Shaking steering wheel 60-85mph

Just to recap and to make sure we are all on the same page.
You said you bought new wheels, I've took this to mean we are talking aftermarket ones here not a recon set of originals as suggested above, is this correct? You've already proved the issue looks like a wheel balance issue on the front wheels as it vanishes when the wheels are swapped front to rear. that just leaves the wheels and the tyres as possibilities.

Here's a few things to check before throwing any more money at it. Have a look at the front wheels and count how much weight has been added, it will give you a good indication of how good the wheel/tyres are. Lots of weights usually points to few things;
Poorly manufactured wheels.
Cheap tyres- these often need more weights than premium brand equivalents
Badly/unevenly worn tyres.
Beyond the wheel weights themselves this can also be due to a slightly out of shape wheel or tyre. I seen this first hand with cheap aftermarket wheels and cheap tyres. In fact in the case I saw with 4 brand new cheap tyres the car also made a right old din like the wheel bearings had gone.

As I've said it can only be either one or both of the wheels or the tyres. I know you trust the place you have used, but the thing to do now is go to another reputable tyre fitter and see if the balancing is actual as it should be, this eliminates a dodgy balancing machine from the equation. I would also be looking at the wheels and make sure the inside surface where the bolts go through/meets the hub has not been painted. On both aftermarket and recon original wheels painting this face can cause exactly the issues your having.
 
Hi, I had the same problem. It was my front left caliper sticking, I had the caliper removed and repaired, the brake fluid pressure increased, new disks on the front and new pads and the problem disapeared completely. I have a video somewhere, you can really see the wheel shaking violently. Mine happened at around 40-60 mph.

The way to check it is one of your calipers is if you take it for a drive so it does the shaking and then check the temperature of the front two brake pads (dont touch them, you can feel the heat from putting your hand near to them). If one is noticeably hotter than the other, its your caliper.
 
NickSalf said:
Hi, I had the same problem. It was my front left caliper sticking, I had the caliper removed and repaired, the brake fluid pressure increased, new disks on the front and new pads and the problem disapeared completely. I have a video somewhere, you can really see the wheel shaking violently. Mine happened at around 40-60 mph.

The way to check it is one of your calipers is if you take it for a drive so it does the shaking and then check the temperature of the front two brake pads (dont touch them, you can feel the heat from putting your hand near to them). If one is noticeably hotter than the other, its your caliper.
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he has said the problem goes away if he swaps the wheels round.
 
MACK said:
Just to recap and to make sure we are all on the same page.
You said you bought new wheels, I've took this to mean we are talking aftermarket ones here not a recon set of originals as suggested above, is this correct? You've already proved the issue looks like a wheel balance issue on the front wheels as it vanishes when the wheels are swapped front to rear. that just leaves the wheels and the tyres as possibilities.

Here's a few things to check before throwing any more money at it. Have a look at the front wheels and count how much weight has been added, it will give you a good indication of how good the wheel/tyres are. Lots of weights usually points to few things;
Poorly manufactured wheels.
Cheap tyres- these often need more weights than premium brand equivalents
Badly/unevenly worn tyres.
Beyond the wheel weights themselves this can also be due to a slightly out of shape wheel or tyre. I seen this first hand with cheap aftermarket wheels and cheap tyres. In fact in the case I saw with 4 brand new cheap tyres the car also made a right old din like the wheel bearings had gone.

As I've said it can only be either one or both of the wheels or the tyres. I know you trust the place you have used, but the thing to do now is go to another reputable tyre fitter and see if the balancing is actual as it should be, this eliminates a dodgy balancing machine from the equation. I would also be looking at the wheels and make sure the inside surface where the bolts go through/meets the hub has not been painted. On both aftermarket and recon original wheels painting this face can cause exactly the issues your having.
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just saw the 108 spec my bad
 
It points to the front wheels/tyres, so it's either a bad tyre or the wheel is buckled. Tyres can get damaged, so you need to really check these carefully.
 
To recap,
  • These are aftermarket wheels, brand new & never opened
  • I swapped my original 2013 sport contact 5 tires onto the fronts and had brand new sport contact 5s to match on the back
  • As soon as I put the wheels on the car I got a shaking steering wheel above 60mph, one of the new wheels was littered with wheel weights, originally they blamed the tire at been slightly out of shape. After two goes at balancing the wheel was then blamed for the shaking due to it been buckled
  • I took it to a trusted indie who gave the same diagnosis
  • received a new wheel from the company, replaced the out of round wheel and balanced to 0-0 with very little weights, shaking still present
  • Indie balanced the remaining wheels which where all about 5g out to 0-0, while doing this reported that the inner and outer edges of the RIM where fine, having dealt with the previous problem the tech was looking for anything abnormal across the rest of the wheels, all the wheels now have a normal amount of weights on them, shaking still present
  • I then removed the wheels myself and checked all bushes/mountings where tight, drove the car approx 20 miles to check the calipers which where all at equal temp, discs have also been replaced within the last 6 months
  • Wheels then swapped front front to back axle where the shaking the wheel stopped
  • Reported this to the indie who said that one of the front tires did have a slight bit of movement in it

The things that stand out as odd to me are the wheels been balanced normally and the fact these tyres never shook before. Presumably I was very unlucky and had two issues going on at the same time, one been the original buckled wheel and the second been a potentially damaged tire.

Other thing thats worth mentioning is the the wheels have got 5g weights on them and all of them look equal across the rims (between 3-5 on the inner and outer edges)
 
road warrior said:
thecookie125 said:
road warrior said:
I will just ask.. These ain't bloody runflats are they?
So you put your good used tyres back on the front of the new rims yes?
OK well this is just observed experience here, I have no documented proof but I will share
I observed when I did the same as you I experienced a similar action. You see.. A tyre settles in to the rim as it wears, so when you take the tyre off the rim and put it onto another rim you will have highs and lows points on the tyre that will now have to re bed in. You have 2 choices. Be patient as it will take maybe 500 miles to re settle, or try them on the back and put the new tyres on the front. I recommend the latter, as you can still bed the tyres in on the back but with reduced vibrations hopefully. There remains the question of the rims but that's up-to you to know.
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Is it possible that the tyre got damaged when it was removed from the old rim? I’ve checked the dates on the tyres and they are from the back end of 2013 so will be hardening up I would imagine.
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time to buy some tyres i think , IF your sure your new rims are any good that is, im currently sourcing these SUMMER TYRE Falken AZENIS FK510 225/40 ZR18 92Y XL with MFS BSW for 70 quid a corner delivered - very very highly rated - when you have them put on ask him to spin up the rims before putting the tyres on to check the rims
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Yes I agree, thanks for the offer on those if it had been 3 weeks ago I would have said yes but I want matching ones across the car and have just spent £280 on the rears :|
 
thecookie125 said:
road warrior said:
thecookie125 said:
Is it possible that the tyre got damaged when it was removed from the old rim? I’ve checked the dates on the tyres and they are from the back end of 2013 so will be hardening up I would imagine.
Click to expand...
time to buy some tyres i think , IF your sure your new rims are any good that is, im currently sourcing these SUMMER TYRE Falken AZENIS FK510 225/40 ZR18 92Y XL with MFS BSW for 70 quid a corner delivered - very very highly rated - when you have them put on ask him to spin up the rims before putting the tyres on to check the rims
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, thanks for the offer on those if it had been 3 weeks ago I would have said yes but I want matching ones across the car and have just spent £280 on the rears :|
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oops,
but dont you still need 2 fronts ?
 
road warrior said:
thecookie125 said:
road warrior said:
time to buy some tyres i think , IF your sure your new rims are any good that is, im currently sourcing these SUMMER TYRE Falken AZENIS FK510 225/40 ZR18 92Y XL with MFS BSW for 70 quid a corner delivered - very very highly rated - when you have them put on ask him to spin up the rims before putting the tyres on to check the rims
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, thanks for the offer on those if it had been 3 weeks ago I would have said yes but I want matching ones across the car and have just spent £280 on the rears :|
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oops,
but dont you still need 2 fronts ?
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Yeah I do but I want them to be matching with the ones on the back so it's uniform if you see what I mean, think SC5's are £180 fitted looking at prices on the fronts.
 
exdos said:
Thecookie125,

Your problem sounds a lot like a problem that I had when I fitted a new set of BBS RXII wheels to my Z3MC, some years ago. Although the wheels are supposed to be a direct fit for the BMW hubs, the front wheels required spigot rings fitting to make the fit perfect. The rear wheels were perfect without. See: https://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Spigot-Rings-Just-What-Are-They-/10000000179072609/g.html
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I know what you mean, the centre bore of these wheels is 72.6 I believe the OEM wheel is 72.5? could 0.1mm really make that much difference?
 
When engineering tolerances are measured in 1/1000ths of an inch and closer, the difference between 72.6mm and 72.5mm is 4/1000 of an inch, the answer is yes.
 
Taken it out and the vibration is still there :headbang:, I had the tyres fitted mobile while I was at work however when I spoke to the tech a moment ago he said the wheels balanced perfectly and one of them didn't even need any weights :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:, I've checked them and as he said one of them doesn't have weights on it and the other has 4 on the outer edge. Going back to the actual business on Monday to get them to check the balance on their machine. I'm seriously fed up now with it.

exdos said:
When engineering tolerances are measured in 1/1000ths of an inch and closer, the difference between 72.6mm and 72.5mm is 4/1000 of an inch, the answer is yes.
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There won't be a ring of that small diameter I wouldn't imagine, I will try and improvise with some insulating tape or something similar if the balance is genuinely correct.
 
ON my wheels, it's not so much the difference in size of the bore, as the actual fit of the face of the spigot ring to the hub, that makes the difference.
 
exdos said:
ON my wheels, it's not so much the difference in size of the bore, as the actual fit of the face of the spigot ring to the hub, that makes the difference.
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What would you recommend then, I've messaged someone else who has the same wheels as me on a Z4 and he claimed not to have an issue.
 
exdos said:
ON my wheels, it's not so much the difference in size of the bore, as the actual fit of the face of the spigot ring to the hub, that makes the difference.
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Actually can't thank you enough for pointing me in the right direction, 3 layers of insulation tape later on each hub and the shakes gone!

Not a long term solution at all however it will do until I can either find a correct sized ring or get the wheels bored out to a more common size and then buy the correct rings.
 
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