Steering wheel vibration at 50-55mph

[BDR529]

Pretty much as the title says, my steering wheel starts to vibrate around the 50-55 mark and then the vibration tends to die down a bit as I speed up to 70.

I thought it would be a weight had fallen off a wheel, so I've had both the front wheels balanced and the vibration is still there.

I have also jacked the car up and grabbed both the front wheels by the bottom and top, and tried shaking them, and neither of them had any play.

With the wheels off both the hubs can be spun without any grinding noises, so I figure these 2 rule out one of the front wheel bearings being gone.

What else could cause this?

Any help appreciated, thanks in advance


The car is an E36 318iS

[01samuelr]

Drive shaft maby?

[Pistachio]

warped wheels or try different tyre pressures ??? wild stab in the dark my wifes MINI did it and it turned out to be tyre pressures

[mybrainhurts]

Checked your tyres for damage...??

I had a flat spot cause this. Didn't know it was there until the tyre blew on the M1...

[Kays vRS]

mybrainhurts said:

Checked your tyres for damage

I had the same thing caused by a bulge in a tyre once.

[BDR529]

Thanks all for the swift replies.

The wheels aren't warped, I shall check them for flat spots.
Already had one blowout on a motorway and it wasn't pleasant!


Think it may be worth swapping the front and rear wheels over just to see if it still happens.

[Six Fiend]

Hmmm, if it's anything like E34s underneath then it'll be thrust arm bushes. Fairly cheap job and solves the issue completely, well, has done on my 525 and 540

[sat1983]

I had the EXACT same thing on my Lupo.

Tracking/balance.

[Six Fiend]

My 2 BMWs score higher than your 1 VW

[RWD cossie wil]

As said, thrust arm bushes or a worn ball joint.

[Liquid Knight]

Had the same proble with my 320 it was a track control joint that had about 2mm of play. Twenty minute job to fit a new one and it was fine after that.

[BDR529]

Thanks for the replies guys

I'll get a look under it and have a look at the state of the bushes, and see if the joints have play in them. Good thing I'm with a BMW breakers..

[BDR529]

Well I couldn't find any play in any of the bushes. When the wheels are being spun while jacked up it isn't grinding, but it isn't spinning freely either. Like it is rubbing against something.

Both the front wheels seem to be covered in brake dust, which leads me to think the car has been stood for a while before I bought it, so the brakes have possibly seized slightly.

Would this cause the vibration perhaps? Either way I'm going to have to get it sorted. Would I get away with replacing the pads, or will the calipers need replacing too? When driving I can't even notice it. I don't think the discs have been warped, will get a chance to look again tomorrow.

Cheers

[Defcon5]

Re balance the wheels. If that doesnt solve it, re balcance them again somewhere else

[Matt Harper]

I would be more suspicious of the shock absorber. Run your hand over the center tread of the tire (rather than just the shoulders). High points on the tread blocks (cupping) causes the vibration you've described and is symptomatic of shock rebound inefficiency.

[Glade]

Could be tyres themselves.

Had the same on the Clio, noticed it soon after new tyres fitted. had them re-balanced and it was still there.

Convinced myself the mrs had bent something when curbing the alloys.

Then when we had the tyres replaced it disappeared.

[OldSkoolRS]

It may be worth getting the rear tyres checked for balance, although the vibration is coming through the steering wheel, I've had this effect on previous cars myself. At least it wouldn't cost much to check. You could even swop the front and rears to see if it gets better or worse for a free but more labour intesive test.

[Blue Oval84]

That was the ball joints on my E39. Common failure. To tell if they're gone though my mate had to stick a length of metal pole in to get some movement in the joint. Didn't seem too far gone at first but one of them certainly moved with a bar stuck in it for leverage!

[mwstewart]

As others have alluded to, the root cause isn't always the rotating mass. If you've already had the tracking and wheel balance checked, then next on my list would be lower arm bushes.

[kev b]

I would check that your brake calipers are moving freely and the pistons are not sticking.I stripped and cleaned the calipers on my 328Ci and the slight pulling and vibration was cured,all it cost was a sachet of caliper grease and some fluid. The problem was a small amount of dirt/rust in the groove behind the seal which I removed with a wire wheel on my dremel.