Horrible grinding sound from passenger side rear

[jmmeagher]

Originally Posted by m5james

I'm not insulting him...did I call him a name or call his some derogatory term? No. I'm am helping by offering advice...if it makes noises, if he has to rock it back and forth to get it to move, etc...stop driving it. Sorry he didn't like my obvious answer. I'm completely calm because I'm not taking any of this personally, I'm giving my .02 on a public forum and I have a great running 01 X5 w/ the same mileage, a 98 740iL w/ 135k and a 91 M5 w/ 198k...because I don't drive them for 3+ days grinding. I hope he gets it fixed, but I also hopes he doesn't continue driving his vehicles when they're screaming for attention aswell.

James-

I think the issue is the manner in which you offer your advice. You leap to conclusions and assume facts not in evidence. If your advice is " I wouldn't drive it is its making that noise, you could be causing more damage" then state that. Don't go on to state or imply that the person asking for advice is an idiot or make the leap that they don't know how to maintain a vehicle and that's the reason that parts break down.

The X5, especially the 2001 model is rather poorly constructed and unreliable, especially for the price and expected build quality. Poor maintenance didn't cause my speed sensor or DSC to malfunction. Poor maintenance hasn't caused my window regulators to fail. Poor maintenance didn't cause my steering rack to go out prematurely or my head gaskets to fail prematurely.

IMHO a little less condescension would improve the quality of your advice. People ask questions here because they want to learn from other's experience and knowledge. Being berated by someone that doesn't have first hand knowledge of the situation doesn't help much. I certainly understand your point.

I'm also capable of making a judgment call as to what makes a vehicle unsafe to drive and what doesn't.