Hunter Roadforce balancing Yorkshire/midlands

Hunter Roadforce balancing Yorkshire/midlands

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Balansingh

Original Poster:

8 posts

2 months

Monday 19th May
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I'm at my wits end with vibrations on my 540i.

Been to 2 different well respected BMW specialists, had the wheels balanced 3 times. No one can find an issue with any drive or suspension components so after a lot of googling I want to try Hunter Road Force balancing which is apparently more accurate or advanced, before I give up and chop the car in.

Does anyone know a garage that has this machine near or reachable from Sheffield.

Or failing that where could I 'borrow' a set of wheels and tyres from to prove my theory that it is the wheels and/or tyres that are the issue? 2 different tyres shops and a major wheel refurbisher promise me there are no buckles.

Ifinishposts

1,554 posts

151 months

Monday 19th May
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I have the same with my 530d.

Sometimes the sun visor is flapping about and I can feel it vibrating? through the seat.

Drives me potty, I went through lots of wheel balancing etc.
On our big European trip I went to a place near the Nurburgring, the guy there said the wheels were out of shape, had them checked when we got home and nothing to report really.

I had the rear subframe bushes, rear shock absorbers and propshaft donut changed. Better but still there.

McGee_22

7,399 posts

193 months

Monday 19th May
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Do these vibrations between about 65 to 80mph?

Robertb

2,672 posts

252 months

Monday 19th May
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Don’t some BMWs have the ‘shimmy’ as a notorious feature?

I’ve read about it on a few models.

Are the wheels definitely not out of shape? Wheel balancing technicians seem remarkably bad at noticing a buckled wheel, though it’s quite obvious if you watch the rim going round.

MUDGUTZ

143 posts

161 months

Monday 19th May
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I had this problem with my e60 530i M Sport. I never got to the bottom of it, also vibration under braking. The local BMW independent just shrugged and said they know of other owners who had spent a lot of money trying to get to the bottom of this kind of problem.



For the alignment/balance: Try Chong at ATEC-ALIGN in Huddersfield. He did a good job with the alignment he did for me, which lasted 88,000 miles and he did diagnose a buckled wheel. He’s a perfectionist and properly weighed the vehicle down before he started.

Balansingh

Original Poster:

8 posts

2 months

Tuesday 20th May
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So the suspension, drive, steering components have been checked by Quarry motors and New hall in Sheffield. Both couldn't find any play in anything or anything that could cause the issue.

The vibration appears after 50/55mph, it's still there at 75ish I don't usually go faster than that as all my motorway driving is usually at commuting times so no opportunity.

The wheels have been balanced twice by normal tyre places and then I had them inspected for buckles by RS Wheels who are a massive outfit. They said no buckles and tyres aren't misshapen (2 tyres are brand new and the problem existed before then, also rotated the wheels at the same time and no change).

I could try auto align but not sure alignment would cause this. It very much feels like wheels out of balance but I'm not a massive expert.

To whoever said BMWs suffer from shimmy, this one didn't. It started a while ago and hasn't got worse

McGee_22

7,399 posts

193 months

Tuesday 20th May
quotequote all
I asked about the speed as I had this a few years ago with some wheels and tyres I had bought that had been stood for a while. Despite multiple balance and roundness checks they would still vibrate at speed and I/we (my tyre fitter) eventually tracked it down to the fact the tyres had developed flat spots in the past and despite looking completely round when cool and correctly balanced, when hot they became slightly misshapen again. Replacing the tyres fixed the issue.

Balansingh

Original Poster:

8 posts

2 months

Tuesday 20th May
quotequote all
McGee_22 said:
I asked about the speed as I had this a few years ago with some wheels and tyres I had bought that had been stood for a while. Despite multiple balance and roundness checks they would still vibrate at speed and I/we (my tyre fitter) eventually tracked it down to the fact the tyres had developed flat spots in the past and despite looking completely round when cool and correctly balanced, when hot they became slightly misshapen again. Replacing the tyres fixed the issue.
Yeah I thought that, but I just had new tyres all round and didn't make a difference