[SoDiezl350]

I had a similar vibration that drove me insane. First time dealer blamed it on tires. After replacing those they blamed it on bent wheels. Had wheels inspected and there were no bends. They ended up replacing my drive shaft and car is smooth as silk again.

[Willdive]

Originally Posted by SoDiezl350

I had a similar vibration that drove me insane. First time dealer blamed it on tires. After replacing those they blamed it on bent wheels. Had wheels inspected and there were no bends. They ended up replacing my drive shaft and car is smooth as silk again.

Thank you for that update, Did the warranty cover it?

[LMK5]

Originally Posted by perryo91

I know this is a very old thread. But im looking for some help. Here is a video i recorded. I went through every page and no one posted one accurately showing the 'shimmy':

The dealership already rebalanced the tires(they were new when i bought the car. Car is 2014 335. Rims are 403M on RFTs.

Im bringing it back to the dealer to see if they can do something. I want to see if an alignment can fix it. Ive read the Toe can be off and cause this. Dont think its the steering rack as users have had it replaced with no fix.

Anyone got any other ideas on a fix?

That's a great video that shows the problem, along with the speed that it occurs. This issue has been present on every F30 I've driven, and the cars have had different suspension, tires, and wheels. It must be a design flaw in the steering, and it seems the best that can happen is it gets dampened by all the suggestions here: balance, tires, wheels, meditation, etc.

What I can say is that as you accumulate miles the issue seems to diminish. I have no idea why and neither does BMW.

[Thavash]

I have a brand new F30 ( about a month old ) and its exhibiting the EXACT same behaviour as per that video. Can happen at various speeds and on different surfaces.



I will take it in for wheel balancing today and report back.



I noticed that some say the vibe will disappear after some miles - did anyone have this experience and after how many miles ?

[LMK5]

Originally Posted by Thavash

I have a brand new F30 ( about a month old ) and its exhibiting the EXACT same behaviour as per that video. Can happen at various speeds and on different surfaces.



I will take it in for wheel balancing today and report back.



I noticed that some say the vibe will disappear after some miles - did anyone have this experience and after how many miles ?

I would say you start seeing a noticeable difference at 5-7k miles. When I put Driveguards on the car at 10k miles I immediately noticed less of the shimmy also. This leads me to believe that quite possibly these cars are developing flat spots on the tires due to time in transit and sitting on the dealer's lot. Is it possible that RFTs are prone to flatspotting?

[GeorgeTang521]

F34 320i GT built in April 2018 behave EXACT the same. I discovered the abnormal vibration recently and could not get an explanation from my dealer.
P.S. Wheel balance are done and tires are in good condition.

[Sphinx-3]

Originally Posted by GeorgeTang521

F34 320i GT built in April 2018 behave EXACT the same. I discovered the abnormal vibration recently and could not get an explanation from my dealer.
P.S. Wheel balance are done and tires are in good condition.

Some say the steering column was the issue. Have the dealer check it out.

[Avda]

My 2 cents. 4 weeks ago I bought my first BMW, a 2014-10 320d EDE automatic. I test drove the car twice because of the horror stories regarding the steering wheel vibration. The car drove flawlessly, the only thing that caught my eye was that the tire pressure on left rear was a bit low but everything else was perfect. So I bought the car. Before delivery they replaced the brakes, the fluids and filters. After 7 days I picked up the car and drove home. On my way home you can already guess it, the steering wheel vibrated from left to right between 75 km/h and 90 km/h... The next day I drove back, they eventually rebalanced the tires twice in 1 week time but it didnt help. I went to another garage for a second opinion and they said that the tires were perfectly balanced. So 4 weeks of headaches, reading forums, watching YouTube clips but I couldn't find a real solution. Two days ago by just a coincidence I looked at the tire pressure and it was pretty high, it was on 2,7 bar (39,2 psi) on the front and back. I remembered when I test drove the car it was around 2,1/2,2 bar. So I lowered the front tot 2,2 (31,9 psi) and the rears to 2,4 (34,8 psi). Went on the highway and the shimmy steering wheel had disappeared... So is this pure luck or... The tires are Pirelli Cinturato's runflats.


The shimmy steering wheel
https://youtu.be/d7LtRsYC6Iw

[DieselSport]

^ +1

Tire pressure has a lot to do with ride quality and steering wheel activity. The factory recommendations are 32 psi front and 38 psi rear cold. However , i always put 33 psi front and 36 psi rears, and i have never felt any abnormal vibrations

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Avda

. Went on the highway and the shimmy steering wheel had disappeared... So is this pure luck or... The tires are Pirelli Cinturato's runflats.

Pressure can make a difference. A good static/dynamic balance can be made, even on a tire that is not round. If the tire is not round, it can cause more vibration as the pressure is increased. There is not as much flex in the structure to absorb the run-out, which is the cause of the vibration.

A road force balance will likely show the error and whether the tire can be remounted and brought within acceptable tolerances.

Remember even bent rims can be 'balanced', but the wheel doesn't run true and can vibrate once carrying load.

[MacklinUSOB]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Remember even bent rims can be 'balanced', but the wheel doesn't run true and can vibrate once carrying load.

Very true. My wheels were quite bent and after having the worst two straightened the vibration was dramatically improved. New wheels were still a night and day change from that.

Wheel bends are very common on BMWs in the Northeast, my Indy says they see at least one good bend on every car that comes in if it has gone through a winter.

I do believe there is some underlying driveline vibration depending on RPM and throttle application at high speeds. On track where I am accelerating at wide open throttle I can't detect it, but when mildly rolling on the throttle beyond 90mph I can. Not bad enough to concern me, it may be pressure related.

[Vilhartti]

Hello guys, I'm having same problems as listed above. My car is BMW F31 320i 2016 and steering wheel is vibrating in speed 70-90kmh (40-60 mph). More noticeable after car have stand over night. While braking vibration feels about the same. Wheels and tires are aftermarket 19 inch and have been checked and balanced several times. I have tested low and high tire pressures makes no difference. Is there problem with brakes or do I have some bushing worn out? Car is 100 000 km (60 000 miles) driven.

[delayed3]

What worked for me with this vibration issue after new tyres was:

-Proper alignment
-Balancing the wheels with a Hunter Road Force balancer & minimizing height variations

[sebastianbahrim]

Originally Posted by Willdive

Yes my 2015 335 does it my mechanic says get a new vibration generator (steering dampner) or if that don't work a new steering control unit

Tomorrow we're going to first remove the front tires on the wheels and we're going to true the wheels on a machine to make sure they're perfectly round they were going to reset the tire to the best spots on the wheel that's the best way I can put it and we'll see what happens I like to plan.

Well that didn't work so it's got to be something in the steering column there's two electronic parts in there once a vibration unit the other is the control unit and to looking at that today.

Any results?

[Kyokushin]

Any news?

My case - vibrations at 90 km/h.
- new disc brakes
- new disc pads
- wheels swapped to front/rear and winter/summer
- wheels balanced
- disk brakes deviaton <0.2
- hub deviation <0.1
- new top/bottom wishbones

The issue comes after night, and only at 90km/h. When i drive some time its going to be fine. Its only at the first kilometers of trip and only on flat straight road. No shimming during braking.

The thing that cause it smaller - i removed the wheels, loosed the disc brake screw, then tighten the disc brake to hub by 5 screws and 140Nm, then i screw the small rim screw, but not very tight, then removed wheel screws, put the wheel, screw the wheel on axis and 140Nm. Now its minimal, but still is.

Any ideas?

[LMK5]

Originally Posted by Kyokushin

Any news?

My case - vibrations at 90 km/h.
- new disc brakes
- new disc pads
- wheels swapped to front/rear and winter/summer
- wheels balanced
- disk brakes deviaton <0.2
- hub deviation <0.1
- new top/bottom wishbones

The issue comes after night, and only at 90km/h. When i drive some time its going to be fine. Its only at the first kilometers of trip and only on flat straight road. No shimming during braking.

The thing that cause it smaller - i removed the wheels, loosed the disc brake screw, then tighten the disc brake to hub by 5 screws and 140Nm, then i screw the small rim screw, but not very tight, then removed wheel screws, put the wheel, screw the wheel on axis and 140Nm. Now its minimal, but still is.

Any ideas?

Are you running on Continental run flats? I found my issue was due to Continental ContiSport run flat tires. Once I switched to Bridgestone Driveguards the problem went away. It may be your tires. The fact that the problem goes away after riding some miles may be from the tires heating up and changing their rolling character.

[Kyokushin]

Originally Posted by LMK5

Are you running on Continental run flats? I found my issue was due to Continental ContiSport run flat tires. Once I switched to Bridgestone Driveguards the problem went away. It may be your tires. The fact that the problem goes away after riding some miles may be from the tires heating up and changing their rolling character.

No, i am on Falken winter runflats (winter 17) or Pirelli P7 run flats (summer 18). Yes, i have noticed it after 6 years of owning a car.. because i moved and instead of starting to ride 50km/h in the city, now i am starting from 90 at countryside.

[LMK5]

Originally Posted by Kyokushin

No, i am on Falken winter runflats (winter 17) or Pirelli P7 run flats (summer 18). Yes, i have noticed it after 6 years of owning a car.. because i moved and instead of starting to ride 50km/h in the city, now i am starting from 90 at countryside.

I see. I had a new 2014 328i that had the shimmy issue at about 40MPH. That car had Pirelli P7 runflats. If I remember correctly the problem slowly went away as the tires wore. I now have a 2017 330i. When the car was new I had the same shimmy problem with Continental ContiSportContact SSR tires. Those tires were so noisy that I replaced them at 10k miles with Bridgestone Driveguards. The shimmy went away immediately. I have a feeling that the shimmy is due to manufacturing variations in runflat tires. If your tires are nearing their wear limit, you may want to try the Driveguards or possibly Michelin MXM ZP tires. Of course going with non-runflats is also an option.

[Kyokushin]

In last weeks i have done several tests, and my findings to reduce the shimmy are:
- wheels need to be perfectly balanced. hunter is good option to go.
- disc brakes - need to be perfectly flat. Even less than 0.02mm.
- it is connected with the road surface
- it is connected with the tire pressure - i hink 'slightly more', 1 bar, is slightly reducing shimmy
- after few kilometers it may gone
- the torque for wheels need to be equal 140Nm
- the way how you install the disc brake on the hub HAVE MATTER. You need to find a sweet spot before you screw the rotor to hub, screw it by wheel screws, then tighten the small screw
- release of wheel column changed nothing.

and the best part now:
- i have second f32 - 420i. It also have shimmy at 90km/h. Its ran at michelin crossclimate+ runflat 17"

For me - the disc brakes rotors need to be perfectly flat - if some of you have the access to the machine that can make it flat then try it.

I was in the workshop to make new disc brakes flat... mine had 0.02 deviation... and after flatening they have.. 0.03 deviation so i need to go to te guy who did it and tell him to correct it again, probably he installed the machine (cut pro 9.1), but not tighten screws equally to hub

I also think the original hub may be made from a shit and that is why equal screw thightening is so important and it may influe for disc rotor deviation.

However, 0.03 deviation is 'within tolerance'...but when take car up and rotate the wheel or rotor by a hand then i feel the brake pad is peels the rotor in a cycle, i can hear and feel when its touching rotor and when not. Same effect on both sides and in two cars.


428i is from septemeber 2014 (USA N26) and 420i is from April 2015 (Europe N20)