Steering wheel vibration

[BMW Maniac]

It comes and goes....had the wheels balanced and it did nothing....65 to 80 mph. Should I go back and have them retry or what other thoughts? Z4M coupe with almost 60k miles....control arm bushings?

[seank]

Any spacers, alignment toe?

Just happened with new wheels? When did it start?

[wonton180]

I have the same issue. around the same speeds (not when braking). I have mid 60s mileage so i'm thinking control arms bushings. I do notice if my speed is greater than 80 or so the jitterness goes away.

[Spedracer81]

Funny, I've noticed the same thing, at around 65ish mph the wheel shudders until around 80 and stops..but only sometimes...no vibration in the brakes..cars only got 43k

[mtrhed]

My 06 with 66K is just starting to do this. I ordered new control arm bushings from ECS yesterday. They have new brackets w/bushings already in for a pretty good price. $66 and change I believe.

Dan

[BMW Maniac]

Completely stock setup...I have had the same tires for 5k miles

[Krypptic]

I had that twice with my m3's. Are you sure your shop is doing high speed balancing?

[Vanne]

what Krypt said +10.. some shops dont know shit about balancing...

[polar]

Check your tires, they might have uneven wear on the inside tread, like a washboard.

[BMW Maniac]

Ill take it back and have them do it again

[ZStig]

I have the same issue, with newly re-straightened front wheels and new tires

[ZStig]

Originally Posted by mtrhed

My 06 with 66K is just starting to do this. I ordered new control arm bushings from ECS yesterday. They have new brackets w/bushings already in for a pretty good price. $66 and change I believe.

Dan

let us know if that fixes it

[ZStig]

Originally Posted by seank

Any spacers, alignment toe?

Just happened with new wheels? When did it start?

for me, 5mm spacer, 0 toe, -2.5 camber. straight wheels, 70k miles on car.

[mtrhed]

Originally Posted by ZStig

let us know if that fixes it

Will do. They should be here in 3-4 days and I'll throw them on as soon as they get here.

Dan

[BMW Maniac]

New balance didnt do anything...I will stand by and see if the cabs need to be changed

[seank]

Here is something to check.

I had the same situation for 7 months and then I spent a couple hours tightening engine mounts, and the control arm bushing mount (as well as some other parts).

I don't know what fixed it but i do know it was gone after that and hasn't returned.

[Petrosexual]

For those of us with front wheel spacers: try some disc brake anti-squeal on the back of the spacer. It solved my 70mph steering vibration. I used the tacky blue spray-on stuff, gave both front spacers a light coating on the backs only. it worked. Could be it's levelling out the rotor/spacer gap (?)

Also, while check your lugs/ wheel bolts for any gunk in the threads, and verify they are all the same size. A few ounces will throw off the balance.

[RobertRO]

I have been tackling a steering wheel vibration issue for over 2 years, wihtout success. Because it may bring some extra information for you, I am joining below 2 posts I wrote on this subject a while ago on z4-forum
(sorry, it is LONG):

Just to make sure that we are all talking about the same problem, have a look at the picture below:



When speaking about steering wheel vibrations, I define three types:
(A) wobble, which is a short-amplitude high-frequency clockwise / anti-clockwise rotation of the steering wheel - red color in the picture above;
(B) horizontal shaking, which is a short-amplitude high-frequency translation (motion) on the horizontal axis - green color in the picture above;
(C) vertical shaking, which is a short-amplitude high-frequency translation (motion) on the vertical axis - blue color in the picture above.
Of course, it can be that two types of vibration occur at the same time (e.g. A and C), but that's quite rare, and even then one of them is predominant.

The problem I am reporting consists only of steering wheel wobble (A) at speeds in the range of 70-95 mph. There's no horizontal shaking (B), nor vertical shaking (C).
Now, please re-confirm what kind of vibrations you have and at what speed range.

I've taken the following actions (over a period of 1 year and a half), trying to solve the wobble issue:
1. Replaced the front tires.
2. Balanced the wheels over and over again, tires pressure checked very often, rim bolts torqued correctly.
3. Tested extensively (about 700 miles) with another set of wheels (=different rims and tires). The rims were stock ones (style 224) and the tires were half-worn Michelin Pilot Cup, albeit with a different size than stock: 225/40x18 front (instead of 225/45x18 stock) and 265/35x18 rear (instead of 255/40x18 stock). I can say that the amplitude of the wobble was slightly reduced, but probably it may be linked to the smaller overall diameter of the wheels. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of E86 Z4M in my area, I don't have a friend that I could barrow the wheels from for a short test.
4. Replaced the front bearings (for a different reason than steering wheel wobble: the left bearing was worn and noisy at only 30.000 miles).
5. Checked the steering rack for play - tested OK.
6. Checked the front and rear suspension for worn components - looked OK.
7. Replaced the CABs (original BMW) on original front control arms.
8. Replaced the steering tie rods + tie rods ends.
9. Replaced the front control arms (Lemforder) and again the CABs (original BMW).
10. Adjusted the front and rear geometry twice, at two different BMW dealers.
11. Replaced the front brake rotors and pads (but I still suspect that this set of rotors, although new, was not properly balanced from factory).
12. Cleaned the contact area between rims and brake rotors.
And then, after spending a small fortune, I stopped. Despite all the effort, I still have the same problem.

A few notes:
- The amplitude of wobble seems to vary a bit, from one trip to another. But it's always present.
- Very often, after I remove then replace the front wheels, each one at a time using an OEM BMW jack, the wobble disappears for about 100-200 miles,
then it comes back again.

My Z4M is full stock.

[BMW Maniac]

I have the "A" steering wheel shimmy....I had this problem on my 97 M3 for a long time as well and I completely overhauled the front suspension, except for the steering rack itself and it finally disappeared.

I'm going to remove the front wheels, clean, reinstall, verify air pressure, then check the front suspension myself....

[ZStig]

So glad I'm not the only one. This feels like a big coming out party

[pokeybritches]

Originally Posted by mtrhed

My 06 with 66K is just starting to do this. I ordered new control arm bushings from ECS yesterday. They have new brackets w/bushings already in for a pretty good price. $66 and change I believe.

Dan

Do you have a link? I'm not seeing them on their site. If not, I'll just shoot them an email. I've been looking for these for a while.

[mtrhed]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Do you have a link? I'm not seeing them on their site. If not, I'll just shoot them an email. I've been looking for these for a while.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/31107836862/ left
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/31107836863/ right

My issue is slight vibration/wobble in the 60-80 range. Slight vibration/wobble under hard braking. Is getting worse and I'm sure at least one of my cab's is torn. Classic BMW problem and symptoms. My e28, e30, and e34 would give you the same signals that it was time for new control arm bushings. I'm 99.9% sure this will fix my issue but I'm sure that most of the rubber bushings on my car(maybe not subframe) are about due for refreshing. Full tie rods too. Control arms shortly after. I'm sure the Vibra-Technics motor mounts I just ordered will help too

Dan