Cow Bell Noise: Losing Patience

[MKE_M3]

Originally Posted by Arben72

Thanks guys, I'll just take it in for the 1200 mile service, I put 550 miles on it in 2 days so it should be soon.

Nice work.

[MKE_M3]

Originally Posted by Rshane

You most likely have a small pebble in your rear brake dust shield. This has happenened to me a few times. Each time I simply took a screwdriver and pushed in on the dust shield at the 5 o'clock position. I never heard or saw the pebble fall out ( strange) but, the cow bell went away.

This has happened to many folks here.

Same for me, definately strange. It happened with about 100 miles on the odo

[White person]

Originally Posted by Arben72

Thanks guys, I'll just take it in for the 1200 mile service, I put 550 miles on it in 2 days so it should be soon.

Good job cuz. P.S it's alban

[Sandye90m3]

I heard someone just ripped the e-brake out of aggression andddd it cured the cow-bell..


I bought the M to drive, not to ensure that the cows can keep on grazing -.-

[Totti]

Fuck. Mine came back yesterday.. Jeez you look like a toss in public when it happens.

[markjord]

Originally Posted by Totti

Fuck. Mine came back yesterday.. Jeez you look like a toss in public when it happens.

You have my sympathy. Not had it for a year now so must be due soon. As they start to resurface the diabolical roads round here there will be lots of crappy stones to stick in there. Whip your wheel off and scoop them out and the cow bell will go. Hopefully.

[highyo]

Originally Posted by lewisjerry274

An official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says the sub-regional body is running out of time and patience for negotiating a settlement with Mali’s northern rebels.

Abdel Fatau Musah, ECOWAS director for external relations, says if the rebels do not soon relinquish control of the key cities of Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal, then ECOWAS will have no option but to use all means necessary, including force, to regain control.

extreme thread jack

[Totti]

Originally Posted by highyo

extreme thread jack

I Lol'd.. Could ECOWAS have something to do with COW-bell?

[ceesar]

I have (hopefully, *had* ... read on...) this "cow bell" noise as well, on my 6 month old E93 M3.

Here's what I heard : http://sdrv.ms/QimgDd

I had previously taken it into BMW Seattle twice ... and both times they took apart the wheel and brake assembly, not finding anything untoward, no stones, etc and put it back together again ... only for the noise to come back.

I had intermittently experienced it, perhaps a couple of times a month, until this week when I heard it every day, so I booked another service appointment.

Today, my SA (Nathan) at BMW Seattle immediately called in their shop foreman, due to the recurring nature of the issue. Of course, we couldn't repro today on the car - but the shop foreman watched the videos I took this week, and he *IMMEDIATELY* said "I know what it is. Ive heard this before. It's loose rivets in the brake rotor."

They ended up replacing the rotors and pads on both rear wheels, all under warranty (remember, I collected the car 31/Dec/2012, so it's less an 7 months old with only ~5500 miles on the clock).

I'll continue to monitor for it, but hopefully this will be the end of it!! Fingers crossed!!

[Peahi]

I had a brief brush with the cowbell....destiny man. It lasted a day....took it in to dealer and they could not recreate the sound. It was silent after.

I eagerly await the return of the mysterious cowbell

[averrec6262]

I had the same thing for about three weeks then it went away one day. It had to be a rock. It was embarrassing driving in parking lots though haha

[Macky112]

hey all, just discovered this thread and wanted to chime in.

I think i got the cow bell noise as well (i would describe it as "clonking/clunking" from the rear wheels when braking at low speed), and I was able to both capture it on video and recreate it at the dealership.

shop foreman said it's a warped backing plate of the brakes (? i could have heard it wrong), and whatever they did, the noise went away (knock on wood).

hope this provides some insight to those that's still troubleshooting this issue.

Regards,
Michael

[MA///M3]

I read every post in this thread. It seems, as was said, that there could be many different (albeit related) issues when hearing this sound. The posts were all very helpful, especially the videos. I heard this noise coming from my car for the first time Saturday night. Happened again as I started to drive yesterday. Sound went away after some hard stops and a long ride. In my case, i think it was a pebble stuck. I just can't see how the sound would come and go if it was something like a warped backing plate or heat shield.

[Robz26]

Hey guys, I got the cowbell sound yesterday. This thread addressed 90% of my questions-- I had been driving on some gravel roads recently (don't ask) so it's very likely a pebble got stuck.

From those that solved it: do I just use a screw driver and push in on the dust cover? I assume this is the thin metal element behind the wheel. I didn't think it was mobile and could be pushed in and pulled out, or am I just creating enough space to let the pebble out?

Or, put another way, this thread (11 pages!) had a lot of people that fixed their sounds, but not necessarily detailed directions how =).

Rob

[Peahi]

I noticed the car bell sound in the new M3/M4 videos here. It lives to the next generation!!!

I noticed I can sometimes get mine to go away and pulling and releasing the parking brake a few times quickly.

[spr]

Is it ok to drive on? Mine just started doing this last night. Sooo annoying for an 80k car to make this noise!

[Bob Santorini]

I've heard this sound a few times too but not for a while now.. Today, returning home from work I heard it again whilst in traffic. I put the window down to hear it coming from the offside rear (driver's side in uk). Most embarrassing! Funny how it disappears again after leaving the car for a while. I'll go out again later but if it is still there and continues in the morning then I'll drive to the dealer and have them listen in...

Bob

[onnex]

just had this taken care of yesterday. Tried pulling back the heatshield a little to get it out, but nothing came out. Put it on the lift and it was still there when you spun the wheel.. took off the wheel to get at it more, and suddenly the sound was gone– spinning the rotar didn't replicate the sound and nothing came out besides some dust. Took off the rotar just to check and there was nothing there, but were some marks of wear. Now the sound is gone.

Phantom pebble.

[blackmist222777]

could this be like a broken endlink? or something related to the sway bar system?

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by Bob Santorini

I've heard this sound a few times too but not for a while now.. Today, returning home from work I heard it again whilst in traffic. I put the window down to hear it coming from the offside rear (driver's side in uk). Most embarrassing! Funny how it disappears again after leaving the car for a while. I'll go out again later but if it is still there and continues in the morning then I'll drive to the dealer and have them listen in...

Bob

Good for you ... no more sleepless nights

On a lighter side ... This Vacationer asked the Swill Bartender ...

Vacationer - "Why do the cows here have to wear cow bells?"

Bartender - "So they don't fall asleep when they eat the grass"

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by Totti

I Lol'd.. Could ECOWAS have something to do with COW-bell?

i seriously don't know wtf is going on now...lol

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by M3RD

Has happend to me too when I drove thru the Alps (lot's of gravel). While I was checking it out a nice fellow came along and stopped. He overheard me talking about "cow bells" then he told me this story ...

"You know why our cows wear them cow bells"? No I said and he went on "So that the cows don't fall asleep while they are grassing"

We both had a good laugh.

alright, I call bs on this story, you're just yanking our e-brake springs aren't ya?