Steering wheel shake at 55-70mh

[Wookie_79]

Hi all,

Tried to search for this topic but the search engine does not work hence starting new thread.

I've had problem with shaking steering wheel since i got the car in December 2019.

Slowly i was eliminating potential causes and now when not much is left im scratching my head and need your help!

Here's what i did so far:

1. New tyres & alloys
2. new brake discs, pads, hoses and calipers
3. new cv axles
4. new suspension arms inc tie rods and sway bar links
5. new fluids in diffs, trans box, gear bos and engine
6. new shocks
7. new alignment

Bearings are fine i did the checks, no play and are quiet and smooth.
Diff is quiet.

how else can i test components? maybe ive missed something? im loosing my mind over this!

[srmmmm]

Check front drive shaft guibo (flex disc) and rear drive shaft center carrier.


2002 X5 3.0 378,100 miles
2014 428i 67,000 miles


2004 325i sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i sold at 66,000 miles


1970 Firebird Under restoration

[Redraptor141]

You said new suspension arms, did you do/check the lower balljoints on the front when you had the arm off?

I just did all of my front suspension and found the inner track rod ends were toast. Like half an inch play in each side! So may be worth checking them Out. Only a 20 minute job each side, but will need an alignment after! To check these jack the front up at one side to isolate the rack with the weight of the car on one side, then grab the elevated wheel at 9 and 3 o’clock and push in an out as if you were turning the wheel. Mine was physically clucking about, but even a small amount of play will cause vibrations! My inner ones were perfect and new.

Engine mounts are potentially another component to check, you can check these by getting someone to turn over the engine while you watch and there shouldn’t be excessive movement as the engine starts. Also you can stand side on to the block and rock it side to side and you shouldn’t get much movement out of it if they are good.

[Effduration]

We've had a number of folks recently on the E39 boards who after changing most or all of the front suspension find that that one of their front brake calipers is sticking.

A good way to check this is to measure the temperature of the brake calipers after driving for a while. Some feel it by hand (be careful), with one caliper is clearly a lot hotter than the other. Some have used those infared temp readers, etc.

[timmyc]

I fought this as well. I had the tires balanced at Discount Tire, had the alignment done at a local shop that I have used for 25 years and had the left front CV axle replaced (this was the recommendation from the alignment shop).

Drove it with minimal improvement for a week. It would shake the steering wheel left to right pretty good at speeds between 45-55mph. I took it back to the alignment guys for a double check. They asked where I had the tires balanced at and I told them. They gave me a funny look. They told me it was the tires out of balance. They offered to balance them there. That was it! All of the tires were out of balance by at least an ounce a piece! They explained that the big box stores can't take the time to pull the old weights off before they balance the tires. They will just add weights to balance it out as best as they can. The small shops make the time to pull all of the weights first and start clean. Lesson learned.

So, from now on, I'm taking my X to my small shop for balance and rotate. Twice a year will cost $80. That's cheap to me if the car rolls smooth and the tires last longer!