[drewfromthehou]

Bought my 2020 M40i in November and have about 2,800 miles on it. When I back out of my driveway and start the turn into the road I occasionally get a pop sound from the front end of the car. It feels like I hit something. The first time it happened I shrugged it off but now it seems to happen more often.

Anyone else had this issue? I even got out and looked at the driveway to see if there is anything that could physically call it but it's all smooth. None of my other vehicles do this either.

[weez]

Yep, all the time. Seems to be common enough to where I just ignore it.

[Doug Hoover]

I’ve got a 2019 xdrive 30i X4.
Backing out of the driveway and down the culvert to the street with steering wheel input to turn to the right, I hear a crunch and pop.
Also have a small vibration in the front 30mph and up.

It is now in hospital for a front transfer case transplant.

[clivem2]

OP...it sounds like the front tyres are crabbing / skipping when you apply a fair degree if lock. Mine does this quite significantly.

Seems to be due the Ackermann steering geometry and the lsd my car has. Maybe cold tyres too.

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1666945

[blschaefer1]

Might be due to a slight amount of play in the brake pads. I have not noticed this in my M40i, but it was quite obvious in my prior 440i when changing direction from reverse to drive. The pads would move enough in the calipers to produce an audible click.

[BobsM3Coupe]

I occasionally hearing a popping sound. I thought it came from the rear, but who knows. When I had the 1st service done, I asked them to have the tech check it out. After the service, I asked the service writer about it and he said the tech found nothing wrong. I doubt he even bothered looking at anything. I have read on this forum where some have had the front knuckle bearing (maybe another term for it) replaced and that took care of the popping sound.

[Khelms04]

Any more news on this? My ‘19 X3 30i xDrive with 8,500 miles is making a popping/creaking noise when turning to the right and reversing, ie. backing out of a parking space and cranking the steering wheel to the right. When straightening the steering wheel by turning it back to the left, I hear the same noise when passing the same “point.” It probably does it in drive to a certain degree, but certainly in reverse it is more prevalent.

I even tested it in the yard on grass and heard the same noise even louder when encountering undulations in the yard, all while in reverse and turning to the right (or back to the left).

[Alias1431]

I also hear this seemingly metallic pop near my left front wheel well when I make some turns. I don't feel anything, I just hear the slight pop.

[BobsM3Coupe]

My car still does it so infrequently, that I would never get it to reproduce at the dealership.

[Alias1431]

While looking for it tonight, I noticed that the "pop" is equidistant when turning right or left. Seems to do it about every time. Could this be an issue with the steering/electric motor in the steering column?

[rjhussen]

Mine occurs when backing out my drive in the morning

[Khelms04]

A little news on this...my dealership had the shop foreman ride with me and I was able to reproduce the sound for him. While moving the steering wheel back and forth, he got under the front and said he could "feel it" creaking in the front tension strut on the driver's side.

Once taken to shop, they test drove it with chassis ears attached to verify the noise. Tension strut was confirmed to be the cause. I'll update once the part comes in and it's been installed. Hopefully this will address the issue.

What issues could this have caused while driving, aside from a noise? The only thing I've kind of noticed is a very slight vibration at highway speeds that comes and goes. I figured that was just my new Continental tires needing some fine-tuning on their balancing.

[Dilbert2402]

I tend to find this happens more when the weather is colder and/or once the tyres are down near the limit, nothing to worry about.

[freshxdough]

I'm wondering if this issue is more prevalent in colder weather also.

[freshxdough]

Any updates to this??

[drewfromthehou]

Not much of an update but it still makes the occasional pop but only coming out of my driveway and nowhere else. I decided it must be tires mixed with the decline into the street causing some crabbing or something similar. My own curiosity had me try a few more driveways in my subdivision and it popped when backing out of each one of them... yet any tight turning in reverse elsewhere did not replicate it.

Now that the weather has been extremely hot I have not had it pop much at all.

[freshxdough]

Originally Posted by drewfromthehou

Not much of an update but it still makes the occasional pop but only coming out of my driveway and nowhere else. I decided it must be tires mixed with the decline into the street causing some crabbing or something similar. My own curiosity had me try a few more driveways in my subdivision and it popped when backing out of each one of them... yet any tight turning in reverse elsewhere did not replicate it.

Now that the weather has been extremely hot I have not had it pop much at all.

It is known that with summer tires and High performance tires that the tires can crab in cooler weather, due to the lower level of grip these tires inherently have at lower temperatures, and cause a knock/pop in the suspension arm. I have personally heard this pop on my M40i. It seems to be most pronounced when backing out of driveway and turning significantly when in colder weather, 50-60F ish (I'm in CA so that's a little chilly for us). In my case I have summer runflat tires. But in other cases some people have all season tires or other tires and still hear the noise. I think personally for G01 it may just be a natural issue due to the design of the steering geometry or scrub radius or all the other fancy engineering stuff that goes into steering angles.

At least our cars don't make the tires screech when pulling in and out of parking spots like older Chevy Tahoes lol.

[2019X4RH]

Does anyone have a video of the sound?

If we are on the same page, I think I have the same noise on my 2019 X4 30i when reversing and turning, noticed around approx. 6000km. Strut mounts were replaced but noise was still there and didn't improve at all. The technician has advised me that it is normal, something to do with bushing and rubber expanding when turning? (Sorry don't know exact explanation). Technician also replicated noise on a 2020 X3 30i (at 3000kms) but the noise was faint compared to mine, and he took a lot of effort turning the wheel and reversing a couple of times to get the noise to come up.

Almost sounds like a creaky wooden ship rocking through sea waves? If that even makes sense! lol
Ohh and you can also feel a slight jerk/movement in the steering wheel when the sound occurs

Mine is so loud and very noticeable almost every time I reverse and turn the wheel. It is even louder or sounds like a crack/pop when reverse turning on smoother/soft surfaces, eg. underground carparks, garages, grass and dirt areas.

Really trying to convince myself this is normal... or maybe there is a way to reduce/get rid of the sound?

[2019X4RH]

Originally Posted by Khelms04

A little news on this...my dealership had the shop foreman ride with me and I was able to reproduce the sound for him. While moving the steering wheel back and forth, he got under the front and said he could "feel it" creaking in the front tension strut on the driver's side.

Once taken to shop, they test drove it with chassis ears attached to verify the noise. Tension strut was confirmed to be the cause. I'll update once the part comes in and it's been installed. Hopefully this will address the issue.

What issues could this have caused while driving, aside from a noise? The only thing I've kind of noticed is a very slight vibration at highway speeds that comes and goes. I figured that was just my new Continental tires needing some fine-tuning on their balancing.

Was the issue resolved after the replacement of parts?

I think I have the same sound issue. Technician diagnosed as premature wear of strut mounts - parts were ordered in and replaced BUT the sound was still there afterwards. Didn't do anything... booked in again for further assessment and now the technician is saying that the sound is a normal...

[freshxdough]

I believe that this sound is normal. Especially when occurring at full lock and reversing. The sound is likely being caused by the tire scrubbing the ground. This is more prevalent with sport tires because they have higher grip. When you're turning at the lock the two front tires actually have different angles to aid in turning, and I'm sure this is what is causing essentially the tire to "hop" when it's breaking free from the tension on the ground caused by the angle of the steering.

My M40i has done this several times, most notably at full steering lock and reversing (usually seems to happen in the morning only, so possibly also temperature related).


It's a little hard to explain but have you ever heard a car in a parking lot pulling into a parking spot and you can hear the tires kind of screech when they're at full lock in forward or reverse? (I can hear this on nearly every Tahoe /Suburban from the 2000's era and some other large older SUVs). Instead of screeching I'm theorizing that on our BMWs the tire actually hops to relieve the tension.

[sbt007]

If this is a tire hop/crabbing issue in low temperatures, then it can happen. More likely to happen on performance tires in lower temps.

In fact I assume it is much better on the BMWs because I rarely hear about it.
Search for Mercedes GLC43 crabbing and you'll see what I mean. Although on the GLC43 (especially RHD vehicles) it is a louder "thump" rather than a "pop". There are many posts explaining why this happens. Also happens on Porsches and likely many other vehicles. The trigger is usually turning the steering closer to full lock.

[Joker Eh]

Originally Posted by freshxdough

My M40i has done this several times, most notably at full steering lock and reversing (usually seems to happen in the morning only, so possibly also temperature related).

Exactly what happens for me. Now that I have winter tires and rims on I don't get that sound when pulling out in the morning