Clicking noise from the rear
 

Hey Everyone


I am in the process of trying to fix my girlfriend's 01 4.4 but can't seem to pinpoint the problem. The X5 has about 170k km on it.

There is a clicking noise coming from the rear, it sounds like something is catching over and over again (think of it sounding like a metal coat hanger hook/metal wire catching on something). When you are going straight at low speeds in a parking lot you can hear it, when you back up the sound is louder and you can slightly feel it through the car. The noise/feeling is definitely associated with something rotational as the sound speeds up if you go a little bit quicker, but I can't seem to figure out what is causing this. It's hard to say which side the clicking was coming, but it sounds like its coming from both sides.

There is also some vibration coming through the steering wheel when you brake moderately to hard from 100km to lower speeds. This may be unrelated to the ticking noise, but I figure might as well list symptoms.

I was thinking it could be the rear brake pads as they did not have much life left. So I replaced them and the sound was still there so I took a look at the dust shields and they seemed to be clearing the rotors. Wheels are clearing everything and are torqued to spec.

Anyone have any ideas? I was thinking it could be the rear axle cv joints but the boots are still intact.


Thanks
-Pearson

Update
Here are a few clips of the sound;
01 X5 clicking from the rear 2 - YouTube
01 X5 clicking from the rear - YouTube

Pull the rear rotors and look at the parking brake assembly, I have seen a few issues.
Well actually, it was longer wheel bolts hitting something in the parking brake.

Have you gotten underneath and checked for something wrapped around the axles or driveshaft?

Thanks for the quick reply.

Nothing wrapped around the axles or driveshaft. The car has stock wheel bolts and seemed to have developed this issue in the past little bit (I say past little bit because I drove the X5 a few months ago and it was fine then).

I'll have to check the parking brake assembly to see if it is touching anything, but she never uses it. Maybe something came loose.

Check the the rear lower control arm (the small one) on both side.

Sounds like brakes. The rear ones.

The braking vibration is the front brakes.

You have a brake job on your hands.

Here are a few clips of the sound;

01 X5 clicking from the rear 2 - YouTube
01 X5 clicking from the rear - YouTube

The noise is a little bit louder when the brakes are lightly applied as seen in the video.

Again, either pads, or e-brake shoes. Sounds like shoes actually. But the front end vibration is the front brakes.