Originally Posted by autoque

After the fix, I do not hear the knocking noise anymore. For those who still have the problem, the fix I had might work for you. Ask your dealers.

Originally Posted by watrob

Hi,

I get on pretty well with my dealer and have a fairly good knowledge of mech and car setup.

Firstly, this was only related to X5's that had the adative drive system with the electronic swaybar.

If you drive your X5 in a straight line at around 40kph and prentend you are entering a roundabout (RHD X5) so you pull your steering wheel down to the left then quickly back to centre, it shows up the slack in the sway bar because it is reacting to your sudden steering movement. So a quick pull down to the left (quarter turn) then back to center, do not go passed center as this makes a further movement of the swaybar and will hide the problem.

The passenger in the front left may feel the thud in the firewall/footwell through his feet. It only happens under those conditions, hence it is hard to replicate and you need to make sure your radio is turned off and you drive on a smooth road surface.

It does not show up as a suspension play or balljoint problem, so grabbing the front wheel to see if there is freeplay in that area will not pick up the problem. The swaybar cover must be removed the swaybar inspected.

It took 4 weeks for a updated swaybar to come, it is not a dangerous problem but more a annoying glitch. After 4 weeks the noise only came a little more pronounced but the swaybar still worked fine.

Originally Posted by peterjaw

Hi watrob,
I have tried many times during the past few weeks, but I can not
reproduce the noise as wished. The noise comes whenever it wants to.
But thank you very much for sharing. I might want to take it to the dealer
and let them check the shock absorber.

Originally Posted by flyingmachine

did you feel anything on steering wheel when it makes the sound?

Originally Posted by calix5fan

I took mine to the dealer with the same complaint (and for service)... my advisor said BMW issued a bulletin on this and how to fix it. I haven't picked up the car yet to make sure it is corrected but they know what the problem is.