Hey all, I have a 325i (1990) and now I have a boinking, popping sound when turning the wheel at low or no speed. The tighter the turn load/resistance the more frequent the noise. I replaced the sway bar links, control arms and bushings, tie rods, front shocks, strut mounts and spring pads last year. I haven't had any problems until now. It sounds like a spring popping noise, and its prominent when I'm at a complete stop or low speeds..once I'm >5mph there is no sound. I pushed on my front end, and there is absolutely no noise..no clunks heard from the shocks. I am totally lost. 1.) checked the tie rods..no play in the front end anywhere. 2.) Popped the hood, took the cap off the front strut bearing and noticed that it gives a little when turning, the cap turns ever so slightly..is this normal? I don't want to spend more $$$ unless I have to..is it common for strut bearings to fail this early? Any help is appreciated..TIA! -Rob
Might be your sway bar bushing or bracket... Hey Rob, I'm not sure why no one replied to this thread. It's a little older... Did you ever get the problem fixed? I might suggest checking your sway bar bushings and brackets attached to the front sub-frame/body. I had a friend asking me about the same problem on his car. On visual inspection, the bushing and bracket for the sway bar "looked" attached to the car. BUT, when I got underneath the car, the mounts had actually rusted through on one side that sort of clips into the slot in the body. The other side is bolted to the car. During hard cornering or just cornering the sway bar would load up, bend the bracket away from the car, and then abruptly smack the bottom of the car after the cornering was complete. We bought a new bracket/bushing and did a little welding and it fixed the problem. Bavarian auto has a bracket and bushing for $11.00 plus shipping. Hope that helps! Good luck!
