Thud?

[avery0829]

I just got my 88 325is. Going on a 255 mile road trip to get it back I didn't hear any noises. The next say though I started to hear a thud in the front right wheel when I hit a bump or anything. When I drive on a flat smooth road no noises. The guy I bought it from said that it could be the strut mount/bearing..

What else could it be? Or is that the symptoms of a bad strut bearing or bushing?


Thanks.

[jlevie]

This could be any, or a combination of, shock, upper shock mount, or control arm.

[avery0829]

Well I took a look at it today, all the bushings and ball joints seem to be okay. But now there's sort of a squeak when its on uneven surfaces.

How would most diagnose that kind of thing?

[jlevie]

Check the ball joints by squeezing each joint with a very large pair of channel-locks along the axxis of the joint. Any motion means in a joint means the control arms need replacement. While the car is in the air, look for an signs of oil leaking from the struts and check the sway bar links and bushings. Because of the spring pre-load, you have to disassemble the struts to check the upper strut mounts for wear. So if you can't find any other cause, I'd just replace the upper strut mounts, and possibly the shocks is they have over 60k on them and aren't Bilsteins or Koni's.

[StereoInstaller1]

Well I took a look at it today, all the bushings and ball joints seem to be okay. But now there's sort of a squeak when its on uneven surfaces.

How would most diagnose that kind of thing?

IMO, the way the ball joints are built on E30s basically means you can't tell exactly what is going on without disassembling it, unless they are totally trashed.

If you jack up the car (jackstands, please do not die like a retard) and shove a 2' or longer prybar between the framerail and the control arm, you can kind of yank on the prybar to make the balljoint "pop" (but again, only if it is totally wasted). The same technique applies to the outer ball joints, too, but is more of a hassle.

I would bet the racket is more a combination of things.