BMW question but bear with me

So whilst this is a BMW question, I do respect the views of many on this forum. Yes I have posted it on an E90 forum but didn�t get anywhere, they seem to discuss more about what LED lights to fit than mechanical issues, that is unless you have a 335i which has many issues if you believed forums  So I purchased a 43k mile 2011 BMW 328 Xi as a winter driver, it still has some warranty and it�s CPO�d for a few years. I really like the car, it drives well and the 3.0 litre 6 cylinder NA engine is a peach. So here is my issue, driving the car up to around 48mph it is perfect and quiet, from 48 to about 70 (at which point general road noise takes over), the car has an oscillating low frequency rumble/vibration, almost like the vibration from a bad wheel bearing. Engine speed & load make no difference to this. It is worse when the cars is cold/tires sat overnight. When it has been driven a few miles the noise lessens, but is still there, at the exact same mph. Rumble/vibration doesn�t seem to change over different road surfaces. I�ve taken it back to the dealer to be checked and they said they didn�t notice the issue, but I had them straighten a wheel (as they found 1 bent rim), did a full balance and alignment. Didn�t really make any difference. So my question is any ideas what it is, I don�t think it is a wheel bearing as the dealer checked them and the noise doesn�t appear below 48mph even when cornering. I don�t think it is the tranny as changing gear makes no difference. Could it be driveshaft�s?, if so why at such a specific speed? I am thinking that maybe it is a characteristic of the standard runflats fitted, problem is they are new so I have many miles before I need to replace them to find out. If it isn�t tires then I want to get it fixed in the next 6 months whist it is still under full warranty. Any ideas?..................and no it doesn�t have an IMS

I had a similar issue in my wife's MDX, and we had a tire that was out of balance. The first re-balance did not correct, and nothing else pointed to being an issue. I sought out a road force balancer, and that fixed it. I would recommend you do the same...path of least (cheapest) resistance as well.

If the issue was a bearing, I believe you'd have some indication of the issue at all speeds, and not just at a specific speed range. I suspect that this is a tire/wheel issue, but since you have run-flats (and thus presumably no spare tire), it will be a little tough to nail this down on your own. Have you checked the wear on the tires? If you have something odd with the alignment, you should be able to see unusual wear on the affected tire. Did they share the before and after alignment specs? Since you (or someone else) hit something forcefully enough to bend a rim, there may be some other suspension issue. The suspension isn't likely to be causing a rhythmic noise, but uneven tire wear due to the suspension might be. I would find a tire shop with a road-force balancer and ensure that the tires really are properly balanced. I'm not saying the dealer isn't properly equipped - but getting another opinion from someone with the proper equipment is a good idea. Several years ago, I asked my BMW dealership to try to track down a mystery noise. As part of their "multi-point inspection," they recorded the tire pressure for all four tires plus the spare - but my X5 was equipped with run-flats as well, and thus there WAS no spare. This made it evident that the tech was just making **** up instead of actually doing the work, and the fact that the service writer didn't freak out when I told him this made me suspect all work done at that shop - I never went back. I'm not suggesting that your BMW dealership is as shoddy as mine turned out to be - my point is only that the job they did may not have been as thorough as it should have been. A tire that balances perfectly at 50MPH can ride horribly at 70MPH, and if an under-motivated tech is working the balancer, you're not going to get the best possible results. Since you're on a BMW forum, are there any other members nearby from whom you can borrow a set of wheels (maybe someone has winter wheels or a setup for race weekends)? Put the car up on jack stands and use your hands to spin each tire. If a bearing is going bad, the affected wheel won't be as smooth as the others. There are other things that could be going on, like the elusive warped rotor (not likely), or maybe a drivetrain component or joint misbehaving, but the wheels/tires are the most likely suspect and the easiest to rectify. You might try a test drive at the highest and lowest safe tire pressures - if there's a change in the noise/vibration, you'd at least narrow down the list of suspects to 4.

Had run flat tires, hated them. Too harsh and ended up being loud on some pavement. Switched them out for some Michelins and a world of difference. Some tires just don't work on some vehicles. Try rotating them to see where the noise goes, or just bite the bullet and replace them.

My guess is that the issue is with the tires also. I've never owned a car with run-flat tires, but I have experienced something like you describe with certain brands of tires.

My 996 has (had) this same issue. I noticed a balance problem on a recent road trip so I had the tires Roadforce balanced. The tech told me the tires were a cupping a bit, we decided to mount the tires back on the other way (non-directional tires, so OK). This all made the balance issue better (not perfect) but still noisy. I just switched to my snows and this cured it all. Balance is perfect, noise is gone. While looking at the tires that I just took off, it turns out they are not perfectly round anymore. The cupping seems to have worn the other way now so that the tires inside edge looks and feels like a 40-sided edge if that makes sense. Kind of like the cross section of a pencil but with 40 facets instead of 6. And only on the inside edge of the tires, not all the way across. So....I may need an alignment and certainly need to replace those tires. The noise was just like a wheelbearing grumbling before it goes really bad but didn't change depending on turning one way or the other and only noticeable at higher speeds, not just residential. The easiest way to see if that's your issue is to find someone that you can swap wheels/tires with just to check. Or buy two new tires, worst case you have two spares that you take back off that you can use eventually anyway.

A bent rim can cause the tire to wear unevenly just enough to cause the issue if driven that way long enough. Only way to solve it is to get new tire(s).

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Back to the dealer......seriously. Best of luck.

As an aside - I hated the run-flats to the point that I tracked down the factory spare tire, jack, and tool set that non-run-flat X5's were equipped with and dumped the run-flats. The price difference between the run-flats and the "normal" tires I replaced them with paid for the extra equipment. Just an idea if you decide that the tire(s) are the issue and you decide to replace them. Now, the bad news - your new-car warranty doesn't cover tires. You may have a separate pro-rated tire warranty from the tire manufacturer - but I'll bet you a dozen donuts (the fancy ones) that the dealership is going to give you the big middle finger if you ask them to replace a bum tire. From your original post, I suspect you know this already, but just in case...

My A4 with 19's on it had this same issue. After checking bearings and rebalancing the noise was still there. Turned out it was a noise caused by the tread pattern on my Conti DWS's. After about 5K miles the noise gradually went away. I also hate run flats and replacing them may immediately fix the issue. Perhaps you can get a shop to let you test a different set of tires and see if it helps before purchasing. They may have a set laying around on rims or they can take some off another car and just let you try them. I actually did this at my Audi dealer and that is how we figured it out.

Another vote for wheel/tire issue. Speed dependent, not related to RPM, worse when cold, it screams tires. As already mentioned, Hunter Road Force balancer is top notch, and will also detect wheels that are bent or out of round. Make sure you verify the Road Force part, most shops have Hunter balancers and simply say "yes" when you ask them. Sometimes the RFB is more money, but it's worth it. Also, check your date codes. Most modern tires seem to start going downhill after about 3 years. I've replaced multiple sets of tires on Porsches with great tread that were simply old. My last 996 came with great tread Sumitomos that sounded like mud tires at highway speeds, turned out they were over 4 years old. Finally, they may just be crap tires.

Thank you for all the helpful comments. I totally agree with those that suggested checking again and not trusting the dealer. I think they decided it was not an issue before they even drove it. I have found a place locally that has RFB, taking it there this week to see if it improves the noise. I really hope it does as outside that vibration zone the car sounds sweet, nice a quiet, perfect for a DD, totally opposite to my gundo hack 40th. I know I can be a little **** on car noises, squeaks and rattles (according to my wife), but this one is really annoying me.

Hope you run this down. I totally understand how you feel. I've been there with a noise that turned out to be a loose sticker inside an AC vent tube in my wife's KIA. It's all you hear right? If the new tire store can't help I'd follow some of the other suggestions and try to find someone who will let you borrow their wheels and tires for testing.

What kind of tires are they? My GF has an '08 328i non-sport rolling on Pirelli Cinturato All-Season runflats. Those tires are garbage and are incredibly noisy. They can't seem to wear out fast enough.. BTW, I'm a former E90 guy myself, 7 years w/ a 335i. Watch out for the water pump. They're driven by electrons, not serpentine belts. When you get the coolant temp warning (note I said "when", not "if"), you need to pull the f over and shut down, STAT!

I own 2, 3 series in the past the last one an E90, I have no complains regarding the mechanical point of view, run flat tires can be a little bit noisy after certain speeds, specially in the highway, when the vibration starts the steering wheel also shakes?

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You guessed it the car is fitted with the exact same tires, I think they were replaced by BMW for the CPO just before I got the car No rear steering vibration, I can just feel the rumbling through the whole car, like I say it sort of a slow oscillating rumble that comes in a an out. Following all the feedback, I have it booked in for a Road Force Balance Friday.

So I thought I would close this thread out. I took the wheels to be road force balanced and that made little to no difference, but they did note that one of the wheels was bent. So this week I got a chance to take the wheels to be checked and straightened, they ran the wheels up and mentioned that a standard run out was in the region on 20 thou, one of my wheels were fine, the next was about 50 thou out, then the last 2 were over 150 thou out, so pretty banged up. Interestingly the guy commented that German wheels are usually a little softer and bend more easily, but consequently are easy to straighten. And that whilst Asian & US wheels are harder, they tend to crack when you hit a pothole and need welding to repair. As any 996 driver I avoid potholes like the plague, and I know since I have had the car I haven�t hit any, so I would think that they were there with the car when I purchased it. And not surprising not spotted by the BMW dealer, main dealer service in my experience is pretty poor, I watched the wheel�s spin on a balance machine and you would have to be clinically blind not to spot the run out. Anyway now they are all straight the car runs fine and the oscillating drumming/humming has gone. There is still some humming over 60mph but as another poster mentioned I think this is down to the Pirelli run flats. Hopefully this may be helpful if someone else has a similar problem.

0.150" on a wheel is crazy! I had something like 0.030" out of round on a HRE wheel that I bought and it was easy to spot and if it was on the front, it vibrated, but on the rear, it was okay...this was on my Audi S8.