[ee90]

Hey everyone,

Recently my car has developed a very bad judder from what feels like the middle of the car. It used to happen from second to third gear. After doing a hard pull it now only comes in second gear, and it is very violent now. Before it was fairly faint and only really noticeable if I accelerated hard, but after doing a WOT pull I am now getting a very violent judder so much so that it is shaking the whole dash and vibrating coins and stuff.

I think it is my gubio or the center bearing? Could that be the issue? My car Is awd but I can feel the judder is really bad around the center console area. Just wanted to get an idea before having to drop the exhaust to see.

Now I have to try and lug it home, will my driveshaft break? I heard stories about it breaking and destroying the car.

[tcphoto]

I would put it on jack stands where it sits and look underneath, the guibo would be my first location and then work your way back. The first red flag was "after doing a hard pull", how long have you owned the car and have you inspected it or done any maintenance or mods on it?

[ee90]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

I would put it on jack stands where it sits and look underneath, the guibo would be my first location and then work your way back. The first red flag was "after doing a hard pull", how long have you owned the car and have you inspected it or done any maintenance or mods on it?

unfortunately, I can't see anything without removing the exhaust and taking off the heat shields. Going to need to fight with those damn downpipe bolts. They have never been removed. Car is fully stock no mods, owned it for about 8 months now. never used to do that until recently, but it was very light and progressively has gotten worse over time and now it's very bad like to the point that I feel unsafe driving it. Going to hopefully lug it home and take a look.

It only does it when I come to a dead stop, then right as I shift into second it vibrates, if I shift into third it dies down and doesn't do it at all, no matter what speed. Only when starting to move. Completely fine on the highway but start-stop traffic is a no go.

[bmwbob89]

Try and just lower the exhaust enough to get the heat shield out. If the center bearing is trashed the rear u joint could be the issue. I have an 2005 X3 in my driveway waiting for a driveshaft.
I guess this is only helpful if your car has a rear u joint.

[ee90]

Originally Posted by bmwbob89

Try and just lower the exhaust enough to get the heat shield out. If the center bearing is trashed the rear u joint could be the issue. I have an 2005 X3 in my driveway waiting for a driveshaft.
I guess this is only helpful if your car has a rear u joint.

going to try that, maybe try and put a endoscope in and see if I can see anything. How would I know if the center bearing and rear u joint are bad?

[bmwbob89]

The rubber that holds the center bearing in place tears apart. You can probably tell by wiggling the drive shaft up an down. First go to real oem and see if your car has a guibo back at the diff or a u joint. Tell tale on a u joint is rust. To know for sure you have to unbolt the flange and see if it's seized up.

[TyroneShoelaces]

I have the same issue accelerating in 2nd and 3rd gear from 2500 rpm to 4k rpm. I assume center support bearing but it's such a pain to access I haven't had time to pull down the exhaust and confirm. Must be a resonance thing because it isn't evident in 1st and basically not there in 5th and 6th.