vibrations 40-55mph - BMW Forum

Bruzda1 · 10-10-2009, 09:38 PM

hi everyone i just purchased 2001 525i sport wagon (great car) and while driving from dealer car started to vibrate 40-55 mph, today i replaced 2 front tires and balanced all wheel, it feels different but still vibrates, does anybody have idea what can cause this?

johnnyBgood · 10-10-2009, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruzda1

hi everyone i just purchased 2001 525i sport wagon (great car) and while driving from dealer car started to vibrate 40-55 mph, today i replaced 2 front tires and balanced all wheel, it feels different but still vibrates, does anybody have idea what can cause this?

A few things, a worn & loose tie rod end, a worn & torn control arm bushing, a worn balljoint......so check for looseness in these areas.......

jb

Bruzda1 · 10-10-2009, 10:45 PM

thanks, i will check it

coolvegase34 · 10-11-2009, 08:19 AM

They recommend changing all 4 tires at once on these cars and no rotation, balancing etc. Supposedly, it throws off the balance or something like that.

marti5 · 10-11-2009, 08:46 AM

Thats what we call "the Shimmy", as JB has said worn front suspension parts, which one ?? hard to say....

Getting rid of the shimmies

Once all the easy options are out of the way, tyres ,tracking and wheel balance, we have to move on to the front suspension components. There is a lot of advice given on what to change first but in my experience most problems are either removed entirely or at least made significantly better by replacing the upper arms and rubber bushes.

While you are at it you might as well replace the lower arms as well, the cost is not all that high and is worth doing once the car is on the lift. A big difference can be made by just changing the bushes but normally if the bushes are damaged then the ball-joints are damaged at the same time. The deterioration of the bushes is often missed, the weight of the car on these parts makes it difficult to find with a crow-bar so don't be surprised if the garage tells you they can't find any play. Some like to replace the bushes with polyurethane after-market versions, be aware though that this will significantly affect the quality of the ride and may well lead to other component failures. The bushes have to be pressed into the arms if you buy them separately.

Getting rid of shimmies - it's getting much harder now

We have now covered the possible causes in 95% of the cases I've been involved with. I have heard of miracle fixes where just one component of the front suspension has been replaced before the usual things have been tried but these are really just one-offs. So, in order of the most likely here are the remaining candidates:

Front stabiliser joints.

Centre tie-rod, Drag link bearing and Tie rods.

Once you have got to this point things have got pretty expensive. You can get complete suspension refurbishment kits from Ebay.de, I have never tried these but have heard good things about them. Unfortunately, as you have just bought your car that has shimmy you will not be aware of what has been changed already.

Hope this helps a bit, you can find all the part #'s etc at:

RealOEM.com Online BMW Parts Catalog

Bruzda1 · 10-11-2009, 09:05 AM

thanks for advice, i am going back to ntb since blancing wheels made it little worse, it looks like some of the parts were replaced, but i don't know what they are called thanks again, i keep u posted

540John · 10-11-2009, 11:00 AM

Do you have stock wheels? I put a set of Hamman wheels on my 540 that came with a set of tires. When the tires were replaced we had a bad shimmy at 45-50mph. It turned to be two issues. 1. Some aftermarket wheels require concentric rings to center the wheel on the hub. Without these it is very difficult to mount the wheel correctly. 2. Bad tire.

When I installed a set of concentric rings, the majority of the problem went away. When the front tires were replaced, all the shimmy went away.

Cheers,

Bruzda1 · 10-12-2009, 03:39 PM

i have original wheels, ntb just told me that 2 rear rims are bent so i am looking for new ones, 2 front tires are new and rear ones are almost new, i hope i can find some rims this week and swap the tires, anyway i wii keep u informed, thanks

hmuchmo1 · 10-16-2009, 08:19 AM

I had something similar recently.. i have aftermarket rims and had exactly the same 45-55 shimmy, and all I needed was centering rings. They were the thinest rings i had ever seen in my life but as soon as they went on the shimmy was gone.

if you have OEM rims this shouldnt be the issue, but its a cheap fix if it is, so get it checked before spend big bucks

Bruzda1 · 10-16-2009, 08:29 AM

i just put replacement wheels and new tires yesterday, big improvement but i still have lots of vibration from rear of the car, store told me i do not need rings because wheels are made espcialy for bmw, i am going to ask them for rings today and see what happens
do u know what elese can cause rear to shake 9suspension maybe, it is not in very dood shape i am going to replace shocks and mounts next week)

hmuchmo1 · 10-16-2009, 08:35 AM

Is it still shaking in the 40-55 area, just in the rear now?

Not as much can be wrong on the rear due to fewer components, but suspension issues can always cause lots of problems.

some simple checks are possible to see if its worn out, simply bounce the rear down with your hands, it should rise back up and stop basically. If it keeps bouncing your looking at worn out struts. This can happen in wagon if a lot of stuff was hauled around over the years.

Having a shop check to see if the axel is bent is another possibility..

hope this helps.

Bruzda1 · 10-16-2009, 09:58 AM

whoever own car befor be bent rear rims, when i was driving i had a lot of vibrations that's why i replaced wheels,just spoke w/ store they do not make rings for these wheels because wheels are made exact to bmw specs.- i was told to come back for rebalnce, if it is axle shouldn't i feel it at lower speeds too, wright now it is noticable above 60mph