Popping sound from front end.

[Thrawn]

I have a 2013 35i x5. Right at 130k miles. I took it in to the dealership for a turbo error message, which ended up being a vacuum leak. I asked them to see what they thought the popping sound was, they said control arm bushings.
The car makes a loud popping sound when breaking or going over uneven ground like something with the suspension is shifting. I replaced the upper and lower control arms, along with the inner and outer tie rods. I left everything loose until i put weight back on the tires bounced it up and down a few times, then torqued everything down. Sound is still there and unchanged. Not sure what else to check. Maybe the struts? I don’t have a way to take the springs off and put them on a new strut, and haven’t seen and preloaded ones that i am confident in the quality. It doesn’t sound like a clunk and doesn’t happen on bumps. Just breaking, like the front end goes down, or maybe something is shifting forward and backwards. I can not duplicate it except driving.

[jbash87]

Some good stuff in this thread

https://www.xbimmers.com/forums/show....php?t=2007243

Also, have you checked the sway bar end links and sway bar bushings?

[Thrawn]

Thanks, i am thinking it could be that. I don’t really think it is the struts. I am going to get the car back up tomorrow evening and check the sway bar links and bushings.

[Thrawn]

It was the sway bar end links

[jbash87]

Glad you got it figured out. And thanks for closing out the thread!