BMW F30 new alloys - body vibrations - any ideas?

[hovishead]

I recently ordered some new 17" alloys with winter tyres for my '63 plate 320d through mytyres.co.uk

Bolt circle 5/120.00, Rim DEZENT RE 7.50 x 17 (LK 5/120, OS 35)
Nokian WR A3 215/50 R17 95V XL

Received them yesterday, and fitted them myself this morning. Drove to work, and higher than usual levels of vibrations in the body of car through the drivers seat, not the steering wheel. It seems to be worse between 60-90 mph (theoretically - I of course never go above 70...)

The wheels were balanced before shipping (and I can see the added weights), but they didn't come with spigots. I'm not (yet) concerned about the lack of spigots as they are a snug fit on the hub and when ordering the site specifically said spigots not required as OEM alloys. Looking at the spec, the alloys are 72.6mm bore and the BMW F30 is 72.5mm - 0.1mm is far too small for a spigot so I assume that this isn't the problem?

Any ideas what's else I should check for and how I can fix? I've read on one site this morning that I should perhaps have fitted the bolts by hand until they were tight and then used the wrench, whereas I used the wrench straight off - could this be the reason - could this have forced on the wheels when they weren't fully aligned? Would the order I put the bolts on when securing the wheel have affected it (started with star, but when tightening at the end just went around in a circle).

Thanks!

[PositronicRay]

You could try re-torquing. If no good try re-balancing the rears.

If you move tyres front to rear (one at a time) you can identify which wheel is causing the problem.

Edited by PositronicRay on Tuesday 23 December 12:38

[Urban Sports]

F30 320d will vibrate no matter what wheels are on it

[TheDoggingFather]

I thought most cars needed spigot rings these days?

[CraigyMc]

Urban Sports said:

F30 320d will vibrate no matter what wheels are on it

Not in my experience.

hovishead: where are you? I have a spare set of E90 style 306 wheels with summer tyres on, if you want to isolate if it's the car or the tyres.
I also have a 3 series (E90 320d) which we could fit your wheels/tyres to temporarily, to see if it makes my car vibrate.

Depends where you are though.

[thecremeegg]

I'd try spigots first - for the sake of £10 or whatever they cost, they're worth it. My MX5 wheels were vibrating without spigots even though the fit looked fine. As soon as I used the spigots the vibration lessened considerably

[hovishead]

CraigyMc said:

Not in my experience.

hovishead: where are you? I have a spare set of E90 style 306 wheels with summer tyres on, if you want to isolate if it's the car or the tyres.
I also have a 3 series (E90 320d) which we could fit your wheels/tyres to temporarily, to see if it makes my car vibrate.

Depends where you are though.

Thanks for the offer, but I have a spare set of original summer tyres/alloys which I only just took off this morning. I could try refitting them and see if the vibration goes, I'm just assuming that as the car only started vibrating this morning which is when I switched the wheels over that it's due to the wheels...

[Ozzie Osmond]

One possibility is those tyres aren't absolutely "round" so no amount of balancing will ever solve the problem.

There are some fancy tyre test machines which can check a wheel/tyre combination for both balance AND roundness.

[Debaser]

Sounds like it could be unbalanced tyres. If not, as previously suggested, get the RFV checked.

[hovishead]

Thanks everyone. I've taken off the rears (as vibration not through steering wheel), and resat them after cleaning the hub, then tightened the bolts by hand before fully tightening with the wrench - sadly no change. Tested the speed at which it happens, and it's very much at 80mph+ but 85-90 seems the worst, below 80 it's unnoticeable.

I guess I'll take it to a garage to check the balance of the rears - perhaps one of the weights got knocked off during the delivery process. Fingers crossed it's that...

[hovishead]

Update - taken to national chain garage (quick availability) and lo and behold the rears were imbalanced, by 70 and 30 grams. Just taken it for a quick spin and no vibrations now! Given how badly balanced the rears were I'll go back and get the fronts re-done after Christmas.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help! I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious with the alloys and I could get it sorted before Christmas.

[RPL43]

I bought a 2013 320i xdrive and have just fitted winter tyres to the standard BMW alloys. I noticed a vibration on the motorway at @ 60mph and above. I've had the wheels rebalanced three times since, and it hasn't solved it. Like you, think this is coming throught the body rather than the steering wheel, almost like the crank, axle or drive shaft is out of balance. It feels like driving an overloaded washing machine!
It is worse under acceleration in 5th and 6th gear from 60mph onwards.

Anyone else getting this issue?
Cheers