Aluminum flex disc (guibo)

[fmorelli]

Chadillac2000's thread shows an aluminum guibo with rubber sleeve inserts. Being an old-school BMW guy, I was not familiar with this. Thought I'd start a thread and see what feedback others have. I did a bunch of google searches and here's what I found. Don't take this as gospel ... it's information I scraped off the 'net:

- there are aftermarket guibos made with polyurethane inserts from various manufacturers, like Revshift. I don't personally care for polyurethane so I'm ignoring, but just mention it here for completeness sake.
- that said, Function7 has some kind of floating unit machined out of aluminum. One can google if interested.
- The unit Chadillac2000 shows is made by Febi, I believe. It is aluminum with rubber sleeve inserts (look similar to what one sees on the inner rear control arm mounts on an E46, for example)

Where it gets interesting, best as I can tell, from various forum posts is that this guibo was put on BMW 1M, and 335is (at some point?). Another forum post had a 135i owner that said a recall got him this upgraded part (from the original rubber guibo). Anyway searches for 1M guibos on FCPEuro shows rubber ones. ECS Tuning lists this part, but the BMW p/n goes to the common rubber part run on about 20 chassis'.

So what's the story on this? Factory part? Worth doing (it's cheap)? Downsides? Do I have anything wrong above?

Thanks, Filippo

 

[Erichale77]

Revshift polyurethane guibo sucks as per everyone iv'e heard who's tried it. Good luck contacting function 7. I tried for 2 years with no success. I've replaced my rubber one for the aluminum one in pic, it won't wear out like rubber one and works with no issues. Just my 2 cents

 

[veer90]

I've heard that the aluminum guibo on the right was the recalled part. You're saying the recall was for the rubber one on the left?

I've run the aluminum one for about 20k miles now. No complaints.

 

[chadillac2000]

I honestly hadn't researched this much prior to buying one. I purchased it used for $65. I know the rubber guibo is considered a wear/tear item with added stress/increased mileage, and I was trying to address every item I could while everything was out of the vehicle.

The aluminum one shouldn't wear out like the OEM rubber one over time, and shouldn't have an ill NVH side effects since it retains the rubber inner bushings (I suppose these could wear out eventually). When you consider how important this piece is in the drive line connection, and as the OP mentioned, for such a small cost, I thought why not? It sounds like a few members here are already running them with good feedback, so glad I installed one. It it's good enough for the 1M and 335is, I figured it would be appropriate for my 135i that will be pushing close to double stock output power wise.

BTW, here are the pictures from the original FS ad showing part numbers of the OEM aluminum guibo used on these cars, as well as an ECS link to the exact one:

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-febi-parts/universal-flex-disc/26117605629~feb/

 

[fmorelli]

There is a thread, on 1addicts where a 1M owner says the aluminum one was on his car new, and blew apart. I checked with a 1M owner (from new) and his car was build # in the 100's ... his has rubber, so this reinforces that the aluminum one was an update during production. On the same thread a 135is owner claims his car came with the aluminum one. Another person on that thread said, "Just to let you know it is a revised part. My car had it replaced as a recall. I asked at the time if it was just being swapped for a new flexi or an upgraded one and was informed that it is a revised stronger part." (assume he's referring to the aluminum one as upgraded, since the rubber p/n has been around since forever and the p/n crosses with like a dozen chassis designations).

Barry Battle at 3DMMotorsport, where my Z4 heads to next week for a round of updates, told me that a 135 he worked on for Motiv had it. He's checking with his BMW parts guy to see what the story is. I'll report more info as I find it.

Filippo

 

[chadillac2000]

There is a thread, on 1addicts where a 1M owner says the aluminum one was on his car new, and blew apart. I checked with a 1M owner (from new) and his car was build # in the 100's ... his has rubber, so this reinforces that the aluminum one was an update during production. On the same thread a 135is owner claims his car came with the aluminum one. Another person on that thread said, "Just to let you know it is a revised part. My car had it replaced as a recall. I asked at the time if it was just being swapped for a new flexi or an upgraded one and was informed that it is a revised stronger part." (assume he's referring to the aluminum one as upgraded, since the rubber p/n has been around since forever and the p/n crosses with like a dozen chassis designations).

Barry Battle at 3DMMotorsport, where my Z4 heads to next week for a round of updates, told me that a 135 he worked on for Motiv had it. He's checking with his BMW parts guy to see what the story is. I'll report more info as I find it.

Filippo

Those are interesting posts regarding the busted aluminum version that the 1M owner had, and that there wasn't any uniformity as to what guibos were installed on what cars. I don't expect to have any issues as do not launch the car, but I'll hold on to my full rubber version just in case and report back with how mine holds up. As I mentioned it was showing zero wear, just thought this version would be superior for longevity and performance. Out of all the things I removed and am reinstalling, getting to the guibo is perhaps the easiest.

 

[fmorelli]

Just tacking on this photo from chadillac2000's thread response. His came in a box with 26117605629 as the part number.

Filippo

 

[Kommodore]

I don't really see the point in using the aluminum unit. You get plenty of advanced warning checking the stock guibo every few years before it goes bad. And there's less potential shock damage with such a piece that has a little bit of give.

 

[fmorelli]

I wouldn't swap this out because of guibo failures (they are rare). It would likely be because BMW figured out how to manage NVH without as much drivetrain loss as a full rubber guibo.

Filippo

 

[Bumbleb]

The Revshift one is trash from my first hand experience. I do not believe it lasted two full weeks on my car.

 

[island road]

I had the Aluminum Guibo part # 26117605629 on my 335i with updated turbos, it is a BMW factory part. Personally I never had an issue with it but realoem along with a few other sites are showing its a discontinued product now replaced by 26117610061. It's very possible they did have an issue with cracking, or breaking apart as I do recall a thread about this at some point. I put about 10k miles on mine, I also bought it when the part was still in production. If you are worried about breaking down the road you can also buy via FCP (Life time warranty) although install is not super fun.

As for another aftermarket product there is also IRP Germany

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-irp-ger...MI-ZXavpzW2QIVlkoNCh0pbwi8EAQYBCABEgKBJPD_BwE

 

[fmorelli]

I had the Aluminum Guibo part # 26117605629 on my 335i with updated turbos, it is a BMW factory part. Personally I never had an issue with it but realoem along with a few other sites are showing its a discontinued product now replaced by 26117610061.

Thanks for the feedback. I looked at realoem but don't see any supersession data. Can you give me a link that shows that? Here's mine: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=26117605629

Thanks!

Filippo

 

[island road]

Thanks for the feedback. I looked at realoem but don't see any supersession data. Can you give me a link that shows that? Here's mine: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=26117605629

Thanks!

Filippo

If you click on any one of the cars that had this part it should say "ended".

 

[frontside0815]

The Aluminium one is the cancelled one!
They were installed in some diesels and other BMW´s but had a lot of damages....

BMW now only uses the rubber ones! Thats why it is so hard to get the Aluminium one...

I also changed the rubber for an Aluminium last december... Now i think going back to rubber since i saw some pic´s of broken ones and i think it´s not that nice!

 

[9krpmrx8]

Hmm when I look it up for my early build N55 2011 it says this " OE replacement for vehicles with production date from 10/2010. Heavy duty upgrade for models with production date up to 10/2010."

 

[veer90]

So I pulled up my aluminum guibo ordered from ECS on 4/18/2016. Here is the link that opens when I click on the Aluminum Guibo picture in the email invoice:

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/universal-flex-disc/26117610061/

ECS has 2 previous revisions listed, 26117546425 and 26117605629. -425 appears to be a rubber guibo whereas -629 is aluminum consistent with chadillac2000's part packaging. So it looks like at some point BMW replaced both the rubber and aluminum versions with an updated rubber part -061.

But wait there's more. ECS still sells the aluminum guibo but Febi branded not Genuine BMW. Adding to the confusion the Febi aluminum guibo is described as "Updated aluminum design with pressed-in bushings".

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-febi-parts/universal-flex-disc/26117605629~feb/

 

[matreyia]

I have the aluminum upgrade, zero issues. Lighter than rubber too.

 

[chadillac2000]

So I pulled up my aluminum guibo ordered from ECS on 4/18/2016. Here is the link that opens when I click on the Aluminum Guibo picture in the email invoice:

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/universal-flex-disc/26117610061/

ECS has 2 previous revisions listed, 26117546425 and 26117605629. -425 appears to be a rubber guibo whereas -629 is aluminum consistent with chadillac2000's part packaging. So it looks like at some point BMW replaced both the rubber and aluminum versions with an updated rubber part -061.

But wait there's more. ECS still sells the aluminum guibo but Febi branded not Genuine BMW. Adding to the confusion the Febi aluminum guibo is described as "Updated aluminum design with pressed-in bushings".

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-febi-parts/universal-flex-disc/26117605629~feb/

Great info. Well, it looks as if we may never figure it out, but at least we have a thread now to accumulate some more real world feedback. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on how my 629 holds up.

Just for reference, this is the one that I actually purchased. He had it listed up for sale in a parting out thread about a year later, and I picked it up used for $60.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1231162

 

[matreyia]

Great info. Well, it looks as if we may never figure it out, but at least we have a thread now to accumulate some more real world feedback. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on how my 629 holds up.

Just for reference, this is the one that I actually purchased. He had it listed up for sale in a parting out thread about a year later, and I picked it up used for $60.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1231162

I have an extra one lightly used. I thought I had to replace it but it was not the issue I had in my transmission. So it's just sitting there on the shelf. If anyone wants it, $60 bucks...no dirt, looks new and solid as hell. Highly recommended.

 

[fmorelli]

I'll take it. PM sent. Not sure if we'll use it ... we'll see.

Filippo