[Chrisguilday]

Hey guys, I have a 2011 335i E93

I just replaced all of the front control arms as well as the struts with Bilstein B8 struts.

The car ran and drove fine with no noises or rattles for the first 200 miles, but now I am hearing a little pop noise on the front right side when I go over smaller bumps only at low speed. It’s not 100% consistent, sometimes it makes the noise and sometimes it doesn’t. I feel like it happens more when I’m turning the wheel, but I’m not sure.

I went and looked at all of the control arms, made sure everything was tight, and it’s still doing it. I thought maybe it was the steering rack bolts, but there’s no noise or popping sounds if I turn the wheel at a stand still, so I don’t think that’s it. But maybe it could be and it only happens when the car is moving?

What do you think could be the problem?

Also, are you supposed to put bump stops on the Bilstein B8 struts? Because I didn’t. They didn’t come with them, and I was under the impression that the bump stops are built in. This couldn’t be my problem though right? I’ve never bottomed out the struts anyway so I’m assuming it’s not that.

[Tambohamilton]

Checked the drop links are tight on the arb/sway and on the struts?

No bump stops on front b8s; they're internal because the struts are upside down

[Chrisguilday]

Yeah. Well I didn’t actually put a socket on any of the bolts and try to tighten them down more except for the huge bolt on the inner tie rod, but I shook everything pretty violently and nothing moved at all.

Maybe I should try to re-torque the bolts just to be sure. Just seems really odd.

It definitely sounds like a front end control arm / tie rod noise, but it also almost sounds like a noise where something is slightly binding up and then “popping”, which is why I thought maybe it’s the steering rack bolts, but the only time I’ve ever had popping noises coming from the steering rack is when I had to loosen the bolts to replace the motor mounts and I didn’t tighten them enough, but they’d only make a noise when turning the wheel when the car was not moving. It’s a somewhat similar sound though, but not as loud.

I might go try to see if I can make the car replicate the noise by driving over my driveway bump, but it doesn’t always make the noise every time.

And thanks, good to know about the bump stops. Just wanted to make sure.

[Chrisguilday]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Checked the drop links are tight on the arb/sway and on the struts?

No bump stops on front b8s; they're internal because the struts are upside down

Hey, I’ve got a question. Will cold weather cause the bolts to shrink and therefor he slightly less tight? This only started happening after it dropped 35F a few days ago, and now it’s warmed up a lot more and it’s not doing it as much, but it still does make some noise sometimes.

Basically I just turned my steering wheel while going over my driveway bump, and it would only make the noise 1 time until I turned my steering wheel the opposite way and then went over the bump again. So something has to be a little loose somewhere.

[Tambohamilton]

You've got to check everything; a good shake is pretty much zero compared with the force of hitting a bump. Chances are it's not something completely loose, but just not properly tight. Good luck