2011 BMW X5M (E70) Project

[UAHMAD]

Steering rack is fine?

[intoxicated]

Steering rack is fine?

Yeah the rack is fine. Just trying to button up the suspension.

[Xulfiqar]

the clunk you hear are the front strut mounts that have perished.

replace them with new parts along with the 2 foam discs - and your noise will go away, btw, dont throw away these tension struts if their ball joints are good - buy a new bushing and press it in, takes a few minutes tops.

I recently replaced the tension strut bushings and the spring strut mounts on my E70 and its "on rails" drive and quietness has been restored. The top control arm rarely fails as it just locates the spindle, the tension strut is what takes the actual thrust of the suspension jarring as the main control arm bushing on the subframe side actually flexes sideways by design.

E70/71 eats strut mounts as candy and they dont have much stroke in the damper either, BMW rely a lot on the bump stopper and the foam discs on the mount to isolate the suspension from the chassis. (dumb design to be honest).

I know your truck will have adaptive drive struts, but if you ever encounter an E70 with regular spring struts and disassemble them, dont be alarmed if the strut shows very low gas rebound - they are extremely low charged from the factory and usually will have no charge after 80000 miles, it doesnt mean the struts are dead, you can test them by priming them (if you laid them sideways) and then doing the piston pull resistance test like you do on an oldschool hydraulic shock absorber.

[UAHMAD]

Good to see you back.

Sorry for the irrelevant post, though.

[Hassan1991]

Good to have you back sir. Now this thread will get more interesting .

[intoxicated]

the clunk you hear are the front strut mounts that have perished.

replace them with new parts along with the 2 foam discs - and your noise will go away, btw, dont throw away these tension struts if their ball joints are good - buy a new bushing and press it in, takes a few minutes tops.

I recently replaced the tension strut bushings and the spring strut mounts on my E70 and its "on rails" drive and quietness has been restored. The top control arm rarely fails as it just locates the spindle, the tension strut is what takes the actual thrust of the suspension jarring as the main control arm bushing on the subframe side actually flexes sideways by design.

E70/71 eats strut mounts as candy and they dont have much stroke in the damper either, BMW rely a lot on the bump stopper and the foam discs on the mount to isolate the suspension from the chassis. (dumb design to be honest).

I know your truck will have adaptive drive struts, but if you ever encounter an E70 with regular spring struts and disassemble them, dont be alarmed if the strut shows very low gas rebound - they are extremely low charged from the factory and usually will have no charge after 80000 miles, it doesnt mean the struts are dead, you can test them by priming them (if you laid them sideways) and then doing the piston pull resistance test like you do on an oldschool hydraulic shock absorber.

Thanks for the detailed response.

I was planning to also replace front lower and upper control arms and rear controls arms to help the truck be a bit more planted under load - it feels a bit loose right now. Old thrust arms were ok though, no play in balljoints and bushings looked fine as well (no visible cracks as such).

So if it's equipped with EDC (electronic damping control), does it mean I can't change strut mounts? I'm a noob when it comes to suspension.

And also, to mention the cursed 'shimmy' issue - it's much better since the tires and thrust arms were replaced but not completely gone, I have a feeling one of the wheels may be bent slightly (was told by the alignment shop that they couldn't completely balance one of front wheels even after throwing 3oz. weight) but nothing visible as such.

[Xulfiqar]

The "shimmy" you feel is also due to the upper strut mounts as it can cause the lower arm to "walk" - your alignment will also not hold in this situation and you may experience tire wear.

the upper strut mounts can be replaced on the adaptive drive type cars - they just have different part numbers and pieces, its the usual heavy duty spring compressor type job (dont use the two screw one as it will really take a toll on them) - rent the powerbuilt one from autozone if you can, take note of the orientation of the mounts as mentioned in ISTA/TIS (it just says to align the rubber nub to the front of the car on the right side and to align the nub to the back of the car on the left side)

rest is easy - just make sure to do/undo the adaptive drive union couplers with care and use rubber gloves or caps to cover them immediately to prevent FOD (foreign object damage) type failure.

critical point, whilst doing any job on this truck which requires you to jack it up and leave it there as is, its a good idea to support the whole spindle, suspension in a way that its at drive height and straight too to prevent tearing of the control arm bushings and prevent pulling out the inner cv joint tripod. The spindle is quite heavy on this car (the swan neck saying switzerland on it) so make sure you have some bungee/rubber cords to wrap around the spindle to tie to the upper arm while you pull out the strut.

My point of keeping the suspension in the drive position is also mentioned in ISTA as the hub support SST which bolts on the brake rotor/hub to keep it straight and supported (in E46 and E36 world they are known as hub stands)

[Xulfiqar]

to identify strut mount failure by eyeballing, look at the top of the strut towers where the center nut sticks out in the engine room, if the washer is not perfectly centered and has also sunken all the way down - the mount rubber has failed and the foam washers have also perished which is causing the clunk.

if you leave it there in dead state - it will eventually start to squeal very loudly and it will seem the sound is coming from the dashboard chassis. (it travels via the strut brace to the firewall)

whilst doing this - keep the hood up and spray water on the windshield, then watch as it dribbles into the wiper tray and out the sides (through the drain flaps) right where you replaced those new plastic pieces.

if you see water leaking on top of the engine where the cowling joins in the center piece, use some butyl tape (3M windoweld) to seal it up as if you dont take care of this it will cause severe issues later on.

[intoxicated]

The "shimmy" you feel is also due to the upper strut mounts as it can cause the lower arm to "walk" - your alignment will also not hold in this situation and you may experience tire wear.

the upper strut mounts can be replaced on the adaptive drive type cars - they just have different part numbers and pieces, its the usual heavy duty spring compressor type job (dont use the two screw one as it will really take a toll on them) - rent the powerbuilt one from autozone if you can, take note of the orientation of the mounts as mentioned in ISTA/TIS (it just says to align the rubber nub to the front of the car on the right side and to align the nub to the back of the car on the left side)

rest is easy - just make sure to do/undo the adaptive drive union couplers with care and use rubber gloves or caps to cover them immediately to prevent FOD (foreign object damage) type failure.

critical point, whilst doing any job on this truck which requires you to jack it up and leave it there as is, its a good idea to support the whole spindle, suspension in a way that its at drive height and straight too to prevent tearing of the control arm bushings and prevent pulling out the inner cv joint tripod. The spindle is quite heavy on this car (the swan neck saying switzerland on it) so make sure you have some bungee/rubber cords to wrap around the spindle to tie to the upper arm while you pull out the strut.

My point of keeping the suspension in the drive position is also mentioned in ISTA as the hub support SST which bolts on the brake rotor/hub to keep it straight and supported (in E46 and E36 world they are known as hub stands)

Thank you again, this is extremely helpful and informative. Let me gather the parts and I'll hopefully tackle it in the coming days and I didn't know hub supports/stands were expensive

[intoxicated]

to identify strut mount failure by eyeballing, look at the top of the strut towers where the center nut sticks out in the engine room, if the washer is not perfectly centered and has also sunken all the way down - the mount rubber has failed and the foam washers have also perished which is causing the clunk.

if you leave it there in dead state - it will eventually start to squeal very loudly and it will seem the sound is coming from the dashboard chassis. (it travels via the strut brace to the firewall)

whilst doing this - keep the hood up and spray water on the windshield, then watch as it dribbles into the wiper tray and out the sides (through the drain flaps) right where you replaced those new plastic pieces.

if you see water leaking on top of the engine where the cowling joins in the center piece, use some butyl tape (3M windoweld) to seal it up as if you dont take care of this it will cause severe issues later on.

It looks quite different, I don't see the washer there as such. What I see from the engine bay is 8 (strut bearing), I'm guessing I'll have to replace that then.

[Xulfiqar]

Look at my picture and look at my hubstand, its a jack from a camry, and its under the main control arm. - the spindle is fastened to the upper control arm with a rubber band.

[Xulfiqar]

here you go - look at item 9, 10 and 11

you need all 3 parts, its also a good idea to get the bump stopper which is item 8 as it will be perished/crumbled too.

when doing this job - only tighten the fork bolt to 120 lb/ft with suspension at ready to drive height (use a jack to lift the arm up so the truck is off the jackstand a bit on that side use a 21mm or 13/16 socket to torque it). You will need a 21mm or 13/16 spanner to counter hold the nut on the front side - do not flip this bolt around and do not grease it, either, just buff clean the threads and if you live in salty roads area, do the Honda spec which is to coat the inner part of the bolt length which remains trapped in the bushing with a light coating of silicone grease.

[Xulfiqar]

Here is the tension strut bushings and the tools I used to replace them.

Easy as pie

This is like a right of passage on any BMW. Ive never seen a single BMW not requiring replacement of these - they are a wear item every 100K kms / 60K Miles

[Xulfiqar]

Why did you buy liquid molvi brake fluid?

All shops I know including performance ones and myself use cheapo napa/autozone/walmart/warren lubes

Dot4 brake fluid, cheap and same thing as liquid molvi

[Xulfiqar]

I hope you use the sizing sleeves for the injector rings, they are necessary unless you fancy buying new cylinder heads.

The sizing rings compress the teflon rings in 3 steps, you then have 30 seconds to drop the injector in its hole and clamp it.

But good effort. If you need any tips on further digging down into this truck like refreshing the driveline oils, you can pm me or post a thread, ill answer if i can.

[intoxicated]

Look at my picture and look at my hubstand, its a jack from a camry, and its under the main control arm. - the spindle is fastened to the upper control arm with a rubber band.

Yeah, I just noticed and that's a great idea. I'll grab some jacks and should do the trick.

[intoxicated]

here you go - look at item 9, 10 and 11

you need all 3 parts, its also a good idea to get the bump stopper which is item 8 as it will be perished/crumbled too.

when doing this job - only tighten the fork bolt to 120 lb/ft with suspension at ready to drive height (use a jack to lift the arm up so the truck is off the jackstand a bit on that side use a 21mm or 13/16 socket to torque it). You will need a 21mm or 13/16 spanner to counter hold the nut on the front side - do not flip this bolt around and do not grease it, either, just buff clean the threads and if you live in salty roads area, do the Honda spec which is to coat the inner part of the bolt length which remains trapped in the bushing with a light coating of silicone grease.

Where did you get that from? RealOEM didn't break it down to the inner pieces of the strut bearing, if you happen to see the part numbers, can you share those?

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll definitely keep that in mind.

[intoxicated]

Here is the tension strut bushings and the tools I used to replace them.

Easy as pie

This is like a right of passage on any BMW. Ive never seen a single BMW not requiring replacement of these - they are a wear item every 100K kms / 60K Miles

I just double checked the thrust arm and the balljoints look in solid condition. So I will grab myself a bushing press tool, will be helpful.

[intoxicated]

Why did you buy liquid molvi brake fluid?

All shops I know including performance ones and myself use cheapo napa/autozone/walmart/warren lubes

Dot4 brake fluid, cheap and same thing as liquid molvi

I was thinking to get BMW Brake fluid but ended up getting Liqui Moly. BMWs can be finicky about fluids - coolant being one, where it's always recommended to use BMW coolant and nothing else. I had some pentosin DOT4 but gave this one a shot.

[Xulfiqar]

Just take your thrust arms and bushings to a shop with a pizza and beers, they will charge pretty low after that, its a simple quick in and out job.

Infact tell em to do it on ease,

Even a plain jane machine shop can do that for little money.