E39 540 Not Very Stable

[Alin10123]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum as you guys can see. A few months ago i bought a 1999 540 with sport package. I'm not sure if it's me being anal, but i seem to have the impression that bmw's were supposed to run very stable all the way on up to 100mph+ since they usually run on the autobahn. However, when my car reaches 70mph on the highway, it starts to sort of sway a little bit. Not by a whole lot. Just a little at a time and every 3-5 seconds i have to adjust the steering wheel even on a flat and straight road. What do you guys make of this?

I just got brand new tires (not cheap, bridgestone re750's), got an alignment done and had the C/A bushings looked at. I had actually already bought the C/A bushings because i seemed like those were the problem, but when the mechanic jacked up the car, he said he did not see a crack in the bushings and so he said that they were fine. He said that before he even jacked up the car, he had a feeling the bushings were fine because i had under 70,000 miles on the car. Anyone know what it could be?

So... anyways...
Anyone have any ideas? This is about to drive me nuts~! my year 2000 toyota 4runner driver more stable than this and it's an SUV.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP!

[Alin10123]

Originally posted by Alin10123@Oct 20 2004, 12:44 AM
Hi,

I'm new to the forum as you guys can see. A few months ago i bought a 1999 540 with sport package. I'm not sure if it's me being anal, but i seem to have the impression that bmw's were supposed to run very stable all the way on up to 100mph+ since they usually run on the autobahn. However, when my car reaches 70mph on the highway, it starts to sort of sway a little bit. Not by a whole lot. Just a little at a time and every 3-5 seconds i have to adjust the steering wheel even on a flat and straight road. What do you guys make of this?

I just got brand new tires (not cheap, bridgestone re750's), got an alignment done and had the C/A bushings looked at. I had actually already bought the C/A bushings because i seemed like those were the problem, but when the mechanic jacked up the car, he said he did not see a crack in the bushings and so he said that they were fine. He said that before he even jacked up the car, he had a feeling the bushings were fine because i had under 70,000 miles on the car. Anyone know what it could be?

So... anyways...
Anyone have any ideas? This is about to drive me nuts~! my year 2000 toyota 4runner driver more stable than this and it's an SUV.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP!

[snapback]214526[/snapback]

Hmm... So... nobody here has any insight on this?

[gmal]

Originally posted by Alin10123+Oct 20 2004, 08:50 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alin10123 @ Oct 20 2004, 08:50 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Alin10123@Oct 20 2004, 12:44 AM
Hi,

I'm new to the forum as you guys can see. A few months ago i bought a 1999 540 with sport package. I'm not sure if it's me being anal, but i seem to have the impression that bmw's were supposed to run very stable all the way on up to 100mph+ since they usually run on the autobahn. However, when my car reaches 70mph on the highway, it starts to sort of sway a little bit. Not by a whole lot. Just a little at a time and every 3-5 seconds i have to adjust the steering wheel even on a flat and straight road. What do you guys make of this?

I just got brand new tires (not cheap, bridgestone re750's), got an alignment done and had the C/A bushings looked at. I had actually already bought the C/A bushings because i seemed like those were the problem, but when the mechanic jacked up the car, he said he did not see a crack in the bushings and so he said that they were fine. He said that before he even jacked up the car, he had a feeling the bushings were fine because i had under 70,000 miles on the car. Anyone know what it could be?

So... anyways...
Anyone have any ideas? This is about to drive me nuts~! my year 2000 toyota 4runner driver more stable than this and it's an SUV.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP!* * * * * *

[snapback]214526[/snapback]

Hmm... So... nobody here has any insight on this?

[snapback]215162[/snapback]

[/b][/quote]

There's something wrong.
These cars run solid at high speed. I've taken mine, a y2K 540i6 sport, into those speed levels and above and its solid; it seems to drive better at higher speeds than lower.
While I am not an expert I have some questions;
- does the car drift from side to side,
- is the problem more pronounced towards one side?
- are you noticing nny noises, whinning...
These cards are very quiet so you should only be hearing a little wind noise, some tire noise perhaps (don't know how quiet are the Bridgestones), and little engine noise.
- at lower speeds how much steering wheel play do you have? it should be tight.
- do you know if the car was in an accident - was there any frame work done to it?

[Torque]

road is not 100% flat ... they make the roads so that they have some kind of small degree, so that water runs down and doesn't stay in the middle thus making it dangerous for people to drive.

btw. you should always hold ur steering wheel at those speeds anyhow.

[billB]

TO ALIN

you said : when my car reaches 70mph on the highway, it starts to sort of sway a little bit. Not by a whole lot. Just a little at a time. I just got brand new tires (not cheap, bridgestone re750's), got an alignment done.

Let us leave the tires and the conditions of the road for now and take a look at what they call (INTEGR. LINK) BMW part number (33 32 1 090 030) have your mechanic check it for deteriorations and the above number if applicable to yours. I am assuming you don't let go of the steering wheel at 70MPH; you only making adjustments because of the swaying/fish tailing!! Yes?

It is about $40 a piece at the dealer if bad I would change both sides/left/right.

Good luck
regards
billb

[silverlea]

The E39 540 BMW is a very stable car at any speed.
There has to be something wrong for you to be having problems like you have described.
What tyre pressures are you running.Check that out and make sure what ever you set them at that the front wheels are both the same,and if you run something different on the back they both need to be the same also.
Do you have a tyre that has a flatspot on it.
I think eventually you will get this problem sorted out.
You mention your car is a 6speed manual which makes me think you like to drive quicker than most !
Have you considered fitting front and rear M5 swaybars.....this will make a massive difference to the handling of your car.......its unbelievable.
all the best.

SILVERLEA.

[gmal]

Originally posted by silverlea@Oct 21 2004, 12:33 AM
The E39 540 BMW is a very stable car at any speed.
There has to be something wrong for you to be having problems like you have described.
What tyre pressures are you running.Check that out and make sure what ever you set them at that the front wheels are both the same,and if you run something different on the back they both need to be the same also.
Do you have a tyre that has a flatspot on it.
I think eventually you will get this problem sorted out.
You mention your car is a 6speed manual which makes me think you like to drive quicker than most !
Have you considered fitting front and rear M5 swaybars.....this will make a massive difference to the handling of your car.......its unbelievable.
all the best.

SILVERLEA.

[snapback]215273[/snapback]

Silverlea, you recommend the M5 sway bars - I am currious, what improvement did you notice? less roll, better cornering, etc? I have a 540i6 sport and am interested in improvements.

[silverlea]

You will notice the M5 bars mainly with cornering.You can go into a corner quite a bit faster......point the nose and around you go.......but the car will sit alot flatter going through the turn......with no roll whatsoever.........
The bars themselves from BMW are actually not expensive.They cost me down here in New Zealand $700.........so i'd imagine in the USA around $450.
The reason many blokes dont do this job themselves is because doing the front is quite a big job.A dealer will quote you around 6hours labour.The bar has to fit between the engine and the chassis of the car which means you have to jack up the engine just enough to get it through.the rear bar is easy and will take 30minutes.I did the job myself but it took up most of a saturday !
Good Luck.

SILVERLEA.

[yuknfankees]

How about a "played" control arm....??

[rjr]

My 540i 6 sp pkg is solid as a rock all the way to the century mark.

rjr

[nerf26]

Tire pressure...IS IT AT THE HIGH POINT, SAY 34psi and above???