3-Series (E36)Chat relating to the BMW 3-Series from 1992-1999. Autodoodad
Specific models include: BMW 316i, BMW 318i, BMW 318iS/ti, BMW 320, BMW 323, BMW 320, BMW 324, BMW 325, BMW 328.
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When I bought my BMW I noticed that under hard braking the car wanted to pull slightly left or right...it didnt do it all the time but occassionally...it wasnt a problem and I never felt worried
Since then I have put 17" alloys and low profiles on the car...this has made the problem feel worse...in fact, the car doesnt feel "true" now and seems a bit twitchy at all speeds...going over potholes can be interesting and going through width-restrictions is interesting to say the least...
Anyway, my mechanic has looked over the discs, pads, suspension, steering linkage and bushes and all he can say is that the bushes might be starting to fatigue...has anyone experienced this problem before?
My mechanic has told me that to replace the bushes isnt a problem and shouldnt cost too much but he has mentioned that there are nylon (performance) bushes instead of the stock rubber ones...
Please can you let me know if there is something my mechanic has over-looked or whether replacing the bushes will solve the problemo...
Hi, yes I have had them balanced and the tracking checked...there is no wobble in the steering wheel or vibration through the brake pedal so we reckon its not a braking issue or the set up of the wheels...the car is ten years old and has done 95K so we think its probably being caused by wear and tear...but what it is, we dont know!?
To do list:
Suspension--- researching
UUC System U TDM- 3/05
M50 manifold converstion 3/05
off to the tuning shop for custom software 4/05
Cams/lightened flywheel, throttlebody........ well lets see what happens
Originally posted by NeverLeaned@Aug 11 2004, 02:58 PM Make sure your brakes have been bled properly too...........
My 328IS has a habit of grabbing the cracks and getting pulled along especially during hard braking, but its nothing to write home about.
That's it! It feels like it's "GRABBING THE CRACKS" - I know this sounds like some sort of kinky fetish but you have hit the nail on the head...on my driveway at home I notice this a lot...there is a slight difference in height between two surfaces in the driveway and when I hit this point the car kind of pulls along the crack!
Pot holes make the car do this too...
What do you suggest to solve this? Whilst it's not life threatening at low speeds I have had some pretty hair raising moments when driving hard.
Hi from England
Had same problem with my BM and they were only 15" wheels it got so bad i had to put the old wheels back on This is after changing both lower arms realignment new disks and balancing ,Anyway turns out it was a bum set of wheels (bought from a dealer)the offset was the wrong one for the car they had sent me Vauxhall wheels same hole centres but different offset
could be this?
was not to bad at first with the new tyres ,
Regards
JOHN
Ok, if I understand what you are saying you have two seperate issues going on here. The first is that the car is twitchy under hard braking, the next is that it is now twitchy all the time with the bigger wheels. Lets look at the second issue first: Your problem has gotten worse with the addition of larger wheels. this tells me that either your car is tramlining simply becuase some BMW's do that with wheels that are larger than stock, or the addtional size and i imagine width is generating more stress on excessivly worn control arm bushings.
So the first thing to do is to make sure thast all your bushings are in very good condition. after you have seen to that, it is time to look at the brake system. first thing to do is a complete flush and bleed. By the way, if you gravity bleed or vacuum bleed you will need to do this procedure twice or three times over the course of a couple of weeks, since either of these two methods do not bleed the fluid from the ABS accumulator. So flush and bleed brakes, go out and drive the car making sure you activate ABS several times, then do it again. if it has been more than three years since a complete flush, do the whole procedure one more time.
I also recoommend using BMW rotors from a dealer? yeas i know it is hard to beleive but hear me out,,BMW, when driven hard, warp rotors .. that is a simple fact. BMW will warranty your new rotor for one year. buy them using a platinum charge card and that warranty shuold get doubled to two years.. For rotors...... now that is a deal.
One more thing E36's eat outer tie rod ends also... I am assuming you checked this early on right? If not , that is the FIRST place to look, as this will introduce a whole bunch of slop in the steering . let me know what you find
I had that same problem with my ride following pitches in the road as well as pot holes and cracks, i tried nothing to fix it untill i got new tires, i found out that the notoriously bad camber problem created flat spots on my tires and that causes the whole car to pull in certain situations. check you tires and camber,
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beyond that. 
ghead 
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