e46 Clunking Sound Front Suspension - Problem identified

Found the reason for the clunking sound coming from the front of the BMW. This might help others figure out the source of this mysterious problem.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• BMW
• DIY
• suspension
• troubleshooting
• bmw
• trouble

[kayyubi]

Is that the reson why when goes over speed bumps or broken raod it makes noise. thx

[trinjaminternational]

Exactly. It is possible it could be other things too, but in this case it was the Control Arm Bushing..at slow speeds if you hit the brake you will hear the clunk...

[trinjaminternational]

Needs the Control Arm Bushing replaced. Forums recommend Meyle HD Replacements. They are sold in pairs and cost on average $100.00 shipped on Ebay.

[trinjaminternational]

Bought the BOGE Control arms off ebay for $59.00 shipped. Fixed the issue, car feels like new now.

[BoogieWithStew]

Local BMW dealer wanted $600+ to replace 1 worn bushing ($200+ for bushing repair, and another $400+ for a mandatory alignment).

Told them to go pound sand.

[ronanizzy]

@thefloorjacker Noel you big shambolic keyboard warrior! your head was cracked, and we replaced everything when doing the head it was done properly that's why it cost 1700,did you forget to mention to the good people of youtube that you were putting bottles of nova-stop in it regularly before we did the job? effectively restricting the flow in the cooling system?? Thought not :-)

[shahbaz99]

Clunking sound from the front can also be your strut mount bearings. Just pop the cap off of the strut mounts under the hood. And put some bearing grease in their, you will see the ball bearings. I've heard this simple step can work wonders to e46 suspension noises.

[rednightist]

@trinjaminternational Hello. I would not recommend the Meyle CAB. I installed a pair about 3 months ago and it was very disappointing. Creaking noise when you stop. I had to remove them to grease the inner walls of the the urethane component despite being told that it would damage the urethane but did it anyway. That did not resolve the problem however lessened the noise.Try Lemforder or Bilstein brands. That is what I am going to do soon.

[devillived132060]

@BoogieWithStew wow thats insane



[defkon99]

@battlecruiser100 Def time to invest in some tools and some know how!

[battlecruiser100]

my local dealers charged me $540 for this job, $40 for the job $500 to scratch his big fat ass

[MrRavipatel1989]

Those are called FCAB (front control arm bushings). If your FCABs are that shot and you think your car feels new now go change your RTABs. Rear trailing arm bushings. I prefer buying poly urethane ones.

[rusty2222]

I've just replaced the control arms on my Z3. They're pretty much the same as this. It's an easy enough job & on mine I replaced the control arm bushes with powerflex polyurethane ones. The difference is amazing. No wandering, tramlining or twitchy handling. Sockets, spanners & a ball joint splitter is all you need.

[motokid032]

My sister is having a problem that exists when slowing down..I noticed that coming up to a stop with medium brake pressure the car starts to pull to the left, there is also alot of swaying going on at higher speeds..Could this be the problem?