Cold feet...

[Help]

Sup all.. I'm new to the forums.

I'm considering purchasing a 98 328 but found something minor, but troubling; is that under power the steering wheel does a slight shimmy. (Not real bad... ) I asked the sales person whats up and he said it's because all BMWs have the issue when 18in wheels are installed. Knowing something about physics this seems lame that BMW engineers haven't resolved or accounted for this problem. There is no exaggeration during braking and it's not much of a problem above or below 40Mhp. I think the wheels are out of balance yet he states that they were just balanced a week ago. Whats your thoughts?

[Aggieland81]

i have this same problem, its only around 40 mph but i have a 93 though, if u find out what it is let me know

[MrM3]

welcome to bmw-forums

the tires could be unbalanced(still), out of round, or the center bore of the wheels are not the correct size for the 328s hub (<-very common and is the most likely cause). if bmw did not make the wheels, or if they werent made exactly to bmw specs, its stupid to blame the car for a wheel shimmy problem

[El Presidente]

yeah, I would tell dealership to put a different set of wheels on it and let you test drive it then. If it is still there, you know its the wheels. If not, its something like alignment. If its a good dealer they should accomodate you and change the wheels out though.

[Help]

Awesome!!! Thanks for the insight. Yeah probably just what I needed to hear. I'll make them do that (change out the wheels.) If all else is well and I get it I'll post a picture.

Thanks again.

-noob

[Andrewsd1985]

Good luck. MAybe even check the lower control arm bushings, usually the shimmy happens at higher speeds but 40 isn't unreasonable, and this is a common problem in e36s (non M)

[///M Power]

actually the porblem may lie in the suspenion and steering links. It may be the front ball bearings, control arms, tie rods, and other steering links.

[thinair]

I had this on my car, first it was the lower control bushings, I replaced mine with urethane ones. Then it was my inner control arm ball joints, so I just replaced the control arms. It fixed it.

Start with the cheaper solutions first, get the wheels rebalanced, then see if there is a lot of deflection in the lower control arm bushing. Lift the front of the car, see if there is any noticable play in the ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearing, etc, etc.

It's not an uncommon problem, but not impossible to fix either.

[socalguy]

hey i have a 96 328is and mine has the same problem, however its
becuase i bent the rims... its not real noticable especially after you get
the tires balanced,,, but rims are NOT cheap!!