for those with shimmies and shakes...

polar · Nov 24, 2003

in their steering, you should read this article i found.

http://www.bmwmaniac.com/alignment.htm

i have been looking for an explanation like the one above for what seems lilke an eternity...i am going to get my tires balanced and see what happens...

Beemerworld · Nov 24, 2003

Hi

Does your steering wheel shake?

polar · Nov 24, 2003

yes, it does.

Beemerworld · Nov 24, 2003

Trust me its not the tires. Lower control arm bushings and ball joints. They play together a game and you have to replace those. At least the lower control arm bushings.

Replace for the M3 ones.

Remember this post and let me know when you go to tire shop balance your tires. It will still shake after that.
[thumb]

manuel · Nov 24, 2003

shaking can also be due to warped rotors, i changed mine and it doesnt shake...

xLibelle · Nov 24, 2003

actually, its the combination of both!
the steering shakes because something is off balance and because the suspension has room for movement.

mine does it at very slightly at 60-80 then doesnt do it anymore faster than that. i plan to replace everything when i have it in the shop in the next couple months. but im in no rush.

polar · Nov 24, 2003

beemerworld said:

if this is the case, then please explain why i get absolutely NO shaking under 30 mph, get it a lot from 30 - 40 mph and then it disappears again after that?

how can it be components such as the lower arms and bushings when it comes and goes like that?

bmw325conv · Nov 24, 2003

I work at a tire shop. Do you have aftermarket wheels? If you do, are the wheels hub centric? If they are, I would recommend to balance the wheels and make sure they dynamic balance it. If they are not hub centric, then I would recommend to get hub centric rings and then rebalance it.

Beemerworld · Nov 25, 2003

Mostly are the lower control arm bushings. And usually it starts at 30-35mph and continues up to 70mph. At this speeds you can feel it the most. After it passes this speeds than the bushings become stable again. The stock bushings are not solid and they usually get worn out after 60000 miles. depends from the weather conditions.

The balljoints usually go bad because the rubber will crack or tear and the water starts to enter in to the balljoint, all the grease will get thrown out and rust starts to build up. Than the balljoints get stiffer and stiffer which makes the steering wheel to shake.

Out of balance tires can cause shaking but its between 50-70mph. not at 30mph.

Beemerworld · Nov 25, 2003

Here is the difference between the bushings. This is are the stock bushings you have on your car.

Beemerworld · Nov 25, 2003

Well can't find a picture of the M3 bushings but they look the same only they are solid rubber and the hole is offset for better stability at high speeds and cornering.

mikev · Nov 25, 2003

polar said:

The brake discs can be slightly misaligned. Most bmws suffer from this problem. the symptons are shaking at the same speed every time then dissapearing when you raise the speed buy 10-20Mph. this is a well known problem and even the M5 suffers from it. its more a buffeting than violent shake and shouldn't cause too much of a problem. if its more violent than a steering wheel shaking then its pobably a different problem.

polar · Nov 25, 2003

yes, it is certainly more violent at times...but strange enough it NEVER happens for the first 10 minutes i drive the car, no matter what speed i'm at.

black magic i tell you!! [;)]

it's going in the shop tomorrow for a test drive and a front end diagnosis, so i'll let you guys know what the mechanic says.

airlordz · Dec 4, 2003

polar said:

yes, it is certainly more violent at times...but strange enough it NEVER happens for the first 10 minutes i drive the car, no matter what speed i'm at.

black magic i tell you!!

it's going in the shop tomorrow for a test drive and a front end diagnosis, so i'll let you guys know what the mechanic says.

Polar what shop you take yours too

carcus · Dec 4, 2003

polar said:

Another big cause is getting cheap non Hubcentric rims.....cheap rims cause big vibration problems on German cars. Don't forget that as well. [;)]

polar · Dec 4, 2003

well well, it was a little more than a tire balancing =P ....

anyhoo, i have had a shimmy that turned to a shaking and then started to scare me, so i got a little bit of work done.

i have had the car back and have been driving it for a week at speeds ranging from 1 to 100 mph, with absolutely no shimmy or shaking.

now, here's what i got fixed:

-new rack and pinion (mine was leaking, of which i was unaware :0) including tie rods
-new front left and right brakes including calipers (my left one was siezed, of which i was unware :0), rotors and pads, and a full system flush
-new tires (balanced and installed obviously), i needed new tires so i just thought why not now
-full alignment

all for about $1650USD

the rack was the only really expensive part (about $600USD). and please don't flame me for not noticing a leak from my car, i'm a noob...but it doesn't leak anymore

and i promise to keep an eye on it from now on!

the car feels great and brakes like it's supposed to brake i guess, but i looked at the rotors and the new ones are bigger than my old ones, so that may have something to do with it...

airlordz, i took my car to autodiagnostics on 42nd and 2nd SW, call them and ask for dave, tell him craig with the bmw told you to call him. they are great there, and dave is a super nice guy who will keep you fully apdated and he will explain every step in the process (if you want him to).

now my question is: how should i be treating these new brakes?

oh btw, my lower control arms and ball joints are fine. [thumb]

carcus · Dec 4, 2003

MAKE SURE THE BRAKES HAVE COOLED OFF BEFORE YOU STOP THE CAR. The reason that they tell you to baby the brakes in the first 500 miles is parking the car with hot brakes allows all that stuff you are burning off with the break in process to continue to cook off resulting in a deposit on the rotors. These deposits will often cause a brake shimmy, usually diagnosed as "warped rotors" If you think about all this you will see how the average mechanic would come to the conclusion that hard use of brakes during break in causes warped rotors.

Hope this helps. You should be OK....glad I did not have your bill though. [;)]

polar · Dec 4, 2003

yeah, it was somewhat expensive, but i have no problem putting money into my car. i am paying it in 4 installments so it actually is not too painful.

in the spring i am going to get the suspension done...not that there is a problem but i want to lower the car a bit.

my interior is mint, and the paint is damn near mint as well, but i'm approaching 100,000 miles so i want to get lots of mechanical work done to keep the car as well running as possible.

i want to preserve this car so that in 15 or 20 more years i have a "classic" E36 bmw, first year of the model and all...

my next bmw purchase will be a M3/4 (i know they are rare!), but that will have to wait about 3-5 years! they have a 1998 at the dealer by my house, and they want about $33,000USD for it...so in 3-5 i should be able to pick one up! not that that particular car will still be there, but i will find one!!

i get excited just thinking about it!

CTBMW · Dec 4, 2003

Thanks for balancing tips-getting snows on tomorrow.
Beemer is the motorcycle, Bimmer is the car. (trust me)
-Mel

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