[Flight335d]

I recently bought a 2011 335d with 175k miles and joind the forum. Love this car! It is all original and has new run flat tires.

I have a rubbing sound that appears to be comming from the right front. The Noise is only when turning left and accelerating. While in a travel circle you can lift off the throttle and noise goes away..back on noise returns.

So far:

1) checked for tire rub..nothing.
2) swaped tires..no change
3) replaced right front wheel bearng..no change
4) rear shock was blown so replaced all shocks and struts.No change
5) checked motor mounts with power braking forward and reverse.. normal amount of controled engine movement.

Going to inspect the flex disc next and perhaps the shaft carrier bearing but under normal operation she is smooth as glass up to 110 mph.

Any of you high mileage guys expiernce this on 335d?

[Mark M]

I believe the ABS/DSC unit is also in the right hand side of the engine bay. When making hard left hand turns, it could be the traction control engaging and the DSC solenoids working over time.

[halcyon22]

check the distance between the top of your tension strut and bottom of strut, then check if that gap is the same on the other side. i have this exact problem and turned out i had a bad wheel bearing and bent tension strut. After replacing the wheel bearing the rubbing noise still occurred and i opted for the m3 control arm kit. planning install maybe this weekend.

[caraudio1]

Almost definitely the motor mounts. I had one with the exact same symptoms. Right side mount was bad. Can't tell with a torque test. You could wedge some high density foam/rubber in between the two metal parts of the motor mount as a test.

[SouthDiesel190]

Motor mounts!

[Chief Orman]

is it a plastic like clicking sound?

[Flight335d]

Thanks guys for all the replies... The consensus seems to be passenger motor mount.

I spoke to Larry at AAR yesterday and he said same thing "passenger motor mount"

The car had two bent rims when I got it. One worse than the other. They
were both on the rear. Joe at east coast wheel repair in Vero Beach thinks the car hit a bad pothole and bent both wheels on one side. Hopefully the strut mount did not get bent also.


I am going the schedule the car for some work at AAR and have them change the mount while they are doing other work.

Curiosity questions:

1) The noise is a low tone rubbing/grinding sound. What is rubbing on what to make this sound?

2) The passenger motor mount has a vacuum line attached to it. What function does the mount perform based on a vacuum signal?

[peteyypab]

see post 16 in this thread for a picture of what is causing the noise.

[Flight335d]

THANKS!!!...a picture tells a thousand words.... what a relieve ...that looks like what I am hearing.


I have been taking it easy on lefties for a month while trying to figure this out. I was concerned it was a part of the accessory drive system grinding on the chassis...

[Chief Orman]

jesus...finally I have had this problem for five years...mystery solved

[Flight335d]

Hey Guys THANKS again for the help. I just wanted to close out my post with a confirmation of the solution. I replaced the passenger side motor mount this weekend and the problem was solved. Special thanks to "peteyypab" for the link to pictures in another post. There was obvious metal on metal contact between the motor mount shell and the engine bracket it bolts to.

For those planning to do this yourself you will need to remove the top nut on the driver side mount to get the motor high enough to get the new mount in on passenger side.

[Chief Orman]

put in new motor mounts...HUGE improvement to NVH....huge

[Capn Crunch]

You will want to replace both mounts. when one goes out for any length of time, it stresses the vacuum cavity of the other. I had a Drivers mount go bad, replaced it and 3 months later had to replace the passenger mount. I had read this numerous places and didn't abide by it and it bit me.

[Bmwater]

What's the part number for it? I cant seem to find a motor mount on realoem. I have an E92 325i.

[335dlci]

Originally Posted by Bmwater

What's the part number for it? I cant seem to find a motor mount on realoem. I have an E92 325i.

It's under engine and transmission suspsenion I believe