Shaking And Vibrations!!

[Cruzin 323is]

ok.. so my car has been in and out of the mechanic for about 3 weeks now, with some serious vibrations..

i get a hard vibration at 60 and higher(feels like the tires are wobbleing around).. pretty much when i am on a highway when i make a slight turn or change lanes... basically when the tires dont have even pressure on them

in the past month ive changed...

2 front struts
2 front springs
right side control arm and bushings
tire rods...
rebalanced both front tires
and have had 3 alignments

on friday, and am replacing the left side control arm and bushings??

anything else that could possibly be making my car do this

PS... it only happends when the car is turning or changing lanes on the parkway!! and i am going above 60mph and doesn't do it when i am going straight..

please help me out?
OH, i know its not bent rims.. because i have had bent rims b4..(thats why i got new 1's, and its not the same feeling... and this is definatly more violent)

[mech9T8]

I had a vibration problem as well (at high speeds).
Turned out a belt separated in one of my tires. They should be able to catch this during balancing.

[Cruzin 323is]

what do you mean, a belt seperated!

[mech9T8]

The steel belt in the tire shifted it's position.
Once this happened I was told you'll never be able to balance the tire properly.

[Cruzin 323is]

ehh.. thats a possiblity! but how would i know which tire it is!

and then what? get a new tire?

[akolang]

same with me, but only when i hit the brake at around these speeds (hey werent we the same peepz talkin about this same stuff on another topic by me? lol) anyways ill try to change the tires and see if it may be the "steel belt" or whatever

[mech9T8]

If you get vibration only when you are braking it has nothing to do with the tires, it's more likely that it's, well, the brakes.
As for how to know which tire it is you won't. You'll need to get someone to put it on a balancer to check. If you do have a separated belt you need a new tire.

[akolang]

well the rotors are fine, and dont think its the brake pads... and it doesnt do it all the time, just everynow and then...

[catalyst.]

If your braking and you feel a pulsation in the pedal, your rotors are warped.. if the steering wheel shakes (when braking) and there is no pulsation from the pedal, then it is most likely balljoints, jack your car up and try to kick a front wheel (with your foot) forwards or backwards and if it moves noticably alot then i bet its your balljoints.

[Cruzin 323is]

Originally posted by catalyst.@Feb 10 2005, 10:59 PM
If your braking and you feel a pulsation in the pedal, your rotors are warped.. if the steering wheel shakes (when braking) and there is no pulsation from the pedal, then it is most likely balljoints, jack your car up and try to kick a front wheel (with your foot) forwards or backwards and if it moves noticably alot then i bet its your balljoints.

[snapback]289640[/snapback]

but in order to change the balljoints, u need to change the whole control arm!

[akolang]

hmm i had the control arm bushings replaced... so could the entire control arm be f'ed up? man that would suck ill try that out, the kicking the tire i mean..

[roguesniper1]

LOL, look like E36 have very common problems. I had the same problem. But i didn't change jack shit. Got the car checked out from BMW and they wanted to replace ball joints, control arms and if the problems persisted a wheel bearing . So took it my mechanic, and then "LITTLE CAR SHOP". Turns out, I have a passenger side STICKY caliper. They cleaned the caliper, the car drove fine for a week or two, but now it is sticking again so I have to replace it. I am going to replace both front calipers. Brake pads are only 2 months old hawks HP plus and rotors are in excellent conditon, so just the calipers only.



So the lesson you can learn from me. Get your calipers checked out. I am not saying it is 100% target but so far what has been explained above, It is my hypothesis that your caliper might be sticking too. Otherwise get your wheel bearings checked out.

[abemcclellan]

if it only does it the worst when cornering, then you might hear the wheel bearing. this happened on my e30. either that or you might want to check ball joints and all the bushings and maybe the stabilizer links.

[Cruzin 323is]

Originally posted by roguesniper1@Feb 11 2005, 06:00 AM
LOL, look like E36 have very common problems. I had the same problem. But i didn't change jack shit. Got the car checked out from BMW and they wanted to replace ball joints, control arms and if the problems persisted a wheel bearing . So took it my mechanic, and then "LITTLE CAR SHOP". Turns out, I have a passenger side STICKY caliper. They cleaned the caliper, the car drove fine for a week or two, but now it is sticking again so I have to replace it. I am going to replace both front calipers. Brake pads are only 2 months old hawks HP plus and rotors are in excellent conditon, so just the calipers only.



So the lesson you can learn from me. Get your calipers checked out. I am not saying it is 100% target but so far what has been explained above, It is my hypothesis that your caliper might be sticking too. Otherwise get your wheel bearings checked out.

[snapback]289802[/snapback]

it doesn't vibrate when i am braking though, nor does it slow down! so it can't be the caliper...
as of right now, my car is in the shop getting my other control arm with bushing and balljoints put in, then i guess next step is to check out the bearings... i guess i'll do a search on that??
any 1 have any info on that???

[Cruzin 323is]

aight sooo.. after all of this!! i finally got it to go away! it was the control arm and ball joints!! total cost for repair was about 1800 bucks!!, BRAND NEW FRONT SUSPENSION!