E92 Complicated steering wheel/braking vibration/shimmy

[stevie99s]

Hi, I have a thread also in the bmw section however hope it's OK to put it in here too as it might get more footfall! Many thanks in advance. I've copied it from E90post as you helpful lot may be able to help too hopefully.


Drives: E92 325I m sport (n52k)
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Alnwick, Northumberland


Hi, please bare with me as this post/problem is a little complicated, many thanks in advance!

Basically a couple of months ago I bought a 325I m sport ( http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/t...f=47&t=... As far as I can remember, infact I'm sure there was no vibration or problem.

With this being my first auto I did stamp on the brakes a few times thinking it was a clutch....dohhhh ?? so have done some fairly heavy braking at times.

Now the problem as I remember was when I had my alloys "refurbed and painted" the company borrowed me some se 17" alloys for a couple of days (100 miles) that had a horrible vibration present,especially bad under braking. Now I wasn't too worried as I'd assumed they were buckled etc. And I would have my fresh alloys back soon so fast forward when I got my refurbed alloys back there was still a vibration there although not as bad with the "loan" wheels.

Since then a few weeks back I have had the Mot done which it passed with no advisories, they also rebalanced the front 2 alloys as the painter had just painted over the wheel weights.

I also had a full alignment done which was out slightly.

This still didn't fix it however so my mechanic friend and myself have cleaned the mating surfaces from the wheel/ hub and the wheel bolt holes which were full of flaking paint etc. This I think has improved it slightly but the annoying vibration is still there. ??

It seems to be worse at 40/50 mph and light braking where it can be quite violent, although it's always there to a degree and I could be wrong.

My mechanic friend did say there was some "runout" on the brake discs, could it be this causing it even when not braking?

Could it be bushes or control arms? The cars got 93k on now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want to get it sorted before a few long trips. Thanks for bearing with me!

[stevie99s]

Thanks chaps for the responses, to answer a few questions. Yes it's felt through the steering wheel at all speeds above 30ish, it always seems present but perhaps slightly worse from 40-50ish. You can see the wheel shaking slightly on a straight line.

Under some braking it can be quite violent and the steering wheel shakes a lot however I think it slightly improves after a long fastish drive but is still present.

The front discs are relatively new so the mechanic has advised against replacing them but I may just bite the bullet and try it?

Cheers