bmw e46 signs of bad drive shaft support bearing
If you feel vibrations under the armrest when accelerating in lower gears them most likely it is a bad drive shaft support center bearing. The only way to check it for sure is to have the car in the air and remove the thermo shield so you can inspect the bearing. When the drive shaft support bearing starts going out you will notice vibrations under hard acceleration in 1st and 2nd gear and when the bearing gets worse you will be able to feel it more often. We demonstrated on a 2005 BMW e46 330ci. This will cover other BMW models too. We had BMW e65 e60 e90 with the same signs.