[Rcarson25]

So, my wife's 06 325xi started making some noise from the rear of the car. Originally I thought it had to be a wheel bearing (car only have 53K on the odometer). Got the car up on my rack and found the sound to be coming from the diff. So, I pulled the diff ordered some new bearings and took it to my local gear shop....

I got a call from the the gear shop today and they said the bearings in the diff are not the standard roller bearings but instead it is a ball bearing setup so I would need to get different bearings. Unfortunately no one, not even the dealer has a part number for the pinion bearings and when I did a search on the numbers found on the bearings themselves nothing came up.

Anyone have any info on where to get the pinion bearings for an e90 XI diff? I have managed to find one used diff in hopefully good condition but the price is $850 and a reman is $1600. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Phil325i]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe internal replacement parts are not available from BMW...at all. All they offer is a replacement diff. I know because I've recently had a noisy diff. Fortunately replaced (after some hassle) under warranty.

[Rcarson25]

Yeah, I haven't given up yet, but I am not to excited to have to replace and waste a completely good diff over two bearings that wore out prematurely. I have never had pinion bearing issues on a car with 55K miles.