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Creaking & Clunking From Rear

Discuss problems you have had or are having with your Z4
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EViS
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Creaking & Clunking From Rear

Post by EViS » Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:26 pm

The rear of my E85 roadster SE was creaking and clunking in the rear. Lo and behold, after only 60k miles, the nearside rear spring was broken into three. Today I fitted a new pair of Suplex springs. Something has improved, however the creaking and clunking is still there.

Motorway driving and straight country roads with minor potholes are fine. However, low speed turns, corners, larger pot holes and swerving from side to side results in the rear creaking and clunking. Once parked, pushing down on the rear corners doesn't flag up anything obvious.

I think the sound is predominantly coming from the nearside rear corner (same side as the broken spring), however at times I think it's also coming from both sides.

Could this be a bush somewhere? Or one of the shocks? As an enthusiast driveway mechanic, how can I find the culprit?

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Creaking & Clunking From Rear

Post by EViS » Wed Mar 15, 2017 3:51 pm

Found the cause this morning - the camber adjustment bolts on the lower control arm had loosened on both sides (the nearside more so). Tightened these up to around 110Nm and all is well again now :). However, the lower control arm bushes look a little perished and there's a fair amount of orange rust around the bolts, so I've ordered a new set of these (Lemforder 3071301 / OEM 33326771828) as no doubt they're on their way out. Will then get the geometry redone.

Should I be changing the bolts which hold the lower control arm and allow for the camber to be adjusted? If so, anyone know where to get these as ECP and eBay aren't showing any with the OEM part numbers.

Also, what is the correct torque for these camber bolts?

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Creaking & Clunking From Rear

Post by Scooba_Steve » Wed Mar 15, 2017 4:19 pm

BMW best place to get camber bolts. TIS has the torques, available online or send me a PM.
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EViS
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Creaking & Clunking From Rear

Post by EViS » Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:02 pm

Scooba_Steve wrote:BMW best place to get camber bolts. TIS has the torques, available online or send me a PM.
Have dropped you a PM.

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