[roy@gambitmotorsport]

I have a 2007 335i coupe. There's a loose piece
rolling around somewhere unseen in the rear driver's
side, from the sound of it. Hard acceleration,
braking, or turning, results in a noise prize. Sounds
like a small plastic or metal piece rolling around on
a plastic or metal surface; like a screw in the
carriage. Not positive when it started, as I babied
the car for the first 3K miles. Now I have 10K miles
and it's been there as long as I can remember taking
roads fast.

I've checked the rear air vents under both seats by
sight and even a 1ft+ vacuum extension that completely
fit in there and didn't suck anything anything up.
I've also removed the left rear panel (with the
speakers) to the best of my ability, but realized it's
more of a job than I can do to get any further down
than the arm rest level.

Is there a place near Pasadena/LA, like a body or
upholstery shop I can take it to and pay them to track
it down? The noise is completely reproducible. Do
shops like this offer this kind of service? I know
the dealer is one option, but my car is modified
(interior, exterior, and otherwise), so I expect:

1) To have to pay either way.

2) To get a hard time from the dealer, if I approach
it like this is "their problem" - though it may well
be as my car was in vehicle prep back in May for 3
weeks.


Any advice appreciated!

[Ray]

I had a similar noise in my car, which only occured during acceleration and braking.

I found a screw rolling on the passenger seat rail.

[roy@gambitmotorsport]

Originally Posted by Ray

I had a similar noise in my car, which only occured during acceleration and braking.

I found a screw rolling on the passenger seat rail.

Thanks for the response and the idea. I just went down and checked the rails on both seats with a flash light, with the seats all the way forward and all the way back and didn't find anything.

Strange thing is, I hear a large degree of play when it happens, like something is rolling across 3 to 6 inches, whether its hard forward/rear acceleration, as well as side-to-side. But only if I really push it.

The closest sound to describe it is when you drive over rocks on a canyon road, but it's reproducible anywhere. I even wonder if there's something in the undercarriage that could catch this stuff; but then I'm not sure that sound would be loud enough. Really wish I could just turn the car over and shake it for a few seconds.

[jooology]

Originally Posted by roy@gambitmotorsport

Thanks for the response and the idea. I just went down and checked the rails on both seats with a flash light, with the seats all the way forward and all the way back and didn't find anything.

Strange thing is, I hear a large degree of play when it happens, like something is rolling across 3 to 6 inches, whether its hard forward/rear acceleration, as well as side-to-side. But only if I really push it.

The closest sound to describe it is when you drive over rocks on a canyon road, but it's reproducible anywhere. I even wonder if there's something in the undercarriage that could catch this stuff; but then I'm not sure that sound would be loud enough. Really wish I could just turn the car over and shake it for a few seconds.

Bring it to the dealership and have them figure it out. Just tell them you hear noise when going X amount of mph. I'm having my car checked for noise this week as well.

[roy@gambitmotorsport]

Ended up being loose change that somehow got under the woofer beneath the driver's seat. Damn, I love driving more now!

[mitnyc73]

I experienced the same problem and i assure you its a coin , I drove my friend in my new 335 and he dropped a coin down the side of the seat. Ever since that i heard a rolling screw noise and its no doubt a coin that got stuck somewhere either the seat rails or underseat vents.....i parked on a very steep incline but to no avail so i finally decided to do it the easy and fun way......i just repeated did my own accelerate and brake tests similar to a 0-60-0 run. but you dont need to do that just mash the pedal and then immediate hit the brakes hard and do that repeated for 5 times and the rolling coin noise was eliminated....permanently

[roy@gambitmotorsport]

My coins somehow got under the speaker cover and down beneath the speaker. My mechanic said he didn't want to put ideas in my head, but couldn't really see how they would make it there naturally.

Oh well, whatever, I'm just so glad I decided not to live with this for the life of my car, it really degraded such a hot machine...