Suspension Woes

[ManaghGB]

I've got an E87 130i and have a persistent knocking noise from the front. The noise is very quick and happens below 30mph even on a smooth road.

The spec of the car is as follows:

Bilstein B12 with Eibach springs
Eibach anti roll bar
M3 lower control arms
Custom camber plates

These were all fitted about 8 years ago and done around 50k miles.

Some of the things I've noticed:

- Does it more after a drive of more than 10 miles
- No feeling through the car or steering wheel of the knock
- When the car has been jacked up for a few hours the noise goes away for a few days but then comes back
- Appears to be coming from two places, left and right side

I've changed the droplinks and front top mounts, all of which weren't too bad. After each occasion the noise went away for about a week and then comes back. Passed it's MOT last week with no mention of worn bushes.

Any ideas at all?!

[SebringMan]

When you say the noise is quick does it repeat itself when it is happening like a 'tap, tap, tap, tap, tap'? It's tapping at a high frequency?

Part of me is thinking either top mounts or even the dampers. Are the top mounts correct for the application and are the dampers the right spec for the years of the car?

I ask the last question as a mate had the wrong E36 dampers ordered for his '97 car ; they had different top mounts in the pre-LCI models.

[ManaghGB]

SebringMan said:

When you say the noise is quick does it repeat itself when it is happening like a 'tap, tap, tap, tap, tap'? It's tapping at a high frequency?

Part of me is thinking either top mounts or even the dampers. Are the top mounts correct for the application and are the dampers the right spec for the years of the car?

I ask the last question as a mate had the wrong E36 dampers ordered for his '97 car ; they had different top mounts in the pre-LCI models.

Yes exactly that, sounds almost like a bubbling from behind the bulkhead if that makes sense?

I've already replaced the topmounts with new ones from bmw, correct for my car. I'm starting to think dampers now due to it not happening until the cars been over a number bumps or they've been uncompressed.