[dc_bmw]

I'm getting pretty worried about BMWs quality level. My current loaner...a recent build, has bluetooth isues with my Samsung S3. The connection is lost sometimes and this causes the on board computer to reset! Today i got the "no signal" message while in a call, the system reset (while driving at 100km/h) and thankfully picked up bluetooth and the current call.
Very strange that the entire system can crash. And scary that this can happen while driving.

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by dc_bmw

I'm getting pretty worried about BMWs quality level. My current loaner...a recent build, has bluetooth isues with my Samsung S3. The connection is lost sometimes and this causes the on board computer to reset! Today i got the "no signal" message while in a call, the system reset (while driving at 100km/h) and thankfully picked up bluetooth and the current call.
Very strange that the entire system can crash. And scary that this can happen while driving.

Why is bluetooth dropping out while driving "scary"?

[claykin]

Originally Posted by dc_bmw

I'm getting pretty worried about BMWs quality level. My current loaner...a recent build, has bluetooth isues with my Samsung S3. The connection is lost sometimes and this causes the on board computer to reset! Today i got the "no signal" message while in a call, the system reset (while driving at 100km/h) and thankfully picked up bluetooth and the current call.
Very strange that the entire system can crash. And scary that this can happen while driving.

Update phone software and Playstore apps on your Galaxy. Try to reboot phone then try again. Android is a funny beast.

[kirklander]

Originally Posted by dc_bmw

I'm getting pretty worried about BMWs quality level. My current loaner...a recent build, has bluetooth isues with my Samsung S3. The connection is lost sometimes and this causes the on board computer to reset! Today i got the "no signal" message while in a call, the system reset (while driving at 100km/h) and thankfully picked up bluetooth and the current call.
Very strange that the entire system can crash. And scary that this can happen while driving.

Hi,

My F-10 did the same 2 times. I was listening to satellite radio. Got the lost signal sign on screen and the whole system reset itself. GPS asked to resume after reboot.
If it is electronics, software, there will be glitches.

[zibawal]

It is pretty scary if you try turn while car is on auto stop;(

[dc_bmw]

Originally Posted by claykin

Update phone software and Playstore apps on your Galaxy. Try to reboot phone then try again. Android is a funny beast.

installed a software update for the car. The system didn't crash (yet), but the BT connection now drops every 5 minutes, very consistend.
Will try to reset the phone. thanks.

[archer636]

so they replaced the tires/wheels with Pirelli's; did not make any difference. Then they replaced the rack. I would say the vibrations are 40% reduced but not gone. I Drove another car (brand new) and vibration was a lot worse than mine.

what would you do next? give up? or keep asking them to fix it? I am getting kinda tired of going back and forth.

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by archer636

so they replaced the tires/wheels with Pirelli's; did not make any difference. Then they replaced the rack. I would say the vibrations are 40% reduced but not gone. I Drove another car (brand new) and vibration was a lot worse than mine.

what would you do next? give up? or keep asking them to fix it? I am getting kinda tired of going back and forth.

Just let it ride for a while and enjoy the car. Taking it back over and over isn't going to do much more than frustrate you since it seems BMW doesn't have a universal silver bullet solution yet. Give them some time to sort it out, then try again later.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by archer636

so they replaced the tires/wheels with Pirelli's; did not make any difference. Then they replaced the rack. I would say the vibrations are 40% reduced but not gone. I Drove another car (brand new) and vibration was a lot worse than mine.

what would you do next? give up? or keep asking them to fix it? I am getting kinda tired of going back and forth.

Personally I couldn't live with a vibrating steering wheel especially in a BMW.
If it were me I'd continue to ask for a solution, but I'd put a time limit on it.
How long is up to you. For me it wouldn't be longer a couple of months and I'd ask for a new car with a verified non vibrating steering or take the car back and get something else.
It's a known issue. I respect BMW for continuing to try and find a cause, but I shouldn't be their test subject while I'm making payments.
BMW is continuing to sell a product that has a known problem. They don't have a problem with that, so I would have no problem with demanding they take it back and if/when they finally fix the problem, then I may come back.
But since I'll have a new car by then BMW won't see me for about 3yrs.
Loss of sales is a big motivator. Just because I like BMW's doesn't mean I have to make excuses and just "live with it".

I don't have the vibration issue luckily, but I do have steering that has a clunk when I turn the wheel past 90 degrees left or right.
It's not a huge issue at the moment, but when it gets a bit warmer I'll be in the shop to get it fixed. I will NOT accept "no problem found" or "it's normal".
I'm done with that BS. Design and test the product fully before releasing for sale and then work on fixing what you already know is a problem.
The competition for my car purchase has become tighter with some very good alternatives compared to a BMW 3 series.
To me the 3 series doesn't feel as special as it once did, and when you add these on going problems it makes me look at the alternatives with greater interest.

[jtuds]

Originally Posted by RPM90

Personally I couldn't live with a vibrating steering wheel especially in a BMW.
If it were me I'd continue to ask for a solution, but I'd put a time limit on it.
How long is up to you. For me it wouldn't be longer a couple of months and I'd ask for a new car with a verified non vibrating steering or take the car back and get something else.
It's a known issue. I respect BMW for continuing to try and find a cause, but I shouldn't be their test subject while I'm making payments.
BMW is continuing to sell a product that has a known problem. They don't have a problem with that, so I would have no problem with demanding they take it back and if/when they finally fix the problem, then I may come back.
But since I'll have a new car by then BMW won't see me for about 3yrs.
Loss of sales is a big motivator. Just because I like BMW's doesn't mean I have to make excuses and just "live with it".

I don't have the vibration issue luckily, but I do have steering that has a clunk when I turn the wheel past 90 degrees left or right.
It's not a huge issue at the moment, but when it gets a bit warmer I'll be in the shop to get it fixed. I will NOT accept "no problem found" or "it's normal".
I'm done with that BS. Design and test the product fully before releasing for sale and then work on fixing what you already know is a problem.
The competition for my car purchase has become tighter with some very good alternatives compared to a BMW 3 series.
To me the 3 series doesn't feel as special as it once did, and when you add these on going problems it makes me look at the alternatives with greater interest.

When was your car built? Must be somewhat recent if it is an M sport. I'm picking mine up in Munich May 3 and I'm seriously concerned about reading these horror stories.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by jtuds

When was your car built? Must be somewhat recent if it is an M sport. I'm picking mine up in Munich May 3 and I'm seriously concerned about reading these horror stories.

Don't worry so much. Did you order DHP?

Seems 11/2012 and newer builds are experiencing a lot less wobble in the steering wheel. My Nov build with DHP is fine.

Also no clunk on my car, although the suspension has a distinctly hollow sound when going over some road surfaces and speed bumps. Drove another DHP car it sounded same. Not a deal breaker, just an annoyance.

[BavarianFanatic]

I have zero issues with my 11/12 build 335i M Sport. No fancy DHP for me.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

I have zero issues with my 11/12 build 335i M Sport. No fancy DHP for me.

Thats fancy schmancy to you!

[Seagull]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

I have zero issues with my 11/12 build 335i M Sport. No fancy DHP for me.

Same here!

[jeffc42]

I finally got my 335i, November production, and have no issues with it. I think those four revisions of the steering rack did improve road feel, though still not quite as good as the E90. My point of comparison was the car BMW supplied for the Drive for the Team event last year.

[notfound]

Zero issues here.. No vibrations whatsoever, regardless of speed.. Tires are ContiProContact.

[dc_bmw]

Got my car back again and went for some test drives.
While there still is a visible vibration in the wheel at 100km/h, there is no power behind the vibration anymore. As soon as i grap the wheel, i can hardly feel any vibration. At other speeds and moments, there is no vibration. My car is actually nice to drive now. Very nice.
I also drives reasonably straight.
According to the dealer they only had it balanced and aligned, as they have tried numerous times before. This time it was done by BMW NL with 'new and improved tolerances'. The alignment report showed the values out of the tolerance range, which were corrected.
The feeling now feels heavier than before. I have no explanation for this. It feels as if they turned down the power steering a few nodges.
Anyway, i am happy with the experience now. But a little afraid to put the summer set on again.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by dc_bmw

Got my car back again and went for some test drives.
While there still is a visible vibration in the wheel at 100km/h, there is no power behind the vibration anymore. As soon as i grap the wheel, i can hardly feel any vibration. At other speeds and moments, there is no vibration. My car is actually nice to drive now. Very nice.
I also drives reasonably straight.
According to the dealer they only had it balanced and aligned, as they have tried numerous times before. This time it was done by BMW NL with 'new and improved tolerances'. The alignment report showed the values out of the tolerance range, which were corrected.
The feeling now feels heavier than before. I have no explanation for this. It feels as if they turned down the power steering a few nodges.
Anyway, i am happy with the experience now. But a little afraid to put the summer set on again.

Good to hear it was resolved. Mine also developed some shimmy in first 500 miles but a road force balance and realignment solved it.

[Frederik82]

This morning I went to the local dealer in Belgium for checking the steering wheel vibration problem on my F31 320D. A technician did a test drive and agreed with me that there is definitely a problem with the steering (I was already happy that he noticed it too ). He thinks it has to do with the new electronic power steering system but he didn't had any solution at this moment. So he opened a PUMA case because he needs instruction of BMW Belgium on how to solve this problem. He will get back to me as soon as he gets any feedback.
I'll keep you guys informed.

[senmurv76]

After waiting for several months, today I received a call from my local AD asking me to bring in my 320i as they have now received instructions from BMW Germany on how to check for and resolve the vibration in my car. I was told they will be keeping it for a few days or weeks. They told me they have a new road force testing machine. Keeping fingers crossed.

[N-Y]

looking to join BMW family... i've noticed this thread... is it a major issue in a lot of 2012 F30?... cause I found one, and I was considering buying it... but this thread got me worried.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by dc_bmw

it all sounds like a shimmy is a quality issue with particular cars and the vibration is a....feature.
From my experiene every 3 or 5 series has the vibration. Not everybody finds it annoying, otherwise there should be more complaints.
I can confirm the new steering rack (i have it) doesn't help (for me).

Can't be 'every' 3 series as my 335i does not have any vibration.
It didn't vibrate with the OEM S001's and it's not vibrating now with the
Conti DWS tires either.

It's got to be some tolerance issues so that when the planets are aligned just so, there is a vibration.
This is not good for BMW, not at all.

I do have an odd clunk though in my steering that is felt through the steering wheel.
It's amazing that BMW has now redesigned and/or replaced a LOT of steering related parts.
BMW's engineering and testing has gone awry.
This is a prime example of "if it ain't broke, don't break it".
Yet, BMW has managed to break what used to be the benchmark in steering feel and function in sport sedans.
They had it right for so many years until they decided to water down the driving feel of the 3 series in order to appease the marshmallow driving masses and get a larger market share.
They succeeded in getting market share, and somewhat ruined the excellent steering feel.

After owing my 335i since September, I can now honestly say that this IS a softer 3 series in every aspect from suspension to steering to braking. It's loaded with a gaggle of techno geewhiz, which doesn't impress me, as I value the driving experience more so than the worthless button pushing to set "driver preference". My preference is for BMW to get one setup that works.
Even with the DHP and it's added settings I still can't get the settings I actually want.
So, driver preference is a huge FAIL in my view/experience.

I hope they figure it out before my lease is up as I'll be in the market again. I'm done with making and accepting excuses for what BMW is doing. This is my 3rd BMW and the least fun to drive BMW. Other than the wonderful 3.0 turbo engine and it's power the driving experience is more utilitarian than fun. Honeymoon is over I guess.