[E92William]

My 328xi has a bad vibration over 70, steering wheel visibly vibrates, pedal area aswell, feels like there's something loose flopping around in the front.

All tires new and road force balanced, new guibo and csb. These axles clunk and one is ripped so I wonder if that's it.

I've heard people tell me axles can vibrate and transfer it through the suspension to the car so this would make sense

[e90yyc]

How many miles on your car? Any other suspension work? Do you hear clunking when driving or just when you do what you show in the videos? How long has your boot been torn?

I also have a 328xi and am trying to solve a similar issue to what you describe. There's a sort of cyclical noise that is always present and tied to wheel speed, and a vibration that matches the noise but is only present at higher speeds. Mine has about 220k miles on it, so not sure how that compares to your car.

I removed my front driveshaft to see if anything changed and it didn't. Because the vibration seems to be coming from the front, I didn't bother checking the rear driveshaft. When I had my car on stands with the front tires off, I ran it up to about 60 mph and felt a pretty strong vibration. I didn't have a helper so I had to just take some videos with my phone while I was in the car. They didn't help at all, so I'm going to repeat this with a helper when I reinstall my front driveshaft and try to pinpoint the source.

Given the mileage of my car and the fact the control arms and tie rods are all original (I did shocks last year), I'm going to start by replacing those and see whether the vibration improves. I'm still not convinced it's my axle(s) that are bad, but I also wouldn't expect to feel a vibration like I did from worn control arms when the car isn't even on the ground...

Yes, it's definitely possible for the axles to transmit vibration through the chassis.

[E92William]

My car has 118k. That boot I'm sure has been torn for at least 10k miles. I've replaced the thrust arms and lower balljoints, the ones in the hub because those were causing clunks over bumps. My front driveshaft started to clunk early ownership and took it off never had an issue again with something like that for the past 14k miles. I replaced the guibo and center bearing and well they needed to be done because the guibo specially was ripped.

My car does however make a howling sound when slowing to a stop. This has gotten slightly worse over time and happened with different tires in the front the same way so I believe it could very well be a wheel bearing or maybe the front differential. Used to be from 30mph until 10 and now it's form 40 to 10.

[colorado.e9x]

My CVs are exactly like that on my 330xi. I've been told it's okay :

[E92William]

Do you have a vibration? Are they this bad? Because taking out axles isn't exactly something I'd do for fun so I'd like to make sure before I do it.

[colorado.e9x]

I've had highway vibration since I got the car at 129k. Hard to gauge where it lies between aftermarket wheels with spacers, tires, and suspension I installed myself as well as other parts that could have potentially failed or gotten loose. Mine are exactly like yours except the boots are perfectly fine. I do have a loose clunk at low speeds that I think is my steering rack, thrust arms, or ball joints

[E92William]

Well this is great I might end up taking the axles off and plugging the front differential holes if I can this weekend then because I have a feeling it is this. Just seems like the only thing that could be causing it at this point

[colorado.e9x]

I wish I could be of more help, I myself have been trying to diagnose this issue since I got the car :

Are your tires perfectly balanced? As in 0.00 all the way around. Aftermarket wheels or spacers?

[E92William]

I've had them balanced plenty of times but I might do it again. No spacers style 342 bmw wheels

[colorado.e9x]

Huh. That is interesting.. As much as DIYing everything is great and all.. I'd recommend taking it to a reputable mechanic who specializes in BMWs, specifically our generation for a diagnosis

[Efthreeoh]

I've done plenty of miles in FWD cars in my life. If you have a torn CV, unless you catch it almost right way, the CV joint the boot is supposed to protect will be damaged in short order. Any road grime that gets in the joint and when most of the grease is lost, it's over for the joint. Just replace the shaft. 10,000 miles on an open CV joint, NFW the joint is still good and within specs. There is no second guessing this.

Edit. I just looked at the videos. Halfshaft CV joints are bad.

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by E92William

My car has 118k. That boot I'm sure has been torn for at least 10k miles. I've replaced the thrust arms and lower balljoints, the ones in the hub because those were causing clunks over bumps. My front driveshaft started to clunk early ownership and took it off never had an issue again with something like that for the past 14k miles. I replaced the guibo and center bearing and well they needed to be done because the guibo specially was ripped.

My car does however make a howling sound when slowing to a stop. This has gotten slightly worse over time and happened with different tires in the front the same way so I believe it could very well be a wheel bearing or maybe the front differential. Used to be from 30mph until 10 and now it's form 40 to 10.

Okay so it sounds like you've already addressed some of the suspension components that are on my list of to-do's... What about the other control arms? Are they in good shape?

As was said right above, if your boot has been ripped for that long you might as well replace the axle... If your issue improves, great. If not, at least you didn't waste your time or money shotgunning parts at it.

Any idea what you plan to do? If you're able to reattach your front driveshaft, I would suggest getting your car up on jackstands and having someone sit inside it and run it up to speed while you look and feel around for vibration. Apparently you're also supposed to run transfer case initialization after having driven the car without the driveshaft, but I can't speak to how critical that is. I certainly won't be skipping that step though...

The howling noise could be a bad CV joint, could be your diff. Probably not a wheel bearing if the noise is present only at certain speeds... Does it change when you corner or swerve side-to-side?

[E92William]

As reckless as I am and as cheap as I am to try diagnose this myself instead of with a mechanic, I don't want this thing doing 80mph in my garage lol.

The other control arms imo are not good but I'll address them later. Howling noise doesn't seem to really change when turning but I'll try that tomorrow better.

This vibration is weird however because sometimes it happens hard or sometimes you don't feel much. Today it was specially bad, and would change when you'd let off the throttle in the highway and go back on it. This would indicate a driveshaft issue but I replaced guibo and csb.. there's still the rear guibo at the diff but that one looked good. Going to go over my work this weekend but there's also the posibility that the engine moving up and down doing that is changing the angle of the front cvs and changing the vibration.

My idea is to remove the two front cv axles if I manage to do it without any issues (unlikely being me) and see how it does.

[213e90n51]

i just put different wheels and tires on my car and it does make a noise when coming to a stop. What mileage can these things happen? Its so weird how certain bmws with certain mileages have issue. its prob wear and tear or more use

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by E92William

As reckless as I am and as cheap as I am to try diagnose this myself instead of with a mechanic, I don't want this thing doing 80mph in my garage lol.

The other control arms imo are not good but I'll address them later. Howling noise doesn't seem to really change when turning but I'll try that tomorrow better.

This vibration is weird however because sometimes it happens hard or sometimes you don't feel much. Today it was specially bad, and would change when you'd let off the throttle in the highway and go back on it. This would indicate a driveshaft issue but I replaced guibo and csb.. there's still the rear guibo at the diff but that one looked good. Going to go over my work this weekend but there's also the posibility that the engine moving up and down doing that is changing the angle of the front cvs and changing the vibration.

My idea is to remove the two front cv axles if I manage to do it without any issues (unlikely being me) and see how it does.

Nothing reckless about it if done correctly and safely. It’s critical the car is securely on jack stands and level. If your assistant is obese it’s probably best to ask them not to shift their weight too much, though with jack stands the car really should be quite secure. I also removed my front tires when doing this to provide better access to suspension. If you aren’t comfortable though then best not to do it.

Keep us posted. I’m curious whether removing the axles solve your issue!

[Efthreeoh]

Here's a simple test. Go to the rear halfshafts and try to move them around like you did the front. Your front halfshafts have play in the joints and no grease in them, as evidenced by the mechanical metallic noise heard when you move the shafts around. The shafts are toast.

[E92William]

I would do the jack stand method but there's a couple issues. My car has a faulty transfer case actuator which I'm waiting for. So even if I did it no power would be sent to the front, also there's no front driveshaft either even though I have one laying around so the front wouldn't be turning at 80 with no power to it.

The rear halfshafts have basically no play in them at all, boots are good which is why I was wondering this about the front. I thought maybe since the fronts are meant to turn they have more play or something. We'll see this weekend, trying to source a 36mm socket for this job.

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by E92William

I would do the jack stand method but there's a couple issues. My car has a faulty transfer case actuator which I'm waiting for. So even if I did it no power would be sent to the front, also there's no front driveshaft either even though I have one laying around so the front wouldn't be turning at 80 with no power to it.

The rear halfshafts have basically no play in them at all, boots are good which is why I was wondering this about the front. I thought maybe since the fronts are meant to turn they have more play or something. We'll see this weekend, trying to source a 36mm socket for this job.

Ah yes haha. Without a transfer case or driveshaft that method won’t work .

As for 36mm socket, pretty sure I bought mine on Amazon and had multiple brands to choose from.

Agree with Efthreeoh: replace the axles and go from there. Like in my case, I’m starting with what I know needs to be done, and will then move onto further diagnostics if needed. Given the mileage of my car, the noises, the garbage steering feel and tracking, etc, I’m doing the control arms and tie rods and will then look at my axles. I would hate to replace a perfectly fine axle since they aren’t common failure points for these cars, but in your case they should really be done.

Good luck man!

[blown07]

Originally Posted by E92William

My idea is to remove the two front cv axles if I manage to do it without any issues (unlikely being me) and see how it does.

You can't remove the front axles and then drive the car as the axle portion that goes through the wheel hub holds the hub and bearing together. Yes the bearing is pressed on but i don't think it would be long before your front wheels literally fall off.

I was chasing vibrations on the front of my car and then put brand new winter tires/rims on and it all went away. My car hates it when i try different size tires even within the 1%. For those having vibration when turning in one direction you can reset the steering angle sensor by following a simple procedure.

[E92William]

Are you sure about this bearing thing? As far as I know the bearing is bolted to the wheel hub itself. Either way I'd want to keep the axle joint that goes into the hub bolted in long term because it has the wheel speed sensor ring.

Idea would be to keep something like this in place and keep it like that but I don't think for testing without front axles that it would have a wheel bearing problem though I'll have to look at some diy videos.

[blown07]

100% sure. I've done both the front bearings on my car. If you drive it without the part you've shown you are relying on the press fit holding your entire wheel on.

Edit - not sure if a 328xi is different but there are no bolts involved with the 335xi front hub bearing

[E92William]

Well that's quite a bummer as I wouldn't have expected it to be so necessary for the hub itself to be in place. Theoretically the only other option to not having the front axles in place would be to take them off and disassemble them and then put the joint part I showed in the pic on the hub so there's no chance of vibration and or bearing issues.

I'll recheck my work on the driveshaft first since I don't want to hack apart my two seemingly junk front axles lol even though this thing isn't going to be awd anytime soon specially in South Florida. But thanks a lot for the heads up on that. I wonder what's different about the bearing setup on a rwd car.