Z4MR Steering vibration

M

Meeko

Member
Hi all,

I've taken the plunge and bought a Z4MR from a forum member on here (Interlagos with Cream leather). On the test drive I noticed steering vibration at around 70MPH and under braking. I purchaeed anyway as the car seemed to be in good order and was of good spec for the price. It's got 4 new tyres, so I assume it's not caused by wheels being unbalanced. Any thoughts what could cause it?

Regards,

Steve
 
The vibration still could be an unbalanced wheel. Unfortunately balance weights can be off, the person doing the job could also be off :? as tools are only as good as the user! another issue could be a buckled alloy....

Just my 2p worth. :thumbsup:
 
Meeko said:
Hi all,

I've taken the plunge and bought a Z4MR from a forum member on here (Interlagos with Cream leather). On the test drive I noticed steering vibration at around 70MPH and under braking. I purchaeed anyway as the car seemed to be in good order and was of good spec for the price. It's got 4 new tyres, so I assume it's not caused by wheels being unbalanced. Any thoughts what could cause it?

Regards,

Steve
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome to the forum !

I had 4 brand new wheels and tyres fitted on Friday lunchtime on the motorway Friday evening I too had Steering Vibration so took the car back in to the garage on Saturday morning and they rebalanced the wheels (some of the weights had fallen off) so the balancing was out !
Smooth running now !
:driving:
 
Get the wheel balancing checked as a first measure.

Get them to check the wheels when they are balancing them to see if any of them are buckled, even slightly.

If the car judders under braking, it would suggest warped brake discs.
 
The discs may be fine, it might simply be pad deposits.

It may also be control arm bushes, or a wheel bearing.
 
My advice would be:

1. Check the inside of the tyres for buldges or anything unusual. Check the wheel nuts are tight also.
2. Get the wheels balanced.
3. Get the allignment sorted.
4. Could be a warped disc.

I'd imagine at stage 2/3 it will be sorted as others have said :)
 
FR08MEE said:
My advice would be:

1. Check the inside of the tyres for buldges or anything unusual. Check the wheel nuts are tight also.
2. Get the wheels balanced.
3. Get the allignment sorted.
4. Could be a warped disc.

I'd imagine at stage 2/3 it will be sorted as others have said :)
Click to expand...

Tyre pressure too, dont forget those. Those being out can cause all sorts of odd things.
 
Just to add another option - my Z4MR begun to do the same but it got worse until the car was undriveable (as I was taking it to the stealers for a major look over), turned out I had a sticking caliper that was warping the rotor to the point so much heat was being generated that the disc cracked...£2000 later and I've got a load of labour, new caliper, two new discs, four new pads and a whole lot of happiness again :)
 
One other simple thing, though unlikely. Could have picked up a clump of dried mud, on the inside of the wheel. I did once and it was the last thing I thought to check.
 
Just check the balancing. After 4 weeks of BMW having my car , they gave it to me back still with juddering like yourself. The supplying dealer took it back, checked the balancing which I'd asked the other garage to check from day 1 - and there we go - car behaved. All 4 wheels needed balancing, had been sprayed over by the ordinal dealer and had two new tyres fitted - cowboys.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Developed this issue lately at 70mph +, had my front wheels rebalanced today and the steering vibration has totally gone. Cost me £15.
 
I had this exact same issue and if you are experiencing judder under hard braking this is all most likely due to fried discs and pads... I just had to have my rear discs & pads aswell as front discs done. Costly but now the car runs perfectly. No vibration at speed and no judder under braking.
 
Ninarvana said:
I had this exact same issue and if you are experiencing judder under hard braking this is all most likely due to fried discs and pads... I just had to have my rear discs & pads aswell as front discs done. Costly but now the car runs perfectly. No vibration at speed and no judder under braking.
Click to expand...

Painful isn't it but at least it's all sorted now!
 
Hi all,

Firstly thanks for all of your suggestions, much appreciated. I had the wheels balanced and learned one of them was buckled. Despite the buckle, the garage was able to balance them but I had the vibration. I then had the wheel repaired and balanced and still had the vibration. Took it back for balancing somewhere else and they confirmed it was out of balance! So third balance later and I still have vibration!

It turns out the other wheel also has the slightest of buckles too but the tyre garage ownwer said in his experience the buckle was so slight it wouldn't be noticed. I'm now going to get the rears balanced and if still a problem get a loan set of good wheels from a local Indy and test drive. If it's OK, it must be the slight buckle in the front wheel. While it's in I'll get them to check bushes/wheel bearings etc. The car is twicthy under B road blasting despite having a recent Hunter aligment, so I suspect something isn't right with the front suspension anyway. The steering wheels goes from side to side as the car goes over the road undulations which is a little unnerving!

Hopefyully it's something simple!

Thanks,

Steve
 
Hopefully you're on the right track Steve. All 4 of mine needed doing ... All contributing to vibration through the steering wheel one way or another. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Steve_R1979 said:
FR08MEE said:
My advice would be:

1. Check the inside of the tyres for buldges or anything unusual. Check the wheel nuts are tight also.
2. Get the wheels balanced.
3. Get the allignment sorted.
4. Could be a warped disc.

I'd imagine at stage 2/3 it will be sorted as others have said :)
Click to expand...

Tyre pressure too, dont forget those. Those being out can cause all sorts of odd things.
Click to expand...




+1 :thumbsup: in that order.
 
Hi all,

After being releived of £350 by Clayton BMW Specialists in Bristol, I can confirm the vibration is worse than ever!

Before taking the car to them I had all four wheels balanced again (every time I get them balanced they appear to be out a little which makes me think every machine is different).

Clayton checked all of the suspension and said the car felt better with Sport button pressed!!!! I said that only changes the throttle so I wasn't sure they knew what they were on about. They relplaced two broken exhaust mounts, did the tracking/cambers (already done on a Hunter when I bought it), adjusted the handbrake and did a DME software upgrade for throttle hesitation (didn't help).

So I know the wheels are balanced, tyres are brand new, suspension has no play, alignment is good and discs aren't warped. All I can think of is it's the wheels. I saw two slight buckles in the front and rear offside wheels which the tyre mechanic said wouldn't be noticable - but they must be! I'll get these repaired and report back.

Steve
 
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