oil/grease appears on alloys and in wheel arches

[barlow123ab]

Hi, first post here

anyway, i have a problem with my 2006 e53. A few weeks ago i noticed black splodges on the drivers side alloy, on further inspection it turned out to be oil/grease. so i cleaned it off and thought nothing of it. another 2 weeks down the line, i come to wash the car again and the horrible black splodges have re-appeared! i took a closer look and noticed that it was all-over the drivers-side wheel components and in the wheel arches, i also noticed the steering seems a bit heavier, i took it to an "indie" garage and they couldn't find the cause or problem and said it was nothing . I don't think the car is meant to be leaking grease of any kind, so i haven't driven it since i took it back from the garage. just wondered if anyone else had this problem before i take it to bmw...because they will ingest my wallet. any help is appreciated. pics are of underneath the car by the drivers side wheel.

[Hal88]

I had the same problem years ago......check that your cv joints boots are not cracked.....common prob with the X5. Cost a few hundred to fix too, what else is new, right?

[x54.6]

listen don"t take x back to that garage. any indy would know that is a broken axle boot which is full if grease and if broken that is what you get..

[Hal88]

What he said!!!!!

[barlow123ab]

thanks for the replies, definitely wont be going to the first garage, completely useless. guess il try another garage on monday, atleast i know what it is now. hopefuly the cv joints themselves arent damaged..nothing is ever cheap with this car...love it tho

[NY98M3]

while your in there, replace both boots (inner and outter) with OE equipment.

[z168]

Get that done asap and avoid getting it wet. The boots are cheap but when the CV joints are affected its pricey

[1stE53]

I had the same thing happen, but I caught it very quickly. CV still had plenty of grease in it. I purchased the CV boot kit online for $40 (OE) or so and had an GOOD tire store fix it. They did that and new alignment for $199. Dealership would have been well over double that. If you don't hear noise coming from there, you could be OK.

[wallyx5]

Just replaced mine at my indy. Cost was $ 378.00 If you can DIY then I would recommend the following tool from ECS BMW E53 X5 M54 3.0L > Tools > Air Tools > ES#1899405 Air Powered CV Boot Installer - BS-125.

I would have done mine but I have no time right now so I just paid. Ouch! but better that a bad axle at $7-800

[admranger]

Do yourself a favor and have both sides done at the same time. I had one go bad and the other one went a week later...two trips to the repair shop (under warranty).