Has anyone experienced any of the follwing?

I want to have the dealer inspect this stuff but info would be great in the event they try to blow it off

1-Heater fan noise
2-sun roof wind noise, seems excessive
3-smell of burnign rubber after long drive and pulling into the garage
4-odd breaking in the cold/snow
5-excessive sliding in the snow

I dont think my vehicles tracion control is working properly.

Thanks

1- What kind of noise? Obviously it's going to make noise, it's pushing large amounts of air.

2-Does it decrease significantly with the shade closed? If not, it may be coming from somewhere else and masquerading as sunroof noise. Best way to tell is to drive another one or let the dealer drive it, they drive lots of them and they'll know if it's 'normal' or not.

3-My E46 and lots of other BMW's exhibit this just-short-of-alarming hot rubber smell after driving. Especially in the summer. I haven't found a source of this smell (other than the fact that there's lots of rubber bits in the engine that get hot), and I've never had a problem because of it.

4-what exactly is it that's breaking in the cold? Stuff shouldn't just break because it's cold.

5-sliding how? Taking off? Stopping? What size and brand of tires are you running? That will have a large impact on your handling in the snow. Nothing will help its handling on ice. (Nothing handles well on ice)


In my experience, the X3's are the best handling BMW's in the snow when they're wearing the proper tires.

thanks,

couple misconceptions
1 braking as in applying the brakes, yes I'm an idiot. They feel spongy and in one extreme cold morning in god for saken Malone NY I actually had to stand as hard as I could on the pedal to engage the brakes, and I felt no resistance from the ABS system it was a strange feeling.

2nd I was driving on the highway this week and it began to snow, and just as the road started to get covered, so we are talking a minimum amount of snow the back of the vehicle started to slide back and forth. I thought maybe high winds or some road condition, but it continued this behavior for the entire journey, to the point that I had to slow to 35-40 mph to keep the car from doiing this and other cars were passing and apparantly inneffected by the current road conditions. Almost as though the rear tires where pushing the front and loosing grip. It was very strange.

Thanks for the feedback, I 'll have to look at the tires, any recommendations when a new set come due.

The braking issue definately is not normal. Is the vehicle new or used? Might want to bleed the brakes if it was a used vehicle. That would account for sponginess. If new, take it back to the dealer and have them look at it.
As far as sliding around, our X3 is doing extremely well and we have had a lot of snow this year. It is on 18" Pirelli Scorpions that come with the sport pkg and they are doing better than I thought they would. Yes, they will slip on turns a little if not careful, but going down the road has been solid. I have heard they perform a little better than the Michellin's, but I have no first hand experience with those.

Serge, what year is your X3 and how many miles are on it? If the rear end is wandering and your tires are in decent shape, you've got some problems... maybe a caliper sticking? (which may also help explain the braking issue) or is it possible that the car was ever in an accident or had some suspension damage from hitting a pothole or something? The rear end should NOT be wandering around. What condition are the tires in?

Thanks for the replies.

The X3 s a 2004 with 40k miles on it I bought it certified pre oned from BMW. no accidents on the reports, the tires are in good conditon they are Bridgestone Turanza.

How abut the sunroof wind noise, it does dramaticallly reduce when the screen is closed.

Serge, did you purchase the X3 after owning a car for an extended amount of time? I havent driven the X5 much in the snow (this morning was the first time), but my experience with other SUVs is that SUVs tend to be lighter in the back, which will cause the back end to slide easier (especially on SUVs that you manually have to engage 4 wheel drive). In addition, the fact you are higher up it exaggerates the sliding. Just some things to consider if you came straight from a car.

Again, the above observations are from driving other brands of SUVs, not the X5.

windnoise from sunroof is normal. sun shade acts as sound insulator, and it will 100% for certain make noise when shade is open. sorry.

Serge, did you purchase the X3 after owning a car for an extended amount of time? I havent driven the X5 much in the snow (this morning was the first time), but my experience with other SUVs is that SUVs tend to be lighter in the back, which will cause the back end to slide easier (especially on SUVs that you manually have to engage 4 wheel drive). In addition, the fact you are higher up it exaggerates the sliding. Just some things to consider if you came straight from a car.

Again, the above observations are from driving other brands of SUVs, not the X5.

The X3 is actually pretty well balanced. And there is no manually selecting of the 4WD.

windnoise from sunroof is normal. sun shade acts as sound insulator, and it will 100% for certain make noise when shade is open. sorry.

Yep. If it gets quieter with the sunshade close, then it's probably normal. But let the dealer listen to it. They'll be able to tell you if it's normal.