Steering wheel wobble

adjenkins

Member
Had a bit of a judder from the steering wheel of my Z4M. Only really noticeable at higher motorway cruising speeds. Just a bit annoying. Was close to my tyre supplier recently and I asked them them to balance all 4 wheels. They did so and it actually made the shudder worse, it appeared now from slower speeds around 60mph. Brought it back, they tested and they confirmed all wheels were balanced correctly to zero. They rebalanced it using studs rather than the cones. Essentially this rebalance brought it back to where it was before - ie shudder at higher motorway speeds. I decided to leave it as it, assuming the issues was with the tyres, maybe a flat spot.

About a week later the car was in for its service, Inspection I. First thing I noticed on the drive home was that the steering shudder was gone (at pretty much any speed!). Wondering does anyone know what the dealer may have done as part of the service to rectify this? I didn't mention anything about wheel balance to them. Also tyres not replaced and pressures at 30psi, same as before I left it in.
 
I noticed a very slight judder at 90 on the motorway last week. Tyres have done 15K now and I assumed they might be slightly out of balance. Seems fine at 70-80 where you would usually expect balance judder.
 
gannet said:
tracking or alignment, suspension bushes ?

Would they do tracking or alignment if not asked to? There wasn't anything else on the service invoice to suggest bushes were replaced, just normal service items. (which was more than enough sadly!)

I'm happy steering is better, keen to understand why.
 
Wobble is sometimes caused by lateral run-out of tire/wheel assy. It can be measured with a gauge on tripod and should remain within a 5mm tolerance. Some modern wheel balancers have an electronic run-out built into them.
 
London is spot on the wheels need to be balanced not very costly so don't start worrying to much, you've probably just hit a pot hole or lumped off a curb, if you are running a set of aftermarket rims they have been known to buckle easily but its doubtful.
 
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