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      06-18-2010, 08:22 AM   #8
raweden
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Drives: E89 Z4 35i
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: UK

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To update I have had my 35i back at the dealers and the senior technician has listened to the squeaks. He is convinced they are coming from the front suspension struts as the sound comes with compression and releaase of the dampers.

The dealer has a severe rubber speed ramp and when the car is driven over it (roof down, windows down) you can hear two little squeaks one when the front wheels hit the hump, the other a fraction of a second later when it comes down the other side. There is no sound when the rear wheels go over the hump. The technician also says he has heard this exact type of sound on bike forks and believes it's the air moving quickly in/out of the forks. He also says that one of the older 5 series used to do this.

In other words its a characteristic of the adaptive suspension. I do tend to agree with him bearing in mind I have had 2 new front dampers on the car (which has only 4000 miles on it) and there's nothing else I can conceivable think of, and neither can BMW. Proof will be for me to drive another Z4 with adaptive suspsension and this will be the next step when (if?) my local dealer ever gets one in with this option.

To hear the bird like squeaks (which are in stereo!) you have to be in a quite, built up area with narrow streets and high walls/buildings close to the road to reflect sound, a reasonably bumpy road, roof & windows down, driving less than 30 mph with the suspensuion set to 'normal'.
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