[SF335D]

Hi everyone,

My harmonic balancer died (again). I had the OEM part installed 3 years ago, and now to replace it it seems BMW raised the price to $675. I'd rather buy the Fluidampr at this point, but they won't be in stock for a few weeks.

If anyone has one laying around and is willing to sell it to my I would really appreciate it as my car is just sitting in the shop waiting on parts (and I really don't want to pay for a 3rd more expensive part that I know will fail).

Thanks,
Max
2009 335D

[335dlci]

They are on sale at this moment after the batch of failures they hve had with fluidamper.

[Soonerbilly]

Watch it RL....that kind of stuff will get you banned lol.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Soonerbilly

Watch it RL....that kind of stuff will get you banned lol.

Whoops. Deleted it lol

What about a google search for- FAI Automotive Viscous M57 Harmonic Balancer

[SF335D]

Thanks for the options. Haven't heard of the FAI Automotive Viscous M57 Harmonic Balancer before? Is that a good/preferred option over OEM? I've only looked at Fluidampr in the past, and as I had already replaced my OEM pulley I thought I was in the clear (obviously wrong).

[RL18]

Originally Posted by SF335D

Thanks for the options. Haven't heard of the FAI Automotive Viscous M57 Harmonic Balancer before? Is that a good/preferred option over OEM? I've only looked at Fluidampr in the past, and as I had already replaced my OEM pulley I thought I was in the clear (obviously wrong).

Yes It's better than fluid damper. Please do correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard that fluid damper creates more vibration and fails earlier than oem. Here a link to the companies website for more specs and descriptions https://www.faiauto.com/viscous-vibration-dampers/

Also should think about getting a clutched pulley too! It's what kills the HB on these cars

[SF335D]

Thanks. Ordered the Balancer and the clutched alternator pulley and having it drop shipped to the shop. Hopefully it comes in quick and they can install it without issue.

[RL18]

Originally Posted by SF335D

Thanks. Ordered the Balancer and the clutched alternator pulley and having it drop shipped to the shop. Hopefully it comes in quick and they can install it without issue.

Awesome! Glad I could help

[dmanb2b]

Originally Posted by RL18

Please do correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard that fluid damper creates more vibration and fails earlier than oem.

FD has had a batch of failures due to bad heat treatment in a batch produced, but otherwise you heard wrong. When combined with a clutched pulley, the FD is super smooth by most accounts.

[DozerDan82]

Originally Posted by dmanb2b

FD has had a batch of failures due to bad heat treatment in a batch produced, but otherwise you heard wrong. When combined with a clutched pulley, the FD is super smooth by most accounts.

I just installed my FD, and would have to say that the engine seems like it is idleing smoother. Could be just me, could be the new motor mounts as well but she does not move at all.

As long as you do not have one from the bad heat treat then go for it.

I work with metals all day every day, bad heat treat happens. The company I work for just had an issue with our heat treater messing up $10's of thousands of dollars of D2 tooling because they treated it wrong.

[BB_cuda]

Fluidampr has a handle on the earlier problem now. Mine runs smoothly.

[SF335D]

I trust Fluidampr to resolve their issue as well; but when I called they had a couple week backlog for shipment. With my car currently in the shop to replace the passenger motor mount and also the harmonic balancer which failed, I had to go with the best option that could ship ASAP. Hopefully with the clutched alternator pulley (and new motor mount) the FAI will be as smooth as Fluidampr.

[BB_cuda]

Public Service Announcement:
Our crank pulley is a harmonic damper. It does not balance the engine. I have other engines with “zero balance” pulleys. There are harmonic balancers for engines needing external balance. For the balancing types, they are either asymmetrically cast or have drilled out spots. They use a sister flywheel (or done with torque converter if auto) that is also not mass symmetric.

[robnitro]

Originally Posted by RL18

Yes It's better than fluid damper. Please do correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard that fluid damper creates more vibration and fails earlier than oem. Here a link to the companies website for more specs and descriptions https://www.faiauto.com/viscous-vibration-dampers/

Also should think about getting a clutched pulley too! It's what kills the HB on these cars

The fai looks great! Best of both worlds: some rubber and some silicone like fd.

I think those w fluidampr who feel it smoother than stock is mostly from the clutched pulley. Originally they didn't spec that as part of the kit but were having nvh issues without that pulley.
Also of you are going from an old stock HB that's worn, that's an improvement in itself, like I saw when I got a new stock one. My old one wasn't broken but the rubber felt dry.

[Owen81]

The FAI pulley is the identical design to OEM just made by another company. It has the same downfalls of the OEM pulley however it could be better quality, or worse, who knows as this hasn't been proven.

The FD gets a bad rep due to the original misunderstanding of our engines not having a clutched alternator pulley like most other cars, this was a cheap out by BMW and nothing to do with FD except for the fact that it wasn't caught during the development. It was however rectified soon after release with the clutched pulley option by a popular vendor.

With no soft parts and proper heat treating, the FD will last the lifetime of the vehicle no doubt. Anything with rubber will fail eventually, that is just the name of the game.

Realistically the OEM pulley seems to last 80k-120k miles depending on how hot of a climate you live in, so replacing with an OEM damper isn't a bad thing as it will likely outlast the rest of the cars lifetime unless you drive very high miles per year.

[robnitro]

Owen, fai has viscous balancing too, unlike the oem.

The fb is ok, but I stand by my point that the improvements reported are likely due to replacing the worn hb and using a clutched pulley.

I got my oem rebranded hb on sale at fcpeuro, so my free replacement will be the same when the time comes. If I didn't have that benefit, I would go fai.

At least on the rubber balancers you can tell when they're worn. The fb is all internal and you may never know if it's really balancing or not.

[montr]

Originally Posted by Owen81

Realistically the OEM pulley seems to last 80k-120k miles depending on how hot of a climate you live in

Mine failed at 67K miles. I am at 115K miles, I am due for it to fail again.

[Owen81]

Actually the OEM is fluid filled as well. The FAI is identical to OEM:

Originally Posted by robnitro

Owen, fai has viscous balancing too, unlike the oem.

The fb is ok, but I stand by my point that the improvements reported are likely due to replacing the worn hb and using a clutched pulley.

I got my oem rebranded hb on sale at fcpeuro, so my free replacement will be the same when the time comes. If I didn't have that benefit, I would go fai.

At least on the rubber balancers you can tell when they're worn. The fb is all internal and you may never know if it's really balancing or not.

[BB_cuda]

Viscous damping

[robnitro]

Cool, so oem is better at all ranges, having both fluid damping and mechanical deflection damping.

I read a paper a while ago on how fluid dampers work better at harmonics and rubber at static rhythmic vibrations. That could be why the oem works fine at idle without a clutched pulley while fb needs one to be smooth there.

[SF335D]

I got the FAI damper installed (along with the passanger motor mount) and all's well [for]now.

The shop didn't install the clutched alternator pulley because they said the pulley on the 335D is different than that on the X35D, and the clutched pulley can only be installed in the later. Has anyone with a 335D had the clutched pulley successfully installed? When I ordered the parts I selected the dropdown for the 335D.

[335dlci]

Originally Posted by SF335D

I got the FAI damper installed (along with the passanger motor mount) and all's well [for]now.

The shop didn't install the clutched alternator pulley because they said the pulley on the 335D is different than that on the X35D, and the clutched pulley can only be installed in the later. Has anyone with a 335D had the clutched pulley successfully installed? When I ordered the parts I selected the dropdown for the 335D.

Yes. It is physically different.