E92 335i clicking/clunking front end

[Francis-92xcj]

Hi guys,

Had this car a couple months and have had a metallic clicking/clunking coming from front end when going slow over speed bumps and also when applying very light braking. Can also sometimes feel it in the brake pedal.

It's lowered (but not massively) on BC coilovers. OEM brakes as far as I'm aware. Just had adjustable drop links fitted but no difference (although garage did adjust them to same length as the OEM ones so could still be the culprit perhaps?).

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[b14]

Silly question perhaps but are your wheel bolts all torqued up? They'd have probably fallen off by now if they weren't on proper but loose wheel bolts can sometimes be heard/felt as a metallic clunk under braking.

[Francis-92xcj]

I took it to garage to get drop links replaced so I assume they tightened the wheels back up when they put them back on! Pretty sure it's not that.

Guy at the garage said he thought it might be the standard suspension bushings causing it as it's lowered on coilovers?

[d_a_n1979]

Francis-92xcj said:

I took it to garage to get drop links replaced so I assume they tightened the wheels back up when they put them back on! Pretty sure it's not that.

Guy at the garage said he thought it might be the standard suspension bushings causing it as it's lowered on coilovers?

Lower arm bushes; top mounts not tightened down enough (easy to check yourself); ARB bushes; stones between brake discs and shield

Could be all sorts, but I'd deffo get the bushes/arms checked with a pry bar and see if there's any play at all.

Do you know if the pre-load was set properly on the BCs and are all the bolts holding them in place, as well as the locking collars, all nice and tight etc?

[Luckyone]

I have BC coil overs on my 200sx, both front shocks gave up just outside the warranty period. The suppliers seemed to know exactly what I was talking about with the knocking clicking noise before I’d finished explaining it & said I need new shocks. Sure enough new shocks did fix it.

£200 odd I had rather not I had to pay out my self...

[Fergusond]

mine has the same reoccurring problem, I'm on koni suspension, its quite low at the front, I replace the top mounts and the noise/knock goes away comes back a year later, was going to try some better quality top mounts next time like lemforder.

[Luckyone]

Fergusond said:

mine has the same reoccurring problem, I'm on koni suspension, its quite low at the front, I replace the top mounts and the noise/knock goes away comes back a year later, was going to try some better quality top mounts next time like lemforder.

Yes top mounts are the first place to look / usual suspects.
Mine were fine though & I had checked everything else so the only option left was the shock itself. Once I had it off I could feel it wasn’t right, it dropped the first few CM of travel with no resistance at all.

They aren’t too bad to remove to check, it takes a little while but assuming the threads are clean it just winds out.

You could probably back the springs off enough to check them with actually removing from the car, would be good to combine with checking the top mounts.

[Francis-92xcj]

Apparently these coilovers are only 6 months old though. Would they really start to knock that quick?

So so far it seems worth checking:

1. top mounts
2. bushings
3. shocks

Thanks

[Luckyone]

Francis-92xcj said:

Apparently these coilovers are only 6 months old though. Would they really start to knock that quick?

So so far it seems worth checking:

1. top mounts
2. bushings
3. shocks

Thanks

Mine were just over a year old when they went. Externally they still looked absolutely perfect. I didn’t use the car that much, an E92 is more of an everyday car than a 200SX so I should think it could well be the shock. If they are only 6 months old they should at least still be under warranty.

But it really shouldn’t be the shock at that age, so yes check in that order.

[Rod200SX]

Just checking as well, I've literally just finished fitting BC's to my e92 335i last night. When they were fitted, did you torque everything up with the wheels/suspension under load? as that can cause premature wear of components.

[ejenner]

when I used to work on cars for a living a customer once brought me a car which had a small kids toy in the centre console. When braking and accelerating the toy rolled to the front or back of the empty centre console and made a 'click' as it hit the end. Took me a couple of minutes to fix that... mostly diagnosis.

It's an avenue of thought...