front hub retaining nuts
 

is one of the front hub retaining nuts reverse threaded?

no, they are both the same, with RH threads. The thing that keeps the nut backing out is the portion of the nut you stake into the tab at the end of the axel shaft.

thanks! I'm going to change out the hubs today and I had read on a "how to" that one may be. Wish me luck!

You don't need luck...
Check out this thread:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=502712

Thanks for the link! I installed new front bearings/hubs this morning. piece of cake. So much less road noise now. Front is dead quiet. I now notice some simular noise from the rear, however. Took her up to 80, stuck it in nuetral and turned off the engine to let her coast. No change in the noise. It must be rear bearings? I installed a new drive shaft and flex disk about a year. There is no cluncking of any kind back there either. Anything else it could be but bearings?

Thanks for all the help!

It could be the differential, but rear bearings are the more likely culprit.
I did mine a couple years ago and it was a pain.
Jack up the back of the car and spin / shake each wheel to see for sure.
A bad bearing can make for a considerable amount of play in all directions.

I used the instructions here to do mine:
http://www.teamdfl.com/bmw/e30/rear_...ngs/index.html

so how would I check to see if the diff is making noise? It doesn't leak at all.

The way I checked to see if it was my diff was by ruling out the wheel bearings. When I checked the bearings and they turned out to be bad, I went for that fix. Then I had silence.

Deductive reasoning! gotta love it. Thanks man. I'm gonna order the bearings.