Despirately need some help on my e36 328i

[Wesley]

Hi all

Recently bought my childhood dream,black e36 328i convertible..
but it has 1 annoying problem ...

When driving over bumps and cracks in the road, I get a loud rattle from underneath the front of the car (both sides). Sounds like the suspention is about to give way...When I depress the brakes however, the rattle stops.
When the car is parked and off, you can hit the tyre with a rubber hammer and the same noise can be heard.
Sounds like it could be the caliper, but one mechanic says replace brakes, another says anti-rattle plates and another says brake caliper kit. All backing and other plates seem to be securely tightened though..

What could the problem be? ? ?
Everyone says its nothing to worry about, but I mean common!!! Do you want your BMW to have rattles as you're cruising along.. PLEASE HELP!!

 

[ekseniks]

I had this on mine,

What you need to do is take the back brakes off, check the inside pad, there should be 3 prongs sticking out the back. bend them outwards and reinsert them into the plunger thingy... that should stop the rattle. I'm not sure about the front cause i never had a problem with that but it might be the same...

Good luck:thumbs:

 

[Wesley]

Tried that already.. Bent them gooood. Bent the clips on the outside to give more tension as-well... The fault is definitely on or near the calipers though. Don't think it's bearings, coz applying brakes takes the noise away. Starting to think I should get new calipers and be done with it. Just worried I replace the calipers and they were not at fault...wasting money.
:bangdesk:

Thanks though

 

[Raybimmer]

Check the big dust cover plate it has 10 mm bolts holding it on , sometimes it cracks and breaks near the mounting points .

 

[Wesley]

Check the big dust cover plate it has 10 mm bolts holding it on , sometimes it cracks and breaks near the mounting points .

Nope.. still there
It pains me to have such a breathtaking ride spoiled by something so 'small'...a rattle...metal to metal. Love the music, hate the physical!
:argh:

Think I'm going to fit new brakes and redo the disks.. if not replace.
And hope that sorts it out..

Any possible issues on the caliper itself I can check?

 

[Solo Man]

On my old E39 528i i had this annoying rattle coming from the back wheels. Especially when travelling slowly with the windows open it sounded like i was on my honeymoon with a string of tins tied to the car! Well, i jacked up the rear of the car, got underneath it with a rubber hammer and hammered away. Hit the wheels, the sideshafts, the backing plates and eventually when i hit the brakes did i hear the same sound. It was the brake pads that were slightly smaller than the space in the caliper. They would move/rattle to and fro in the caliper and produce the rattle noise! I took them out (they were like new) and welded a small ball on the trailing side of the pad and filed it down untill it would just go into the caliper. That solved the problem and it was still quiet when i sold the car nearly 100k km later!
On my E36 318iS currently in my posession the front backing plates were cracked at the fixing points and rattled quite a lot. All i did was bend them so that they were not touching at the place where they were cracked! They are still quiet since i did this.

 

[Doomsdaya]

My car is also making that rattling sound but only when I apply brakes.... Will take note of what you guys said, thanks :thumbsup:

 

[gconry18]

Tie Rods?

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Or end links

 

[tarintino]

I would check the lower control arm bushes.

 

[racing snake]

check the caliper pins, they do wear out with time and might be the cause.