Creak Attack !

[London5]

Firstly thank you to X5world for putting in intouch with X5girl and thanks X5girl for putting me i touch with a good independent BMW garage.

I've had my Front Thrust Arm Bushes Replaced however my front end creak continues.

When I move the wheel from left to right slightly when parked
Under braking slowly
When pulling away slowly
When driving slowly over uneven ground .

The slowly bit probably being because it can only be heard when driving slowly

The noise only comes out after the car has been driven for about 20mins (generally in traffic) i.e its fully warmed up.

Any ideas? Sway Bar Links based on searches?

Thanks for your help,

B

[X5 Meister]

What do you mean by 'creaks'? Are you referring to the front suspension or the steering rack?

[London5]

Creaking, the wife thinks it's more a knocking sound,

Sorry, I can't pin point it to one or the other, I'm a brake pad and disc DIY'er

[jst2878]

check the sway bar endlinks and your two bolts on each caliper to ensure they are torqued enough.

[London5]

I've now had my sway bar links replaced and the creak has gone.

£54 labour 40mins

£24.77 for each bar part 7

RealOEM.com BMW E53 X5 3.0i Stabilizer, front

Worth doing if it feels abit rough up front and creaks at crawling speed.

Thanks for all the information,

[4 Wheels of Fun]

Thank you so much for the info. Any idea if this would be covered under CPO warranty?

[London5]

No idea, no harm in trying.

[elric75]

I have a creaking or kind of tapping noise in my X5. It sounds like it comes from the A-pillars or lower windshield area though... not so much from down low or beneath the car. It is most noticeable in the driving situations you mentioned.

Where did your noises sound like they were coming from?

[London5]

Unfortunately after driving 350 miles over the Easter Holiday my initial broad smile has been wiped off.


The creak is back, it's not as loud as before so the replacement of the Sway Bar Links and the Front Trust Arm Bushes has helped by not putting so much pressure on the unknown faulty part.


So it's back to drawing board on that one,


As I don't have endless amounts of money to throw at this I would ask the X5world guru's to suggest the next area for investigation. I'll then get that looked at.


Elric75 the noise comes from the area around the front suspension and is only audible at rolling speed i.e. in traffic

Cheers

B

[JBF]

Originally Posted by London5

Firstly thank you to X5world for putting in intouch with X5girl and thanks X5girl for putting me i touch with a good independent BMW garage.

I've had my Front Thrust Arm Bushes Replaced however my front end creak continues.

When I move the wheel from left to right slightly when parked
Under braking slowly
When pulling away slowly
When driving slowly over uneven ground .

The slowly bit probably being because it can only be heard when driving slowly

The noise only comes out after the car has been driven for about 20mins (generally in traffic) i.e its fully warmed up.

Any ideas? Sway Bar Links based on searches?

Thanks for your help,

B

Mine sounded like an old wooden ship too.

Dealers replaced lower control arm bushes, no difference. Took it back again and they replaced anti-roll bar bushes and that has gotten rid of most of the creaking over uneven road, bumps etc.

Can still detect a bit of a creak while turning (if aircon and radio are off). Also get a little creak from the rear which can be heard again with the aircon and radio off. Still get a bit of a click in the steering especially when parking and when parked with the engine off - suspect this is the U-joint. Dealers simply claimed that they can't detect it and that it's normal (yeah I know, both cases can't be true, if it's normal you can obviously detect it).

Suspect I won't get rid of these without replacing all remining bushes, ball ends, link rods etc. I usually work on my own cars but I don't fancy tackling these as you need special tools.

Annoying, wish I brought the VW or Porsche instead. Not because I don't love the look of the X5 and way it drives (overall) but because the build and component quality suck. Have had an immesurable number of problems, turbo replaced twice in the last year, electrical problems the dealers haven't been able to resolve over the past year etc.