Steering wheel wobble
 

Hi guys,

hope you are all well....i wanted your help with an issue that ive been having.

MY X5 has developed a steering wheel wobble at speed..

see below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w29B...ature=youtu.be

The wheels are aligned, and the wheels and tires are balanced.

what do you think it could be? ive taken it to our local BMW dealership, and they have checked and come back with worn front drive shafts..

they replaced the boots, and greased them. however im still experiencing this issue. it starts from about 40mph onwards..

help?

Most likely a bent wheel/rim or bad tire. Check wheels for runout. If bent, best to buy a good used one off ebay... You can't fix a bent wheel with balancing. Seeing that you live in Kenya, I imagine the road conditions can be severe.

hello Jason,

you are right, it turns out to be a bent left front rim. Yes the roads in Kenya are appalling.

i will order the one rim for replacement, however i wanted to change all four tyres as well.

Current setup is Front: 255/50/19, Rear is 285/45/19

i wanted to see if it was possible to go with 255/55/19 Front, and 285/50/19 Rear?

the diameter has a 0.7% difference...is this allowable?

Go to tirerack.com enter your vehice for plus 1 sizing. I recommend you only use BMW approved tires on the X5. Many issues with tire installation and vibration issues not using approved tires.

Nothing wrong with using 'unapproved' sizes.... (I know of zero issues with using matched diameters outside of BMWs recommendations. )

OP- make sure your NEW sizes are the same or closer in diameter match compared to the OE.

OE is apprx 715 versus 714 revs per mile...so within 1/715 or 0.13%. You can look at diffrent tire models and this will vary slightly.

I would not stray much past 0.2% but I am conservative. There are some threads on people upsizing- quite a bit more than you are proposing. Search