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BMW 3-Series and 4-Series Forum (F30 / F32) | F30POST > Technical Forums > Suspension | Chassis | Brakes > Front right Wheel/Suspension knocking that no one can find. Please help
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      06-27-2019, 05:29 AM   #1
kikker
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Exclamation Front right Wheel/Suspension knocking that no one can find. Please help

Hi Everyone,

Im trying to track down an issue Im having with a knocking from my front right wheel\suspension. I've been to 3 mechanics a BMW specialist and a BMW Dealers and still no one can put their finger on the issue.
Spec:

BMW (2013) f30 320D M Sport. 41K miles

The issue is as follows:

A light pull to the right, if i go over a cats eye or small pot hole a large knock can be heard from what sounds like either the wheel or suspension.
If i break hard i can hear a the same knock.
Pulsing breaks at low speed and pulsing breaks with a knocking on heavy breaking

Faultfinding so far:

First mechanic identified warped disks, so I had the disks and pads replaced.
The pulsing breaks went away immediately,the knocking subsided by about 80% and only occurred when driving over pot holes.
After a month or so the pulsing breaks returned and so did the knocking.

I found a "BMW specialist" that took the car for the day and had a look, they came back and recommended I replaced the Track rod ends and Axial Tie rods and disk/pads as the disks had warped again but informed me that they didn't actually hear the knocking for themselves. I left unconvinced.

I popped into a local garage (with good reviews) and they put the car up on the ramp to have a look at what i was asking them to do (replace track rod ends and Axial ties). They said they were fine ,no movement and showed me that there was no play and that they wouldn't expect this to be an issue after 41k . They didn't want to replace them as they didn't believe that would solve the issue im experiencing. They said to pop back and take them out for a drive ext week so they could hear it.

So Im still no closer to finding the issue and wondered if anyone here had had the same issue and its driving me crazy.. literally.

Thanks in advance.
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      06-29-2019, 02:59 AM   #2
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Beware going to several places and blindly following each one's advice (resulting in ££s spent each time).

Unless you use your car on track it's extremely unlikely that your brake discs were warped, and even then it's not that common. Uneven pad deposits can form on the discs if you hold the car with the brakes after you've used them hard, but re-bedding the brakes normally solves the problem.

In terms of the knocking noise that you've described, I'd focus on the top mount(s), suspension bushes, dampers, and the steering rack.

The racks are a known problem. They don't tend to fail but there is a component which can wear and go out of tolerance, resulting in knocking and clicking under specific conditions.

If you have adaptive dampers these also have known issues which can cause knocking. There was a software fix a couple of years ago which changes the operation of the damper valves. The software patch can be applied by BMW dealers and, as it's a known fault (Quality Enhancement) you may get it for free.
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      06-29-2019, 10:55 AM   #3
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Did the shops check that all your control arm bolts (bolts holding bushing/control arms to subframes) were tightened to spec?
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      06-29-2019, 01:42 PM   #4
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I had something similar and it turned out to be the bolts that hold the steering rack to the subframe - make sure they're tight.
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      07-01-2019, 06:12 AM   #5
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Hi Guys,

Thanks for your responses.

Interestingly enough I found another specialist today and popped down there and they mentioned all the things you guys above did .

I've booked it in for next Monday so fingers crossed I may get a resolution soon. I will feedback what the issue is/was.

Again thanks for your responses they are much appreciated.
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      07-01-2019, 05:09 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FaRKle! View Post
Did the shops check that all your control arm bolts (bolts holding bushing/control arms to subframes) were tightened to spec?
And/or check the actual bushing. They tend to be totally dead by 60k.
At 57k I could hear the suspension knocking around on my 435i.
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      07-21-2019, 11:59 AM   #7
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Any update? I have a clunk in my F80 drivers side on small sharp bumps at low speed that I can't figure out. I don't have the brake issues.
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      07-21-2019, 02:22 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kikker View Post
Hi Guys,

Thanks for your responses.

Interestingly enough I found another specialist today and popped down there and they mentioned all the things you guys above did .

I've booked it in for next Monday so fingers crossed I may get a resolution soon. I will feedback what the issue is/was.

Again thanks for your responses they are much appreciated.
Good luck! Waiting for a detailed report.
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      07-25-2019, 03:19 AM   #9
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Hi ,

I had the suspension strut ,bushings and antiroll bar done but it hasn't made any difference *
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      07-25-2019, 09:06 AM   #10
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I had the same issue. All bushings seemed fine. Changed the shocks and sound was still present.

It was the TOP mounts. Changed them and noise went away.
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      07-25-2019, 10:12 AM   #11
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do you mean the suspension top mounts. if so Ive had them done too:
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      07-25-2019, 10:13 AM   #12
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I had the rear pads replaced too and a new windscree so the total cost this week is nearly 650.
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      07-26-2019, 05:37 PM   #13
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I had the the same complaint "with a knocking from my front right wheel\suspension" on my F32 420D 2013 with 70K on the clock. Within 3 hours had a phone call from Chester UK BMW to say it needed a new steering rack. Covered under warranty as it was purchased from them as used car. Cost of repair £2700.

Result is it fells like a new car. Good solid dampening as you would expect. Not a banging/bottoming out noise as it was.
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      07-26-2019, 06:09 PM   #14
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wow that's a crazy price to pay. At least it was covered by the warranty. I think I may have to cut my losses with this one and chop it in for another .
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      08-21-2019, 11:21 AM   #15
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there is a well known and documented problem with the EPS rack on the F chassis. the pre-loaded tension thrust piece that mitigates the space between the rack and the pinion wears and allows for these clunk/thump/click sounds to come from the drivetrain, specially when cornering and going over small bumps and imperfections on the road, and the noise can be replicated with the engine off.

there is a repair thrust piece with part number on the parts catalog, and there is a detailed repair bulletin on TIS about this. according to the ThyssenKrupp (manufacturer of the EPS) this latest revision of the thrust piece should prevent it from wearing as quickly or easily. yet they never claim to an actual confirmed fix.
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      09-11-2022, 04:16 AM   #16
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Did you every figure this out? I may have the same problem.
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      09-11-2022, 05:15 AM   #17
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I'll just chime in re the steering rack fix, although probably not directly related to the op concern:

I recently did the steering rack fix on my f30.

My steering tightened up and feels better but when doing a back and forth left right on the steering wheel with the car off I still get a thump thump. I even went under and tightened the cover, made no difference.

So if the steering rack is the cause don't be 100 sure that the repair kit will solve it. That being said it's a very cheap low hanging fruit to try. I think the kit is under 100 usd and about 20 mins start to finish to install it.
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      09-11-2022, 04:04 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anom3 View Post
I'll just chime in re the steering rack fix, although probably not directly related to the op concern:

I recently did the steering rack fix on my f30.

My steering tightened up and feels better but when doing a back and forth left right on the steering wheel with the car off I still get a thump thump. I even went under and tightened the cover, made no difference.

So if the steering rack is the cause don't be 100 sure that the repair kit will solve it. That being said it's a very cheap low hanging fruit to try. I think the kit is under 100 usd and about 20 mins start to finish to install it.
There's an extension on the warranty for the steering rack, 10 years 120,000 miles.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...53729-9999.pdf

Have a dealer take a gander

Sometimes the racks too far gone for the bearing to help
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      10-03-2022, 05:49 AM   #19
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I spent years at various dealers (probably around 6) begging for this fix to be done as nobody near could do it for me.

They all told me to "stop reading online forums as there's too many keyboard warriors.." - oh how wrong they were haha.

Personally I've had this done twice now and it hasn't fully cured my clunk. What did however remove most of it was getting new tyres, which made me reconsider it being a pre-load issue on bushings/arms/joints/anything else suspension related. Just by chance my local tuning and handling garage spotted that the front right control arm had some play in it, so we swapped both out for good measure and it pretty much cured the noise there and then.

Only issue is it recently came back over small bumps and pot holes when crawling at 2-5mph, so 18 months peace has been broken haha.
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