Suspension question

[OBwan]

Well I'm back after the loss of the wife's 2003 Z4 2.5 with 176k miles. She wanted another one so I picked up a 2011 3.0 with 50k miles this week. Noticed on the test drive some subtle vibration in the 30-60 MPH range. It is rock solid and smooth at 65 to 80MPH. Drove well on the 500 mile return trip, 32 MPG. Tires are new and no other obvious faults present. Pulling into my dirt and gravel driveway I thought I heard a slight clunking noise from the front. My gut says control arm bushings and/or sway bar links. That seems to be consistent with every other BMW I've owned. Anything else to look for?

Also, I'm a little perplexed at the temp gauge. It reads slightly left of center, which should be normal, but reading the numerical values that's around 240 degrees. That seems awful hot to me. I found pictures of other running cars and they are in the same range but, damn. Needle didn't move any hotter after extended driving in hot weather so I just watched it but, damn.

Yeah, I know it's an E89 but not much traffic over there in the E89 forum.

UPDATE: Found one outer tie rod with play to the point it will clunk and weak sway bar links. Parts on order.

[wdb]

Yeah E89 I have no clue about. You might try zpost to see if there is more traffic there. 240F does sound high but it might be normal these days to run that hot in order to keep emissions lower.

[RJ237]

Try reading the temp with a OBD tool. My M54 runs at 208-210. I think 240 is unreasonable. You can use your smartphone with an inexpensive adapter like the ELM237, or the scanner at a local auto supply should be able to read real time temp. Factory dash gauges are not reliable.