skyjawa Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Hi Guys In my ongoing battle to quiet down the rear end noises on my 530d (already looking into suspension creaking) but also have a knock when going over certain bumps, usually dips in the road on the left side near kerbs. To try and start getting to the bottom of it I stuck my go pro in the boot and recorded while driving. The knocks are very clear inside the car too as well as the boot. I made some sound clips: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tMrmqH_slS8rLhHKjEwopC-f8ASN6nQM?usp=drive_link Its coming from the rear near/passenger side, I pretty sure its from the wheel arch area/suspension - any ideas what it might be? I've grabbed hold of the exhaust and tried my best to wobble it around as much as possible to see if it was knocking on something and it doesn't appear to hit anything so I guess it must be suspension related.... when cruising on a dual carriageway you hardly ever hear a thing. ta 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve84N Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Usually these sort of noises are top mounts and/or dampers. I had similar symptoms on our Audi A3 and after replacing the rear dampers plus top mounts it was quiet again. The damper had visibly blown as well, with oil on the outside of the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy5150 Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 4 hours ago, Steve84N said: Usually these sort of noises are top mounts and/or dampers I’d agree with Steve. One note to add though based on my experience (albeit F11, not F10) is that my shocks and top mounts were replaced last June and at some point this past autumn I started developing a knocking from the rear with almost the same triggers as you Skyjawa. Ruling out the shocks and top mounts as being too new, the other likely culprit is the rear anti-roll bar drop links. Mine were inspected at the dealer recently who said they looked fine and they weren’t picked up in the MOT at the weekend either but I guess it’s possible they’re still clunking even if visibly ok. Worth checking the drop links on your F10? it could also be rear subframe mounts but I’d assume that a) you’d feel squirminess in the rear handling, b) louder clonking and c) surely they’d last a very long time and therefore perhaps still have plenty of life in them? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted February 28 Author Share Posted February 28 Thanks guys. I’ll likely be renewing the top mounts and dampers anyway, but that’s a good shout Andy, I’ve had a drop link go on one of my older cars that sounded similar, and googling the noise it’s very close! it’s a pretty cheap part, Lemforder are about 20 quid each on Autodoc, so I think I’ll order up a couple and do these first…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Exhaust heat shield Wheel arch liners and bumper trim pieces 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 (edited) Thanks Andrew, I'll check all those bits out too while I'm underneath replacing the drop links. Ordered Febi-Bilstein ones in the end, £30 delivered for both, gotta be worth a shot at that price! Edited February 29 by skyjawa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 febi are good parts, you'll not go wrong with them 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy5150 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 3 hours ago, Andrew said: febi are good parts, you'll not go wrong with them I was thinking of those too until I was kind of put off changing the drop links once the garage told me they looked fine, last month. However, the noise is getting more intrusive than it was before so for that price I may as well just go for it! @skyjawa, was that from Autodoc? I’ll be interested to hear how you get on - it might just spur me on to do mine too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 No Autodoc were more expensive and can take a while to arrive, around 40 quid from there. Did a bit of searching around and Parts In Motion had the Febi ones for about 15.50 each and free delivery, pretty much a no brainer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 F10 rear drop links aren't too bad a job. 16 and 18mm sockets and spanners plus T30 and T40 bits for counter holding. I removed the complete roll bar so I could replace the bushes too and this made getting the links off the bar easier as I did in on a bench. 16mm spanner and T30 bit... ...which broke off, use impact grade Torx bits! It lost this fight. Counter hold with torx bit and torque with 18mm crows foot spanner to 56Nm then turn thru 45 degres Top nut is 45Nm and 45 degrees I think... top nut is 16mm T30 and lower one is 18mm and T40. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy5150 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 (edited) 21 hours ago, skyjawa said: No Autodoc were more expensive and can take a while to arrive, around 40 quid from there That’s interesting to hear @skyjawa, I’ve heard that they can take some time to arrive and returns can be troublesome. I have to say that autodoc do look very attractive but some of the feedback puts me off and I’m impatient for delivery when I order. Good to hear positive things about Febi because whilst Lemforder do seem to be the ones everyone recommends, they’re quite expensive. I ordered a cabin filter(s) from Parts in Motion, they were brilliant so +1 to them! Let us know how you get on with the job. @Andrew - thanks for the kind guide. Note sure I’d fancy removing the ARB from my f11 though but by the looks of my drop links they don’t seem too crusty so hopefully I won’t strip the torx sockets when I eventually do the job, unlike when I tried the same job on the front of my sons Ford Ka. I’m going to have to cut the nuts off or buy a nut cracker. Edited March 1 by Andy5150 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy5150 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 20 hours ago, Andrew said: F10 rear drop links aren't too bad a job. Somethings wrong with these pictures @Andrew??! What’s that yellow glow on the grass behind your anti roll bar? It looks like sunshine but surely it can’t be? Scotland?? 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Yeah that was July 2021 when we were still in lockdown. I spent two weeks holiday tinkering with the car instead of going away on holiday cos we couldn’t go anywhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve84N Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 @Andy5150 I've spent thousands of pounds over many orders with Autodoc. Most of the stuff I do isn't last minute emergency repairs so I can wait for delivery. I guess I've been lucky never to have received the wrong item. If you pay £3.95 for Safe Order you can return unused parts without reason at their cost within 200 days. I've successfully used this a couple of times when I simply didn't use the parts in the end. I also made a successful warranty claim for a part but that was more involved and I had to submit garage invoices. You do have to play the game a bit to get the best prices with Autodoc and I've bought quite a few items from Carpartsinmotion too who are competitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted March 2 Author Share Posted March 2 Yeah I’ve ordered plenty from Autodoc without issue. It’s just in this case I shopped around and PiM were cheaper by a tenner and they should be arriving today. last couple of orders from Autodoc been a week or so, but they are fine if not in a rush and cheapest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 13 hours ago, Steve84N said: You do have to play the game a bit to get the best prices with Autodoc and I've bought quite a few items from Carpartsinmotion too who are competitive. Defo this I have a wish list set up on my account and view from my laptop to see when prices are the cheapest as they vary daily and then buy from the app as it’s cheaper again. Look for over %40 off days usually a Monday or Wednesday. They did once send me Stark pollen filters instead of febi. I was very polite and firm in asking for them to send me a return label and to ship me the correct parts. I sent them screenshots of what I’d ordered and a lack of any correspondence from them saying they’d substituted other parts. They tried to argue that Stark parts were better and more expensive . I politely declined and asked for the parts I’d ordered. They came without any further fuss. All my shocks, springs, suspension arms and bolt kits have come from them. Radiator hoses, brake fluid oil, filters etc too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 Well I went to do the drop links, jacked up via the rear diff, but my jack wasn’t tall enough to get the axle stands under so I gave up for now and left alone. however since the car has been jacked up the rear creaking is almost completely gone! 🧐 rear near side knock is still there but doesn’t seem as frequent as before either! Need to play some more trying to find the source…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy5150 Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 On 14/04/2024 at 10:21, skyjawa said: but my jack wasn’t tall enough to get the axle stands under so I gave up for now and left alone. This is something I’m wondering about for when I do my Touring (*IF* I ever get around to doing it, that is!). Is yours an F10 or F11 @skyjawa? I know that the F11 is jacked from the plate where the rear bracing bars join whereas the F10 is the rear diff casing but I’m wondering whether my 2T cheap-ish trolley jack will go high enough now… hmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted April 17 Author Share Posted April 17 Mines the f10 so I jacked up via the diff, and probably have a similar trolley jack, cheapish 2t one. It might have gone a little higher but was leaning to one side, very hard to get a level surface here, so didn’t want to risk it. need a better one really, but it’s storing anything larger that’s an issue, space is a premium at my place 🙄 still, the suspension creaking has stayed away so far, god knows what jacking it up did! If I can sort the knocking it will be happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy5150 Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 23 hours ago, skyjawa said: need a better one really, but it’s storing anything larger that’s an issue, space is a premium at my place 🙄 Yeah, always a challenge to store tools etc. I can’t seem to justify buying a bigger better (wider!) jack when most of the time the one I have does the job. Glad the creaking has gone - let’s hope for good 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyjawa Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 Well to put this to sleep, following my MOT failure a week ago for a broken coil spring nsr (mot history showed it had also happened on osr 20k miles ago but they obviously didn’t do both sides), local garage replaced it today. The drive home was silent! Can now drive it without wondering what it is, can’t believe I missed it when I swapped the wheels, and also that the place that MOT’d it last year passed it with no comment, as it’s obviously been broken since I bought the car 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 Sometimes a broken spring can be tricky to spot especially if its near the very end of the coil as once compressed on the strut there can be a lot of spring that appears to 'sit' on the pads. Glad it's fixed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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