2008 BMW 335d E91
Discussion
Replaced the rear arms (specifically the "tension struts" or "guide rods" which is the not very descriptive BMW name) with M3 versions.
Replaces one of the bushes for a ball joint - more info here - https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1...
I bought one TRW and one Lemforder as the price difference was crazy, but both "manufacturers" (both are owned by ZF) castings' are identical and even have the BMW part number ground off...
When I replaced the suspension, the first drive I took I was listening out for funny noises and heard some funny noises from the rear end, kind of like a ticking.
I thought it was maybe a backplate catching under cornering but a quick prod didn't seem to do much.
That was a while ago, but with the windows down a lot on holiday the noise really started to get on my nerves.
It could also be described as a squeaking at low speeds, and Googling that brought up a lot more results.
It looks to be a common fault attributed to one of the lower ball joints on the rear wheel hub.
The most common "fix" is to pierce the rubber boot on the ball joint and spray lubricant in which makes the noise go away - this seems absolutely mental to me as water will quickly replace all the oil which will leak out, and then it'll just corrode and get worse.
New ball joints were only about £13 each so I thought I'd try swapping them at the same time.
Unfortunately, I just didn't have the tools to take it out - or at least I had plenty of tools (hydraulic puller, drifts etc) but none seemed to work for this application, despite doing basically the same job on my Z4 & MG ZT.
I ended up shelling out £85 on big threaded bush removal kit with 20-odd incrementally sized cups.
I'd tried making one before and found it useless so had expectations, and thought I'd just have to use the cups with my puller and chuck the threaded rod, but it actually went really well.
I'm not sure if the rods were thicker (several supplied, I used the largest that'd fit - M14), or the ball joints weren't rusted in as much as before, but I got them out using no more force than a spanner to counterhold and a 1/2" ratchet (although it certainly gave my arm a workout).
With the ball joints exposed, both had a little play, which I'm sure was what was causing the noise.
Both the arms and ball joints took me quite a while on one side, and then about 20 mins on the other side once I knew what I was doing.
All back together and I felt the difference basically straight away - the car feels more solid, tighter, even at low speeds.
I think the worn ball joints probably had more of an impact than just noise.
Replaces one of the bushes for a ball joint - more info here - https://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1...
I bought one TRW and one Lemforder as the price difference was crazy, but both "manufacturers" (both are owned by ZF) castings' are identical and even have the BMW part number ground off...
When I replaced the suspension, the first drive I took I was listening out for funny noises and heard some funny noises from the rear end, kind of like a ticking.
I thought it was maybe a backplate catching under cornering but a quick prod didn't seem to do much.
That was a while ago, but with the windows down a lot on holiday the noise really started to get on my nerves.
It could also be described as a squeaking at low speeds, and Googling that brought up a lot more results.
It looks to be a common fault attributed to one of the lower ball joints on the rear wheel hub.
The most common "fix" is to pierce the rubber boot on the ball joint and spray lubricant in which makes the noise go away - this seems absolutely mental to me as water will quickly replace all the oil which will leak out, and then it'll just corrode and get worse.
New ball joints were only about £13 each so I thought I'd try swapping them at the same time.
Unfortunately, I just didn't have the tools to take it out - or at least I had plenty of tools (hydraulic puller, drifts etc) but none seemed to work for this application, despite doing basically the same job on my Z4 & MG ZT.
I ended up shelling out £85 on big threaded bush removal kit with 20-odd incrementally sized cups.
I'd tried making one before and found it useless so had expectations, and thought I'd just have to use the cups with my puller and chuck the threaded rod, but it actually went really well.
I'm not sure if the rods were thicker (several supplied, I used the largest that'd fit - M14), or the ball joints weren't rusted in as much as before, but I got them out using no more force than a spanner to counterhold and a 1/2" ratchet (although it certainly gave my arm a workout).
With the ball joints exposed, both had a little play, which I'm sure was what was causing the noise.
Both the arms and ball joints took me quite a while on one side, and then about 20 mins on the other side once I knew what I was doing.
All back together and I felt the difference basically straight away - the car feels more solid, tighter, even at low speeds.
I think the worn ball joints probably had more of an impact than just noise.
Edited by Jakg on Thursday 1st September 22:46
So, the sunroof stopped working again.
It was doing the "almost-closing-but-bouncing-back" thing. Some investigation showed the wind deflector wasn't properly retracting.
A closer look
And the wind deflector arm has snapped just before the hinge.
Luckily the deflector comes out without any disassembly
Then I found something wierd
Three spare screws, one wedged under the hinge - perfect position that the force of the glass closing snapped the arm around it.
They are the screws that attach the headliner to the sunroof at the front... and i'm not missing any!
I think that when it was removed from the donor car, they put the screws on the frame and forgot about it.
I stored the sunroof on it's side for a year or so and the screws must've got into the sunroof drain.
Fitted to the car, driven a couple of thousand miles over rough roads and they've come back out again and got wedged.
Really not lucky with sunroofs!
Luckily the sunroof works fine with the deflector removed. A new one is £100, so maybe I can glue it back together, or maybe I'll get a new one.
Also got it a friend
E70 3.0sd - same engine as my 335d. And it has a panoramic sunroof too. Which works. For now...
It was doing the "almost-closing-but-bouncing-back" thing. Some investigation showed the wind deflector wasn't properly retracting.
A closer look
And the wind deflector arm has snapped just before the hinge.
Luckily the deflector comes out without any disassembly
Then I found something wierd
Three spare screws, one wedged under the hinge - perfect position that the force of the glass closing snapped the arm around it.
They are the screws that attach the headliner to the sunroof at the front... and i'm not missing any!
I think that when it was removed from the donor car, they put the screws on the frame and forgot about it.
I stored the sunroof on it's side for a year or so and the screws must've got into the sunroof drain.
Fitted to the car, driven a couple of thousand miles over rough roads and they've come back out again and got wedged.
Really not lucky with sunroofs!
Luckily the sunroof works fine with the deflector removed. A new one is £100, so maybe I can glue it back together, or maybe I'll get a new one.
Also got it a friend
E70 3.0sd - same engine as my 335d. And it has a panoramic sunroof too. Which works. For now...
Copied the idea from my X5 and replaced the power steering fluid. Flushed about 800ml through - left is original, right is the last flush. It's hard to see but it's cleaned up a lot, but clearly not completely!
Replaced the climate control panel because the retaining clips on mine were busted and it wasn't sitting flush
My wife took the car out and reported a myriad of warning lights - ABS, tyre pressure, transmission fault etc.
I suspected something electrical, but nothing obvious when scanned and alternator was charging fine.
Next day I thought I'd check the voltage again just before I left...
Looks like the alternator was dead.
I found TIS / YouTube quite unhelpful for this job - there's loads of videos about doing it on M57-engined cars, but there's so many configurations that it's not quite the same for each model. My favourite was watching a video of a 320d where there's loads of room up front... because 2 cylinders are missing!
I removed:
Engine cover,
Airbox,
Undertray,
Rad fan (remove the power steering radiator - that one wasn't mentioned anywhere),
Aux belt (not fully, just off the bits on that side of the engine to avoid removing the stretch AC belt),
Disconnect intercooler -> inlet manifold hose,
Disconnect battery,
Move radiator top hose to the side to get to the connections on the back of the alternator.
With all that I could dismount the alternator. I carefully got it rotated out of it's home, but it was stuck in front of the engine - it's too large to fit between the rad fan and crossmember to come out the bottom, and out the top is fouled by the EGR cooler / coolant hoses. The videos I watched showed it coming out the bottom - but that was an E60.
I was only going to swap the regulator anyway so it being stuck in the car was only a little annoying.
The brittle plastic cover on the back did not want to come off in a single piece.
With the old regulator removed it was clear that the brushes were the problem - one was noticeably shorter than the other and presumably not making contact with the slip ring any more.
Back together, fingers crossed and...
Ideally I'd of replaced the belts at the same time, but this was a bit of a rush job. The aux belt is is in perfect condition, and the AC belt doesn't look that worn so I'm not too worried.
One of the few times I've been let down by being unable to use the car due to an actual fault (vs me breaking something being hamfisted). Luckily only about £30 and several hours to get it fixed.
Replaced the climate control panel because the retaining clips on mine were busted and it wasn't sitting flush
My wife took the car out and reported a myriad of warning lights - ABS, tyre pressure, transmission fault etc.
I suspected something electrical, but nothing obvious when scanned and alternator was charging fine.
Next day I thought I'd check the voltage again just before I left...
Looks like the alternator was dead.
I found TIS / YouTube quite unhelpful for this job - there's loads of videos about doing it on M57-engined cars, but there's so many configurations that it's not quite the same for each model. My favourite was watching a video of a 320d where there's loads of room up front... because 2 cylinders are missing!
I removed:
Engine cover,
Airbox,
Undertray,
Rad fan (remove the power steering radiator - that one wasn't mentioned anywhere),
Aux belt (not fully, just off the bits on that side of the engine to avoid removing the stretch AC belt),
Disconnect intercooler -> inlet manifold hose,
Disconnect battery,
Move radiator top hose to the side to get to the connections on the back of the alternator.
With all that I could dismount the alternator. I carefully got it rotated out of it's home, but it was stuck in front of the engine - it's too large to fit between the rad fan and crossmember to come out the bottom, and out the top is fouled by the EGR cooler / coolant hoses. The videos I watched showed it coming out the bottom - but that was an E60.
I was only going to swap the regulator anyway so it being stuck in the car was only a little annoying.
The brittle plastic cover on the back did not want to come off in a single piece.
With the old regulator removed it was clear that the brushes were the problem - one was noticeably shorter than the other and presumably not making contact with the slip ring any more.
Back together, fingers crossed and...
Ideally I'd of replaced the belts at the same time, but this was a bit of a rush job. The aux belt is is in perfect condition, and the AC belt doesn't look that worn so I'm not too worried.
One of the few times I've been let down by being unable to use the car due to an actual fault (vs me breaking something being hamfisted). Luckily only about £30 and several hours to get it fixed.
Edited by Jakg on Tuesday 8th November 00:25
Had a couple of close-calls parking in the garage - if you get it close to the wall it's long enough you can open the boot with the garage door closed.
I already had a mirror on the side but put an old baby car mirror in front angled down so you can see the gap from the drivers seat. I'm aware of the tennis ball & string method, but this works for any car.
Swapped the ashtray & cigarette lighter for the sunglasses oddments tray - more space, but now my coins rattle around so not totally sold.
Got fed up of getting filthy every time I went in the boot so a quick wash in the rain
I already had a mirror on the side but put an old baby car mirror in front angled down so you can see the gap from the drivers seat. I'm aware of the tennis ball & string method, but this works for any car.
Swapped the ashtray & cigarette lighter for the sunglasses oddments tray - more space, but now my coins rattle around so not totally sold.
Got fed up of getting filthy every time I went in the boot so a quick wash in the rain
Jakg said:
Although the car doesn't have stop start, it has "Brake Energy Regeneration" (i.e. selective charging), which means it needs an AGM battery.
Normally I'd get a Bosch S5 / Varta one, but it was £180.
I found a Yuasa for £140, but it turns out that the Halfords battery has identical specs, is also made by Yuasa, has a longer warranty and was £148 so I went for that.
Been getting a million warnings on the dashboard, thought it was a bit suspicious. Battery was charging fine, but was only 12.1v, even after charging it up fully. Swapped to the old battery and all good.Normally I'd get a Bosch S5 / Varta one, but it was £180.
I found a Yuasa for £140, but it turns out that the Halfords battery has identical specs, is also made by Yuasa, has a longer warranty and was £148 so I went for that.
Luckily I got a Halfords one, as the next day I walked out with a new one under warranty.
Also updated the maps - this was mid battery issue so in the absence of a proper 12v power supply, used a trickle charger and the spare battery in parallel.
Jakg said:
Jakg said:
Although the car doesn't have stop start, it has "Brake Energy Regeneration" (i.e. selective charging), which means it needs an AGM battery.
Normally I'd get a Bosch S5 / Varta one, but it was £180.
I found a Yuasa for £140, but it turns out that the Halfords battery has identical specs, is also made by Yuasa, has a longer warranty and was £148 so I went for that.
Been getting a million warnings on the dashboard, thought it was a bit suspicious. Battery was charging fine, but was only 12.1v, even after charging it up fully. Swapped to the old battery and all good.Normally I'd get a Bosch S5 / Varta one, but it was £180.
I found a Yuasa for £140, but it turns out that the Halfords battery has identical specs, is also made by Yuasa, has a longer warranty and was £148 so I went for that.
Luckily I got a Halfords one, as the next day I walked out with a new one under warranty.
I was suggested to disconnect the battery, touch the battery leads together for a bit and then retry.
I thought this sounded nonsense, but it's not come back since...
The 572hp, 12 cylinder, 6WD fleet
Assumed front sidelights were faulty, so spent (wasted) a long time checking them all before taking a look at the back.
One of the passenger right tail lights had stopped working (yeah, the message said left...)
Pulled the bulbs out
Two of the bulbs had smashed - but how?
E91 pre-LCI lights melt a bit with the heat from the bulbs, but mine had melted so far the mount had come loose and smashed all the bulbs
Luckily a replacement was less than £15.
My car has the sport steering wheel, with paddles.
I wanted to upgrade to the m-sport wheel, but because of the paddles they are quite rare/expensive (>£100).
Luckily I found a bare wheel on eBay, with paddle cut outs but no paddles / trim etc for £45.
The paddles and airbag are a straight swap with my wheel, but the trim is £100 and second hand they aren't much cheaper but all quite worn.
It was cheaper to buy another m-sport non-paddle wheel for £25, just for the trim
As you can see, the coating is peeling off and quite worn, so I had to refurb it.
Acetone got most of the rubberised coating off.
Primed and then painted matt black
I painted the switch surrounds as well so they'd match
Old wheel off
Then swapped over the paddles and rebuilt the steering wheel controls with my old buttons but the new painted surrounds
My wheel has a diamond/star button, which are programmable using the CCC iDrive.
Unfortunately with the CIC system that's been retrofitted, you can't reprogram them - so I used the swapped to the buttons from the other wheel that had change audio source / air recirculate buttons instead as thats what they actually do.
The trim came out ok, but there was some damage I hadn't realised to the trim itself
Built up
new v old
All back together
In the picture it looks a poor colour match, but I think it's the lighting - under natural light its not noticable.
I wanted to upgrade to the m-sport wheel, but because of the paddles they are quite rare/expensive (>£100).
Luckily I found a bare wheel on eBay, with paddle cut outs but no paddles / trim etc for £45.
The paddles and airbag are a straight swap with my wheel, but the trim is £100 and second hand they aren't much cheaper but all quite worn.
It was cheaper to buy another m-sport non-paddle wheel for £25, just for the trim
As you can see, the coating is peeling off and quite worn, so I had to refurb it.
Acetone got most of the rubberised coating off.
Primed and then painted matt black
I painted the switch surrounds as well so they'd match
Old wheel off
Then swapped over the paddles and rebuilt the steering wheel controls with my old buttons but the new painted surrounds
My wheel has a diamond/star button, which are programmable using the CCC iDrive.
Unfortunately with the CIC system that's been retrofitted, you can't reprogram them - so I used the swapped to the buttons from the other wheel that had change audio source / air recirculate buttons instead as thats what they actually do.
The trim came out ok, but there was some damage I hadn't realised to the trim itself
Built up
new v old
All back together
In the picture it looks a poor colour match, but I think it's the lighting - under natural light its not noticable.
Edited by Jakg on Monday 5th February 07:59
Jakg said:
So, the sunroof stopped working again.
It was doing the "almost-closing-but-bouncing-back" thing. Some investigation showed the wind deflector wasn't properly retracting.
A closer look
And the wind deflector arm has snapped just before the hinge.
Had no luck trying to get a new wind deflector - I finally found someone with a broken sunroof who'd sell it separately, but then it fell through.It was doing the "almost-closing-but-bouncing-back" thing. Some investigation showed the wind deflector wasn't properly retracting.
A closer look
And the wind deflector arm has snapped just before the hinge.
A quick search on Facebook later and I ended up being offered a complete sunroof for £50... go on then.
Last time it was tricky fitting it in the car because of the sheer size:
Jakg said:
Deflector removed and offered up
The deflector is spring loaded to pop up, and the plastic tabs go under angled clips that move backwards/forwards to allow it to raise and force it back down. The springs are quite strong to work against airflow while driving.
Unfortunately, I got the spring the wrong way round and as I was fitting it the tab snapped off the side!
I took some time to come back with a more positive attitude - I now have two broken wind deflectors.
Some cutting later to create a repair panel
Some glue (Q bond) later - not pretty, but as good as a repair as can be done with the space available.
Fitment round two and... it broke again.
The hinge section - which i hadn't touched - broke a bit, but was still usable.
But the repair didn't hold once the tension in the spring built up.
I think with age the deflectors get brittle and break easily (i.e. with a little mishandling).
I'm frustrated but at least I didn't break a brand new one at £170...
Jakg said:
Really not lucky with sunroofs!
You can say that again!helix402 said:
How do you find the Brembos compared to the original brakes?
They are brakes, and work. I'm totally happy with their performance, but I wasn't unhappy with the original brakes either.helix402 said:
Have you tried 17s over them?
No, but I think it's very unlikely they'd fit. The 348mm standard brakes are tight with 17"s, and these 340mm ones have much bigger calipers, so unlikely.helix402 said:
Jakg said:
No, but I think it's very unlikely they'd fit. The 348mm standard brakes are tight with 17"s, and these 340mm ones have much bigger calipers, so unlikely.
Thanks for the quick answer. I’m happy with my 348 brakes and run 17s in winter so will probably stick standard.Edited by Jakg on Sunday 29th October 22:07
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