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      06-11-2018, 11:43 AM   #1
HoustonGuy83
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Help!!!! Steering Wheel Vibration - Brand New 340i

Guys I need your help because this is driving me crazy. I am thinking about getting rid of my car but before i do that I need to find out if what i am experiencing is part of the design or its a flaw.

So i bought a 2017 340i brand new 2 months ago. From Day 1 I experienced vibration. The Steering wheel wobbles back and forth (Left , Right, Left Right) at 50mph and goes all the way to 70mph. It doesn't vibrate when braking. I have Continental Contipro Contact 225/45R18 95V XL.

So i went to the dealership several times in past 2 months and they did everything from Road Force Balancing ( 4 Times ) , check rotors, even Replaced all 4 of the tires. The vibration is still present. They called the BMW Field Engineer who sat with me when i drove the car, according to him it has to do with roads. I didnt agree because i drove it on all different kinds of roads and the problem starts at 50mph. It almost feels like if the vibration is induced artificially for some reason.

Now this part is crazy :
Long Story short, my dealer agreed to swap my 340i with some other BMW of my choice (ofcourse i would have to pay the price difference) so i went to the dealership and test drove 2018 330i (Continental Tires), 2018 430i (Pirelli Tires) and 2018 440i (Continentals). All these cars had the exact same vibration. You let the steering wheel go at 50mph and you can see the steering wheel wobbling left , right, left , right. It was worst with Pirelli.

Now my conclusion, its part of the design and other BMW drivers are not very sensitive to vibrations? Or is it because of the Run-Flat Tires?

I drove 2015 328i for 3 years with Run Flat Pirellis and never experienced any vibration. During my service visits, i drove many BMW loaners ( X1, X3, X5, 530 ) but had no issues.

Do you guys have the same issue and you just ignore it ?
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      06-12-2018, 12:10 AM   #2
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Are you driving on the same roads to test for that vibration? I find it hard to believe that all those cars would have such a bad vibration. You shouldn't be able to perceive any vibration in the steering when driving. It seems most likely that it has to do with the road. Have you tested those other cars on different roads?
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      06-12-2018, 03:59 PM   #3
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i have that because of the blind mirror assist, it vibrates when a car gets into my blind spot, if i try to switch lanes(im sure thats not what you are referring to. I'm not sure about any other vibrations i have a new 2018 wit 800 miles, i don't think i have any issues like that. Ill double check later when i go for a drive.
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      06-13-2018, 08:44 AM   #4
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This is very unusual. If the dealer agreed to take the car back, this means some root cause determination has been made. Any additional feedback from the dealer? My vehicle does not have these symptoms.
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      06-15-2018, 04:58 PM   #5
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My car had the exact same thing happen when I first installed my wheel spacers. Its been ok since i took them off and reinstalled/re torqued the wheels.
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      06-16-2018, 01:24 AM   #6
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I have tried all sorts of roads. The dealership replaced the tires but it still does the same exact thing. Can you guys try driving it between 50 - 70mph and let the steering wheel go then just focus on one point on the steering wheel to see if its vibrating left and right?
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      06-16-2018, 02:10 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGuy83 View Post
I have tried all sorts of roads. The dealership replaced the tires but it still does the same exact thing. Can you guys try driving it between 50 - 70mph and let the steering wheel go then just focus on one point on the steering wheel to see if its vibrating left and right?
Ok, so i feel like i know what you are talking about, i have this issues where at 75mph the steering slightly vibrates. It does not do it on 80+ or under 70. Strange, but i feel slight vibrations.. it wasnt like this on my 335 will bring this up soon, as my car has 1000 miles and has a nasty rattle coming from the driver door already.
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      06-16-2018, 05:40 PM   #8
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I have zero vibration at any speed.
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      06-20-2018, 11:31 AM   #9
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So guys who are experiencing vibrations at any speed , what exact tires do you have ?

Guys who are not experiencing any vibrations ? What exact tires do you guys have ?
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      06-20-2018, 11:41 AM   #10
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I've called BMW of North America Headquarters and opened a case with them. I've been told that they are getting in touch with the regional manager and based on his feedback will go from there. I am not planning to sit around and drive a 50k+ luxury car with vibrations. Any one has experience with BMW Headquarters? At least on the phone they sounded very accommodating.
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      06-20-2018, 03:31 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGuy83 View Post
I've called BMW of North America Headquarters and opened a case with them. I've been told that they are getting in touch with the regional manager and based on his feedback will go from there. I am not planning to sit around and drive a 50k+ luxury car with vibrations. Any one has experience with BMW Headquarters? At least on the phone they sounded very accommodating.
You are on the right track. This is the first step. BMW NA engineer will at some point look at your car and approve more parts to be replaced. This is the likely first phase after PUMA case has been opened.
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      07-02-2018, 07:25 AM   #12
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My 2015 does this. I had the tires rebalanced twice and an alignment and it still vibrates from around 60-70mph. I'm going to put my stock wheels back on this weekend and see if it's still there. If you google search this topic there's been steering wheel vibration since 2012.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...ight=vibration
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Last edited by mbanks21; 07-02-2018 at 08:04 AM..
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      07-04-2018, 06:46 AM   #13
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I don't know man, but I tried to recreate like you said and I don't see or feel anything. I have a 2016 340 SA build. I'm sorry this is happening to you.
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      07-05-2018, 12:13 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGuy83 View Post
I've called BMW of North America Headquarters and opened a case with them. I've been told that they are getting in touch with the regional manager and based on his feedback will go from there. I am not planning to sit around and drive a 50k+ luxury car with vibrations. Any one has experience with BMW Headquarters? At least on the phone they sounded very accommodating.
Any updates from your dialog with BMW NA and local dealer?
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      07-06-2018, 03:02 PM   #15
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BMW NA is saying that these cars are made to feel the road. The local dealer already tried swapping the wheels from another BMW in the lot and the vibration is still present so there is nothing they can do about it. They are giving me an option to get a different BMW but considering i drove three BMWs (1 2018 330i, 1 2018 340i and 1 2018 440i) and all of them had the same exact issue. This leaves me with three options :

1) Return my car and get a different BMW besides 3 or 4 series. I am not a fan of anything else

2) Live with it ? How can you live with a 50K+ car that vibrates.

3) Put my car on swap a lease ? Not sure how this works

4) Is my car a lemon ? Not sure if this is considered a lemon.


Is there any one in Houston, Texas who has 17 or 18 340i with no vibration issue? I would certainly like that person to test drive mine and may be i can test drive his to may be dig deeper in this issue.
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      07-07-2018, 04:48 PM   #16
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Thanks for sharing the update. Very unusual problem, especially since you experienced the same problem after driving 3 different 2018 vehicles with 3 different brands of tires. Were these RFT tires?

My 2017 440i GC - built in July 2016 - with Pirelli RFT tires does not have this problem but then again I live in California where the roads are very different and transmit noise / imperfections to the steering wheel that I consider acceptable.

There is one more option to consider: get non run flat tires such as Michelin PSS. This is a remote (and I will emphasize remote) possibility.

As you mentioned earlier, the problem was present when driving three different 2018 vehicles but noticeably worse with Pirelli tires.
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      07-08-2018, 05:06 PM   #17
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Guys I made these two videos. Please focus on the two lines located on top of the steering wheel. Do you see vibrations as well or am i going nuts ? According to BMW , these cars are made to feel the road... I don't consider constant vibrations as road feeling. What do you think?

Video 1:

https://vimeo.com/278953260[/url]

Video 2:

https://vimeo.com/278953285[/url]

Last edited by HoustonGuy83; 07-08-2018 at 05:07 PM.. Reason: url not showing
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      03-11-2019, 06:24 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGuy83 View Post
Guys I made these two videos. Please focus on the two lines located on top of the steering wheel. Do you see vibrations as well or am i going nuts ? According to BMW , these cars are made to feel the road... I don't consider constant vibrations as road feeling. What do you think?

Video 1:

https://vimeo.com/278953260[/url]

Video 2:

https://vimeo.com/278953285[/url]
Did you find the solution? I get something similar on the F20 125i. Im diagnosing to see if one of the following. I do get more vibrations during braking, which suggest s its warped rotors.
My steps to find the cause will be:

- Wheel balance
- Rotor disks - get replaced)
- Wheel alignment
- Wheel bearing
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      04-25-2019, 12:11 PM   #19
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I have the same issue. I honestly can’t remember how long its been like this. But i did recently discover i have a slightly bent strut (yea, I don’t know how that happened, its insane). So I’m going to get that fixed and then if that doesn’t work, I’m getting new tires. Hopefully either of these rectify the problem.
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      04-25-2019, 12:50 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGuy83 View Post
Guys I made these two videos. Please focus on the two lines located on top of the steering wheel. Do you see vibrations as well or am i going nuts ? According to BMW , these cars are made to feel the road... I don't consider constant vibrations as road feeling. What do you think?

Video 1:

https://vimeo.com/278953260[/url]

Video 2:

https://vimeo.com/278953285[/url]
Yeah def see it and that would drive me nuts.
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      08-03-2020, 07:44 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oksymoroni View Post
My car had the exact same thing happen when I first installed my wheel spacers. Its been ok since i took them off and reinstalled/re torqued the wheels.

Has it really been like this? I've mounted 10mm wheel spacers on the front wheels but I'm not really sure whether I had this issue before having them on...
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      06-19-2022, 04:46 PM   #22
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Hi,
I have the same problem with 320i LCI 2016 RWD. Did you resolved the problem?




Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGuy83 View Post
Guys I made these two videos. Please focus on the two lines located on top of the steering wheel. Do you see vibrations as well or am i going nuts ? According to BMW , these cars are made to feel the road... I don't consider constant vibrations as road feeling. What do you think?

Video 1:

https://vimeo.com/278953260[/url]

Video 2:

https://vimeo.com/278953285[/url]
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