2000 BMW 328I Suspension Problems

“I had been hearing a noise for a couple of months and thought it was the clutch, I took the car into a Bmw-approved body shop and they pointed out the flaw in the subframe and rear differential and how the metal had torn due to stress.”

“I had heard that subframe failure was extremely common on Bmw e46 models (1999-2006) but had no problems, until today. I was driving my 2000 Bmw 328I when suddenly there was a loud pop, the steering became lose and there was a constant knocking noise. Once I got it home I looked under the car and sure enough the sub-frame had ripped completed away from the body, the entire drivers side was ripped out leaving two big hole in the under body of the car. I did some research and found there was a successful class action lawsuit against Bmw na but that claims had to be filed by 2010. …”

“Rear driver's side subframe mount point failure. The car has gone through class action suit in 2009, and was inspected by Bmw in 2010--was told everything is ok and it will not fail since only ones with visible defect will fail. But mine failed anyway 5 years later. This shows even if the damage/defect is not visible it can manifest itself at any time. …”

“Car was making unhealthy noises while being driven and also when getting on and off the the vehicle. Noises were coming from the rear and mostly underneath, as time goes by the noises were progressively gotten worse. I finally took it to a shop to get it checked out and the mechanic found that the sub-frame completely ripped off from the main frame of the car. The mechanic advised that it's very dangerous to operate the vehicle and that the problem can or may cause a serious accident, even death.”

“Heard a squeaking noise from near my rear differential. Lifted the car and found that the subframe had pulled the mount from the body causing the car to become difficult to control and nearly sideswiped a person in the next lane.”