Steering wheel wobble on braking - E61 - Possible Causes?

[d_a_n1979]

Buckled wheels will act like poorly balanced wheels, they’ll vibrate the steering wheel at speed.

The knocking sounds like top mounts, but it could be a worn D bush in the damper, which means a whole replacement.

As I stated at the start of this thread, the hard but safe braking is an ideal way to clean off built up pad deposits on discs, just make sure that you drive for a few miles afterwards to let the discs cool off and do NOT have your foot on the brake pedal when you come to a stop, drop into N and handbrake on lightly.

Foot on the brakes when stationary is how most deposits are created and it’s a bad habit worth getting out of ASAP

[RanchoGrande]

d_a_n1979 said:

Buckled wheels will act like poorly balanced wheels, they’ll vibrate the steering wheel at speed.

The knocking sounds like top mounts, but it could be a worn D bush in the damper, which means a whole replacement.

As I stated at the start of this thread, the hard but safe braking is an ideal way to clean off built up pad deposits on discs, just make sure that you drive for a few miles afterwards to let the discs cool off and do NOT have your foot on the brake pedal when you come to a stop, drop into N and handbrake on lightly.

Foot on the brakes when stationary is how most deposits are created and it’s a bad habit worth getting out of ASAP

Thanks. Will give this a whirl, also planning to replace both front wheels to see if that helps cure it.

[d_a_n1979]

RanchoGrande said:

Thanks. Will give this a whirl, also planning to replace both front wheels to see if that helps cure it.

Check drop links & arb bushes up front too for the clunking. Fingers crossed it’s a cheap fix!

Re wheels, they may not need replacing, get someone to see if they can balance them properly. That’ll tell you whether they need to be sorted or not. You may find the replacement wheels aren’t true either, so consider getting them fixed/refurbed too by a decent wheel refurb specialist

[gizlaroc]

I would put my money on the wheels.

[RanchoGrande]

Ordered some refurbished wheels so with any luck they will be straight. As for 0-100 braking to clear the deposits, this will require some planning as I live in central London!

[RanchoGrande]

Front wheels replaced; brake judder still there. Have also been out and done a load of hard stops to try and cure it (more difficult than it sounds to do this living in London)

Think I'm going to have to replace the pads and discs again, which I feel really angry about given the cost to do it initially and that I've only covered 2000 miles since. Ay chance of a warranty claim with the disc & pad manufacturer?

[hman]

I had the same on an e60 - it was deposits on hub which can’t be seen when the disc is fitted. Removed the discs and cleaned the hubs - checked
Inside the top hat of the disc, re-fitted and all was well.

Also that knocking noise may be loose pads knocking when travelling inside the calipers

[RanchoGrande]

hman said:

I had the same on an e60 - it was deposits on hub which can’t be seen when the disc is fitted. Removed the discs and cleaned the hubs - checked
Inside the top hat of the disc, re-fitted and all was well.

Also that knocking noise may be loose pads knocking when travelling inside the calipers

The garage that fitted the discs and pads are adamant they cleaned the hubs. As for the knocking, this was present before the pads/discs were changed so I'm fairly sure it's suspension related (either top mounts or struts or both) either way, it's going to cost more £££. Plus, I think I need a new local garage as I've lost faith in the indy I've been going to for 7 years as they just love replacing stuff rather than actually investigating which part may be at fault.

[JD2329]

Worth taking off all the wheels, cleaning the mating faces on the hub and wheel and carefully torquing the wheel nuts.