on.
I have had a new steering rack and steering shaft and the problem remains.
They say it isn't a suspension problem.
My car has standard suspension.

[BMWSKI]

Has anyone noticed if this clunking sound has gone since fitting ACS Springs? Maybe @MARKG335 has an opinion?

[MarkG_M5Comp]

Originally Posted by BMWSKI

Has anyone noticed if this clunking sound has gone since fitting ACS Springs? Maybe @MARKG335 has an opinion?

I was trying to monitor this today bit didn't drive too far.

Honestly I didn't find the knocking too bad before and I 'think' there may still a bit of noise but everything is much tighter now. What has gone entirely is the shuddering over rough surfaces and the noises associated.

[BMWSKI]

Originally Posted by MarkG335

I was trying to monitor this today bit didn't drive too far.

Honestly I didn't find the knocking too bad before and I 'think' there may still a bit of noise but everything is much tighter now. What has gone entirely is the shuddering over rough surfaces and the noises associated.

Thanks Mark