High Speed Steering Wheel Vibration

B

BlackOut

Member
 London
Hey all, hope some of you might be able to help or suggest an idea, I've noticed a vibration coming through the steering wheel when driving between 70 and about 110mph. It's not continuous all the way through that speed range as at about 82mph the vibration has eased off almost to nothing before picking up again at about 85mph. At 100mph you can feel the car "wobble", I'm not sure if this is connected.

The vibration itself feels quite low frequency, maybe moving about a third of an inch in each direction in your hands and perhaps vibrating about 1.5 times a second. It's not going nuts in your hands but it is pretty annoying after about 15 minutes.

The car is sat on standard M alloys with the standard profile Vredstein tyres all round. I've had the wheels balanced and they were off by about 7 grams per side, hardly anything, plus it made sod all difference as the vibration was still there.

Any ideas or suggestions..? Is it likely to be the tracking or similar adjustment that needs to be made..? Or worse..? There is no extra noise or play from the rack at any speed.

I'm stumped...

Blackout
 
Think i might have seen some other posts on here putting it down to a binding calliper.

Might be way off the mark but worth a quick check/search.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Another common reason can be the tyres, especially if it occurs within a certain speed range. They may need balancing or there might be a bulge.
 
Not convinced by the argument of a caliper part binding but easy to assess. Just do feel both after a reasonable run at speed. If one is binding it will be way hotter.

I'd get the rims checked to see if one is buckled.
 
I had this and it was the front brake caliper sticking. one burnt fingertip later proved this...lol

I got it stripped and cleaned 6 months ago and its been fine since. I'm sure I will need a new one at somepoint though
 
I found the vibration on mine was down to the wheels being balanced incorrectly. It could be a warped disk, how old are they?
 
Check your wheel bolts are tight and torqued correctly, balancing is your next check go and see someone with a dynamic balancer.

As above could be the sticky caliper, bent rim, dodgy tyre, or a whole host of other things.
 
Thanks guys for the suggestions especially re the caliper. I am off for an extended run tomorrow to Silverstone so that'll make it obvious as I'll hardly be on the brakes as its all motorway.

Pressures are all good, as is balancing. Can tyres develop a bulge part way through their life..? Would that not show up when the wheel is balanced..?

As for the disc that's the only thing I can think may have "changed" since I noticed the vibration starting to happen. The tyres etc had been on trouble free for a few thousand miles before it started to vibrate.
Not sure how old the discs are, perhaps it's second set, I've not replaced them myself since I've had the car over a year now.

I'll update after my run tomorrow. Thanks again all.
 
Play in track rod ends, ball joints, bushes or bearings can all cause this as can unbalanced wheels (if you've thrown some weights off - more common with clip ons than stick ons allegedly). Get down to your local garage and they'll get it up on the ramps and check all these things in a matter of minutes. You can check it out yourself if you have a trolley jack and a pinch bar.
 
I love cars but sometimes they just do things to annoy.

I'll check all those things out (read get the garage to check it lol) as I don't have any real tools or space to do it. I guess it'll be obvious enough if there is play in any of those parts.

Ho hum, let's hope its not a costly problem ugh....

Thanks for your help too bud. Much appreciated.
 
GreyZed said:
Play in track rod ends, ball joints, bushes or bearings can all cause this as can unbalanced wheels (if you've thrown some weights off - more common with clip ons than stick ons allegedly). Get down to your local garage and they'll get it up on the ramps and check all these things in a matter of minutes.
Click to expand...
+1 on wheels. Had terrible issues with wheel shake on my 5er. Eventually tracked it down to wheel balancing. Lots of tyre garages only balance wheels to the nearest 5g. Been told many BMWs need 1g balancing and on inside and outside edge of the rear of the alloy...
 
Mine were 12g out on one wheel :s But had them all removed and started again :) Now they're finely balanced and no vibrations, car is very smooth now :D
 
Hmm sounds like I might need to head back to a decent wheel balancing joint.

Weird how the guys said it was 7g out, as 7g to the nearest 5g seems a bit pointless to measure..?

Meh....

Thanks for all suggestions guys. I'll get down the wheel shop. Is it worth taking it to BMW main dealer to "check" or an independent. Much as I despise main dealers they should know what they are doing..?
 
Take it to a tyre place for balancing. They specialise in wheels so will probably be better than a dealer or general workshop. Go to a decent local guy and you'll probably get better service too. The people who did my Hunter alignment were recommended by the m3cutter site and are a small indie tyre place.

Half the time, a BMW dealer will run it around the corner to a tyre place they have a relationship with
 
If definitely not a balance isue , I have had similar issues with warped disks worth considering if you can dismiss wear in steering/suspension
and tyre damage issues
 
I am sorry to day that a similar symptom (which may be linked to the same problem, or a different one) has been bothering me since I bought the car (second-hand and out of warranty). It is about a slight steering wheel wobble at speeds within 70-95 mph range.
In order to avoid any confusion, by "wobble" I mean a short amplitude but with quite high frequency clockwise / anti-clockwise rotation of the steering wheel. There's no horizontal nor vertical shaking.
It is strongest around the middle of the indicated speed range. It is not violent: by simply holding the steering wheel I can actually cancel the movement, but I can still feel the tendency to wobble. It is best noticed when I leave the steering wheel free on a straight road. Braking does not influence it. It shows only at steady speeds or very slight acceleration, as stronger acceleration seems to tame it down.

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. After all the effort, I still have the same problem.

The BMW dealer is stunned. They said that my best shot would be to replace again the front tires with a top brand (e.g. Michelin). Could be, but considering the points 1 and 3 above, I have reasons to doubt it would solve it.
I suspected flat spots on tires, because the car sits for 5-6 days in a row between trips, as I only drive the car during weekends. However, the wobble never goes away, even after 200 miles long trips.

A few notes:
- The amplitude of wobble seems to vary a bit, from one trip to another. But it's always present.
- Once I managed to make the wobble disappear almost completely. After step 7 and step 8, the amplitude was reduced to almost negligible, and only around 80-85 mph (the middle of the speed interval mentioned above). But that was short lived, as step 8 was not followed by a geometry alignment, and I believe that I dialed too much toe-in when fitting the tie rods. Step 9 plus a geometry alignment brought the wobble back to its usual form.
- The wobble seems to be reduced in very hot weather. Also, by setting the front toe towards the toe-out limit of the accepted range, the wobble amplitude is a bit lower.

I am extremely interested in hearing other owners' experiences on this issue.
 
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