[jamespscott]

Hi everyone,

I have a creaking noise on my BMW X5 G05. Picked it up last week with 8,000 miles on the clock and within a week of ownership, the noise began. The noise is in the tailgate and happens when I drive over bumps, drive up or down hills, accelerate, decelerate and anytime the car flexes.

I had the same issue with my X5 F15 which I had in the dealership 9 times for. Sometimes they couldn't hear it but most times they applied a fix which lasted a week or two. Sometimes they had to order parts in. When the warranty expired and they started charging me for the work I got rid of it and bought a G05. I can't believe the noise is back.

I had no idea this is such a common issue in many different models of BMW old and new. Anyway, I've managed to resolve the noise in my G05. I've adjusted the boot stops - I'm not sure if that is what they are called but they are rubber stops that can be adjusted back and forth to make sure the top tailgate sits in the correct position. I initially started following a video on YouTube where a guy places a strip of paper on the boot stop and closes the tailgate. If the paper can be pulled out without ripping and with some resistance, then the noise should disappear - this only helped reduced the noise for me not get rid. In actual fact, it needed to be adjusted until the paper ripped.

This process helped me actually identify the noise from the outside of the car and adjust the boot stops to the correct position to eliminate the nose. With the tailgate closed, I pushed down on the tailgate underneath where the glass meets the bodywork above the rear lights, which made the creaking noise. I then adjusted the boot stop for each side, closed the tailgate and pushed down on the same points to check the noise level. I repeated this until I could no longer hear the creaking noise, then I took it for a drive and the noise was gone.

I think I will have to do a video demonstrating the process.