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      04-26-2012, 10:27 AM   #1
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2012 F30 Steering wheel vibration

I understand there was a previous post about this issue, but I'm trying to get a feeling of how many owners have/reported this issue.

Simply put, the steering wheel vibrates when the speed gets up to 40 - 60 mph. The car does not vibrate, but the steering wheel does!

My dealer did a wheel balance and road forced wheel balance but the problem exists. So far they have no resolution for this matter.

Please share your experience.
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      04-26-2012, 10:35 AM   #2
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Yeah.. i started this issue here.

I went in yesterday to test drive another 328 sportline.. this one was a 6MT.. did the same thing. It's worse in comfort/eco; less noticeable in Sport mode.

My car has the Pirelli P7s.. the one I drove yesterday had the Goodyears
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      04-26-2012, 11:06 AM   #3
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i just want to know how bad the vibrating is. i can feel mine barely, i think, or it just may be the feedback from the road. before this i had a car with warped rotors so when i braked the wheel shook a lot. it's definitely not that bad though.
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      04-26-2012, 11:08 AM   #4
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yeah.. it's minimal. but the question is whether it should be there at all.. it doesn't SEEM to be road feedback, which is the problem -- it seems to be self-generated.
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      04-26-2012, 11:09 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sphinx-3 View Post
I understand there was a previous post about this issue, but I'm trying to get a feeling of how many owners have/reported this issue.

Simply put, the steering wheel vibrates when the speed gets up to 40 - 60 mph. The car does not vibrate, but the steering wheel does!

My dealer did a wheel balance and road forced wheel balance but the problem exists. So far they have no resolution for this matter.

Please share your experience.
I got the Variable Sport Steering on my order, I sure hope I don't have that problem.
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      04-26-2012, 11:16 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bcl0328 View Post
i just want to know how bad the vibrating is. i can feel mine barely, i think, or it just may be the feedback from the road. before this i had a car with warped rotors so when i braked the wheel shook a lot. it's definitely not that bad though.
Unfortunately, mine is bad and I could feel the wheel vibrating in my hands !!
45 mph seems to be the trigger speed. It is annoying and I'm not sure if this could affect stability at higher speeds!
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      04-26-2012, 11:36 AM   #7
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I wonder if there is some mechanical resonance in some part of the steering column at that speed.
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      04-26-2012, 11:44 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KneeDragr View Post
I wonder if there is some mechanical resonance in some part of the steering column at that speed.
This seems to be a logic explanation. But they need to fix it quick !

80% of my commute to work is at a speed limit 45, so it's constantly vibrating :/
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      04-26-2012, 11:47 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sphinx-3 View Post
Unfortunately, mine is bad and I could feel the wheel vibrating in my hands !!
45 mph seems to be the trigger speed. It is annoying and I'm not sure if this could affect stability at higher speeds!
ours is closer to 50 now.. and it's non existent below that or above 60
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      04-26-2012, 04:02 PM   #10
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Latest update:

The dealer called me and they contacted BMW. They are aware of the issue but have no resolution. They have no idea when this could be resolved. I am extremely disappointed !!
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      04-26-2012, 05:59 PM   #11
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Wonder if the right hand drive market i.e. my market is affected...
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      04-26-2012, 06:20 PM   #12
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2012 BMW 328i  [0.00]
My 328i doesn't have this issue.
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      04-26-2012, 07:16 PM   #13
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I read somewhere on here a member was experiencing the vibration and it disappeared w new rims and tires.
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      04-26-2012, 07:29 PM   #14
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I had this issue until I took my car back to the dealership yesterday. They had it for most of the day, then returned it to me after rebalancing all 4 tires. Now the problem is all but gone.

I do have a couple theories about this. It's so much drastically better now that the tires were rebalanced, I don't think anyone else would even notice it.

While I was watching a video about the new i8, I noticed that our new 328is actually seem to have at least one of the innovative design features that they highlighted about the i8. There's tiny little wind scoops next to the fog lights towards the outside of each side of the front bumper. They seem to direct air through the bumper and into the wheel well for each front tire. I think it's supposed to act like those blower things they have on some store's automatic doors - they blast air downwards when the doors open in order to keep the air conditioned air inside the store.

I think it's supposed to help deflect some of the air that would otherwise enter the front wheel wells from the side. This is supposed to help decrease drag on the tires.

I noticed that the steering vibration got worse when there was a lot of wind. Maybe those wheel vent things have something to do with it?

Now that my issue is pretty much gone, I think most of what I feel is feedback from the road. My last car, a 2008 MINI Cooper, had absolutely no road feedback, which I liked and had grown accustomed to. Not sure whether I'll end up liking road feedback now or not...
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      04-26-2012, 07:45 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glitched79 View Post
I had this issue until I took my car back to the dealership yesterday. They had it for most of the day, then returned it to me after rebalancing all 4 tires. Now the problem is all but gone.

I do have a couple theories about this. It's so much drastically better now that the tires were rebalanced, I don't think anyone else would even notice it.

While I was watching a video about the new i8, I noticed that our new 328is actually seem to have at least one of the innovative design features that they highlighted about the i8. There's tiny little wind scoops next to the fog lights towards the outside of each side of the front bumper. They seem to direct air through the bumper and into the wheel well for each front tire. I think it's supposed to act like those blower things they have on some store's automatic doors - they blast air downwards when the doors open in order to keep the air conditioned air inside the store.

I think it's supposed to help deflect some of the air that would otherwise enter the front wheel wells from the side. This is supposed to help decrease drag on the tires.

I noticed that the steering vibration got worse when there was a lot of wind. Maybe those wheel vent things have something to do with it?

Now that my issue is pretty much gone, I think most of what I feel is feedback from the road. My last car, a 2008 MINI Cooper, had absolutely no road feedback, which I liked and had grown accustomed to. Not sure whether I'll end up liking road feedback now or not...
i thought those were to cool the brakes.
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      04-27-2012, 04:49 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sphinx-3 View Post
I understand there was a previous post about this issue, but I'm trying to get a feeling of how many owners have/reported this issue.

Simply put, the steering wheel vibrates when the speed gets up to 40 - 60 mph. The car does not vibrate, but the steering wheel does!

My dealer did a wheel balance and road forced wheel balance but the problem exists. So far they have no resolution for this matter.

Please share your experience.
I have the exact same issue as you describe. Sometimes it's very noticable, sometimes not so much. But when you have a 10 degree shake in your steering wheel, something ain't right!
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      04-27-2012, 07:20 PM   #17
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mine was in the shop for 16 days for this :-\

BMWNA is trading it out, thankfully.
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      04-27-2012, 08:58 PM   #18
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I test drove two 328i's today at the BMW "Olympic" event. I felt the vibration in both cars. I told one of the staff about it after driving the first car. He blamed it on the lane departure warning system and showed me how to turn that off.

When I drove the second car I felt the vibration and turned off the system. I didn't feel the vibration again but I'm not convinced at all that turning off the LDS had anything to do with it.

Some people have mentioned unbalanced tires as a possible explanation but I seriously doubt it. The vibration I felt was almost like an electric buzz, and it came and went very quickly as if being turned on and off.

It may be a harmonic buzz coming from the engine or turbo and vibrating the steering rack or box. Obviously I'm not sure what is causing the vibration but out of balance tires have a different feeling ( I used to work in the wheel business).

Besides the weird buzzing in the wheel, I loved the car! I hope BMW gets this sorted out before I get my 2013 wagon!
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      04-27-2012, 08:59 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfear View Post
mine was in the shop for 16 days for this :-\

BMWNA is trading it out, thankfully.
Is this confirmed or you are still going back and forth with them?
What are you getting? did they put any conditions on the new replacement? (i.e. price range, options, etc...)
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      04-27-2012, 09:06 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpine F31 View Post
I test drove two 328i's today at the BMW "Olympic" event. I felt the vibration in both cars. I told one of the staff about it after driving the first car. He blamed it on the lane departure warning system and showed me how to turn that off.

When I drove the second car I felt the vibration and turned off the system. I didn't feel the vibration again but I'm not convinced at all that turning off the LDS had anything to do with it.

Some people have mentioned unbalanced tires as a possible explanation but I seriously doubt it. The vibration I felt was almost like an electric buzz, and it came and went very quickly as if being turned on and off.

It may be a harmonic buzz coming from the engine or turbo and vibrating the steering rack or box. Obviously I'm not sure what is causing the vibration but out of balance tires have a different feeling ( I used to work in the wheel business).

Besides the weird buzzing in the wheel, I loved the car! I hope BMW gets this sorted out before I get my 2013 wagon!
As far as I know. BMWNA are aware of the issue after being reported multiple times and they are trying to resolve it. However, they don't know when or how... yet !!
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      04-27-2012, 09:14 PM   #21
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It seems funny to me that we catch all these prototype vehicles in camouflage testing all over the World, yet the production cars are released with very noticeable problems like vibrations in the steering! WTF????
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      04-27-2012, 09:14 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mfear View Post
mine was in the shop for 16 days for this :-\

BMWNA is trading it out, thankfully.
Are you going to get another F30 (328i or 335i) or the X5?
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