The different noises your M5 emanates

[ranmandaman]

Whilst driving in town I noticed 3 different noises coming from the car and wanted to know whether other members had experienced these / what they were. I'll try my best to explain them!

1. Sort of a light whine noise that seems to be coming from the passenger side towards the front of the car. Only comes when doing low speeds (<20mph) and so far have just noticed it in the cold (<5C).

2. A squealing noise when applying the brakes that sounds like a whistle and only when braking at slow speeds and coming to a stop

3. A loud screeching noise when braking from most speeds and when the car is coming to a stop.

The vehicle info says the front and rear brakes are good for another 5k miles so wondering what the last 2 are!

[Sabs1815]

Originally Posted by ranmandaman

Whilst driving in town I noticed 3 different noises coming from the car and wanted to know whether other members had experienced these / what they were. I'll try my best to explain them!

1. Sort of a light whine noise that seems to be coming from the passenger side towards the front of the car. Only comes when doing low speeds (<20mph) and so far have just noticed it in the cold (<5C).

2. A squealing noise when applying the brakes that sounds like a whistle and only when braking at slow speeds and coming to a stop

3. A loud screeching noise when braking from most speeds and when the car is coming to a stop.

The vehicle info says the front and rear brakes are good for another 5k miles so wondering what the last 2 are!

Noticed number 1 when its cold out my car has a slight whine as well that gets drowned out as speed increases.

2. i believe most guys here get a high pitch squeak on braking including myself

3. ive never had personally maybe other guys have experianced that

My car is a 2013 with 45K miles so i assume a few new "noises" will start soon

[Pedped88]

Took my car in yesterday after a 3500 mile road trip. 2014 CP with 23000 miles. Drove with my service advisor and this was his impression:

- Brakes are always going to make noise. Mine squeals at low speeds but not so much at higher cruising speeds. He said they can "change the pitch" of the noise but it will always come back/be there.

- When cold, expect all kinds of noises. Mine makes a humming sound followed by whistling until it's warmed up.

- I had a whistle/whine when accelerating/decelerating in 6th gear. He said he can actually hear two sounds. One from the drivetrain and the second one from the differential. He thought both were normal but the car is being checked today so will find out more later.

As a side note, I hear a grinding sound when the car is turned off and I open the door. Happens as soon as I open the door. If I turn the car off and sit there, it won't happen. He though it's the exhaust flaps closing but I've never had that sound before this road trip.

[ranmandaman]

How did the check go buddy?
Good to hear (kind of) that other M5s make these noises. 3 is quite off putting when it comes. It's so loud! The strange thing is that it doesn't happen all the time, maybe like 60%. The way I brake seems to affect it more, ie progressively braking seems to result in less screeching.

[RaTeD ///M]

Originally Posted by ranmandaman

Whilst driving in town I noticed 3 different noises coming from the car and wanted to know whether other members had experienced these / what they were. I'll try my best to explain them!

1. Sort of a light whine noise that seems to be coming from the passenger side towards the front of the car. Only comes when doing low speeds (<20mph) and so far have just noticed it in the cold (<5C).

2. A squealing noise when applying the brakes that sounds like a whistle and only when braking at slow speeds and coming to a stop

3. A loud screeching noise when braking from most speeds and when the car is coming to a stop.

The vehicle info says the front and rear brakes are good for another 5k miles so wondering what the last 2 are!

I get number 1 only in the cold like you especially in negative temps. I also get number 2 as that's normal for our cars due to the upgrade brakes and upgraded rotors we have.

[Maverick997]

On number 2 I have a comment but having not heard yours can't say it's the same.
I had a light squeal/squeak upon application of the breaks. The source of it was the bearings in the rear seat ac fan. When you break it shifts weight forward which loads up the fan bearing. Turn off the rear climate fan and see if it goes away.....if nothing else it will eliminate one thing... They replaced my fan motor to fix it under warranty.

[ranmandaman]

Interesting, will definitely try it out

[TheHouseWon]

You guys are most likely experiencing power steering pump, at least for #1. According to my shop foreman at the dealership it is normal when car is cold. It eventually goes away after a few minutes

[DaveCM5]

When I was playing around with the active sound, trying one day with and one day without over a couple of days just to see which way I liked it, I noticed that the active sound seems to add gear whining noises as well as exhaust rumbling noises. So I would recommend maybe unplugging the active sound module to see what the car really sounds like before being too concerned over faint whining noises.

At least that was my impression of the active sound.

You could code it off too but unplugging takes less than a minute.



-Dave