Lots of wheel shake when braking - with NEW tension rod poly bushes!
 

Welll, kinda new. They were put in earlier this year to quell the nasty wheel shake when braking once and for all - the big purple ones. BUT - I just got a new set of tires and there was a vibration at 70 mph on up. They were balanced three times and I was about to pay for a road force balance until I hit the brakes at about 80 and a subtle shake turned into a lot of shake until I "pressed through" the pulsation, as is typical for my X. This is the way it behaved before the bushing change.

Soooo - what else should I pry/prod/poke in the front end? I'm assuming something else is worn or this wouldn't be happening. I can't believe there would be any failure of the big, beefy poly bushing after only a few thousand miles, and they look the same as when they were installed, no cuts or rips.

Any suggestions would be hugely welcome.

BTW, I put on Fuzion Touring tires in 255/55 - 18.

Did you do the ball joints at the same time as the bushes? Have the tie rod end links ever been replaced? Ball joints on those could have failed...

^^^I'd look into replacing the wishbone control arms and those ball joints as well.

I also vote for lower ball joints - that's what it took to eliminate my vibration under light braking.

2002 X5 3.0 268,600 miles
2004 325i 117,100 miles

Wishbone bushings IMO.

Road force balancing is money well spent IMHO.

NO wheel/tire assembly is truly round, and NO sidewall/contact patch carcass has uniform deflection around the tire. Spin balance misses both of these variables.

I ONLY allow Classic BMW Plano TX to dismount/mount/RF balance my wheels/tires. Never had a nicked wheel/vibration/leaky mounting. $120 a pair.

At the end of 2010 I replaces ONE ball joint at the end of a tension arm because I accidentally ripped the boot when trying to separate it with a pickle fork. I wish they had never invented those things - pickle forks, that is.
The other was not replaced at that time, so it may be the original after 135K miles.

I guess I'll mini-rant: My Suburban has 213K miles and has not had any front end pieces replaced, although it likely could use a new tie rod end. With the X5, which I bought at 84K miles, I've replaced the big tension rod bushings twice, one ball joint, and all of the rear subframe bushings. From what I've read on the Forum, that's minor...some have replaced everything rubber in both front and rear suspensions. I love the way the X drives, but IMHO the durability of suspension pieces, especially the rubber bonded to metal parts, leaves a lot to be desired.

Am going in next week to have my ex-indy (he works for a dealership now) find the oil leak that's causing my entire garage to smell like burned oil. That's another topic.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, welcome to the world BMW ownership, it is what it is, definitely a love/hate relationship when it comes to the X5. I hear ya about the oil leaks, I have to put a drip pan underneath mine when I park it at night so it won't stain my driveway...lol!

That sounds like lower control arms. Everyone calls them different things - but I am referring to these (see pic) where as it sounds like you have replaced the tension struts aka radius arms (see second pic).

Bentley manual specifically refers to lower control arms as being cause for steering wheel shake when braking lightly at highway speed. I get this, despite the radius arms being replaced <2k ago so I know it must be lower control arms.

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Yes, the lower control arms never have been replaced as far as I know.