[andreu12qw]

Join me in my journey to find a rouge rattler coming from the rear half of the car.

Car set-up:
2011 E90 335i
Fortune-Auto 500 series coilovers (recently refreshed)
Spherical bearings replaced for the trailing arms
M3 rear control arms
Bimmerworld adjustable toearms
solid aluminum subframe bushings
Condor Speed shop UHMW diff bushings
powerflex poly inner spring arm bushings
Napa special solid rubber upper shock mount
Turner MS lower spherical shock mount

The rear end is solid and there is some additional NVH but there is a rattle back there that sounds like a warped 1x6 board bouncing around an empty truck bed, when going over rough roads at slower speeds.

I have torqued and marked just about every control arm bolt, drive shaft bolt, exhaust mount, heat shield nut, etc. I checked the rear coilovers as I originally suspected a blown shock (hit a huge pothole a year ago and notice it start to sweat fluid) so I preventatively replaced both rear shocks.

I am putting this out there in case anyone has experienced anything else coming loose. I recently saw that FCP-Euro is selling an aluminum bracket for the rear parking brake as the plastic mount can fail and cause some noise, which is what got me thinking about posting this.

[andreu12qw]

Update:

Took the car to a local show for a friend to check it out and to confirm what I was hearing. He was confident it was the rear driver side shock. I re-checked the pre-load on the rear coilovers, Swapped out the top mounts for stock lemforder shock mounts and re-torqued everything. Even with all of this the noise is still there. Below is a link to the sound.

[335i54n]

beside tugging/prying to verify tightness underneath (exhaust, suspension, shields), i would put someone in the trunk and maybe u can feel where the rattle coming from

[andreu12qw]

Originally Posted by 335i54n

beside tugging/prying to verify tightness underneath (exhaust, suspension, shields), i would put someone in the trunk and maybe u can feel where the rattle coming from

Thanks for the input! that will be my next step. I tried banging a rubber mallet, prying on arms, etc etc..

[zero2sixtyZ]

Nice susp setup.

Nothing moving around in the battery or amp areas? Or any sockets/tools or something near the top mounts? No play in the adj toe arms, right?

[andreu12qw]

Originally Posted by zero2sixtyZ

Nice susp setup.

Nothing moving around in the battery or amp areas? Or any sockets/tools or something near the top mounts? No play in the adj toe arms, right?

Checked the battery clamp, no loose tools, and just had an alignment so the toe arms are tight as they were checked while I was there.