Center Support Bearing/Driveshaft and Guibo/Flex disc

[Coupdetat]

Hoping for some help from those that have experienced this issue.

QUESTIONS 1 - My Center Support bearing is bad. Not a big deal, I thought... But BMW as usual, makes this a little difficult and potentially expensive.

My mechanic, which is a good independent, says the Center Support bearing is part of the drive shaft on my Z4 Mcoupe.

New Drive shaft is approx $2,700 and worse yet, not available anywhere in the USA right now. Apparently there is a manufacture date set for 60 days from now in Europe.
Option 1) Order the driveshaft and miss all of these best months to drive in Virginia.
Option 2 Aftermarket fix.) Install this... https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-7...pgrade/?pdk=AQ Has anyone had experience with this issue and this product? My Z4Mcoupe has 43k miles and my desire is to keep it stock and do the right thing. But my thought is this might be a situation where an aftermarket product is fixing a BMW design issue. Could be my wallet thinking that too!

QUESTION 2 - My Flex disc is starting to crack and needs replacement soon. My mechanic heard from a client that BMW had extended the warranty for these and covered replacement for a high mile 2006 or 2007 Z car. Has anyone heard of this?

Thank you

[vt100]

Originally Posted by Coupdetat

My mechanic, which is a good independent, says the Center Support bearing is part of the drive shaft on my Z4 Mcoupe.

I'd say find another mechanic

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=26_0202

part #8 on the diagram.

$82.49 on FCP Euro
https://www.fcpeuro.com/Parts/?keywords=%0926122282495

Originally Posted by Coupdetat

QUESTION 2 - My Flex disc is starting to crack and needs replacement soon. My mechanic heard from a client that BMW had extended the warranty for these and covered replacement for a high mile 2006 or 2007 Z car. Has anyone heard of this?

Never heard of that. And really doubt giving the age and mileages of our cars.
Anyway, giubo is not expensive at all especially considering that you'll be replacing the central bearing anyway.

[Coupdetat]

Talked to my mechanic again. Turns out I misunderstood.

They can get the center support bearing but he was saying that the dealer is typically replacing the driveshaft as well.
They do this because it is hard to tell if the bearing is bad just because or is the driveshaft bad, which may be the reason for my bearing issue.

My thought and my mechanics thought, is not to spend driveshaft replacement money just to worry about $600 in potential duplicate labor. Especially because driveshafts are not even available.
The intriguing thing is maybe trying the Turner Motorsport center support bearing which looks like it mounts over the original support, so maybe a lot less labor cost?

[Steeler]

The CSB you linked is interesting but seems a bit of a pfaff more than anything.
You need to cut away the OEM carrier to fit this 2 piece housing.
The link does note that NVH is introduced.
I have a solid mounted CSB in the form of a pillow block and a replaceable deep groove radial ball bearing.
NVH is very noticeable but I was prepared for it ahead of time.
If you don't plan on tracking or increasing the engines power I would stick to an OEM rubber mount CSB.

I wanted to remove as much "slop" from the driveline as I could and the CSB was the last part on my car that was actually rubber, besides the tires.

[Michael9218]

CSB is easy to replace. So is the flex disk.
If there is concern about the driveshaft, send it out to a driveshaft shop for a rebalance. The driveshaft is rebuildable. The rear CV joint is a couple hundred bucks, but unlikely to be worn.

[Coupdetat]

Thanks for the help/advice. Replacing the CSB and Guibo. Going to assume it is not the driveshaft. Will deal with that if it comes up as an issue later.

[belcom]

I replaced both as part of my slow but steady refresh. Its not a difficult job if you are using a lift. Its not a big deal for a pro with all the right tools. Exhaust has to come off, so does the driveshaft. Plus driveshaft has to be separated to install a new CSB. In many videos I've watched tons of people were having a hard time taking CSB off and putting a new one on having to use all kinds of pullers and stuff. For some reason in my case, it came off pretty easy without much effort. To put new one on I just put that half of the driveshaft into a chest freezer for 30 minutes or so and then the new bearing just slid on super easy without having to hammer it in.

Cannot comment on driveshaft being bad. Have not even thought about it but at 65k miles when I did it, have not seen evidence of the driveshaft joints being bad or loose. I definitely recommend to repack the joint that connects to the diff with the correct type of grease upon reassembly. BMW has that grease or Liquimoly also makes it.

The old CSB however was rattling pretty bad when I took it out and was completely shot. I installed a brand new oem bearing and Febi guibo. By the way, I did all this to rebuild the shifter but since exhaust and drive shaft came out it made sense to do CSB/guibo at the same time. So if you're looking to install a new shifter or change some bushings it might be a good opportunity to do that as well.

[Bimmer Motors Auto Repair]

Originally Posted by Coupdetat

Thanks for the help/advice. Replacing the CSB and Guibo. Going to assume it is not the driveshaft. Will deal with that if it comes up as an issue later.