[GJR]

I've been having strange vibrations in the steering wheel since the day I drove the car off the dealer's lot. I say they're strange because they only make themselves known about 75% of the time. On most roads the steering feels smooth, and others it does a strange shimmying thing which annnoys the hell out of me. Sometimes it's for long stretches of highway and it just doesn't seem normal, even though I know that runflat tires can behave strangely (mine are the Bridgestone Potenzas).

It's also not anything I've experienced in my previous seven BMWs that couldn't be fixed with a rebalancing.

This is NOT a flatspotting issue. It happens both when the tires are cold and when they're warmed up after 20 minutes of driving:mad:

Here's what the dealer has done to try and remedy the problem:

1st attempt: replace both front tires
2nd attempt: re-"roadforce" balance the tires
3rd attempt: re-"roadforce" balance the tires
4th attempt: replace both front tires

This is really getting old, really fast. And the car only has 4000 miles on it.

I have done a few searches on this board and it seems like any complaints people have had are way back in the past. I wonder if anyone else is living with this issue or if I'm the only one...?

[LEDZEP]

I previously ranted about this problem in my '06 325i. After several balancings, it finally got to "tolerable".

But guess what - my brand new 328xi is doing the exact same thing! Different brand and size tires. Your description is spot on... it is not a flatspot or 'square tire' issue although that is the first thing they will try to convince you of.

I only have 600+ miles on my new car, but I have already given my SA a head's up that it might be coming in for a balance.

Here is one thing I learned with the last car - when you have them balance the wheels, make sure they do so IMMEDIATELY after the car has been driven and the tires are warm and round. I think the RFTs do develop worse flatness than normal tires, and take longer to work out due to the stiff sidewalls. I think when they put them on the balancer after sitting in the dealer's lot for hours, they are square and it screws up the balance readings. To make it worse, this causes them to apply weight to the wrong part of the wheel... and so it continues.

I'm not a wheel and tire expert, and I don't want to be one... but apparently no one at our BMW Service Centers is either. I find it appalling that so many leave the factory like this. Those wheels and tires should be "dead on balls accurate" when they roll out of the factory.

[KevinC]

If you've only had the stealership try to balance the wheels, try taking it to a reputable tire shop WITH the road force balance machine and let a real pro try it again. I had an asswipe at an indy BMW (of all things) shop mount some Tire Rack-sourced GS D3's on my R32 a couple of years ago and they were balanced about as good as those big square stone rollers on Fred Flinstone's sled. The jerk got completely nasty with me when I "accused" him of doing a crappy balance job, said that NO car had ever come back to him as a result of a bad job. Well, guess what? There's a first time for everything. Discount Tire nailed it (pardon the expression) with a road force balance, problem gone. I've NEVER had a stealership get a wheel alignment or balance job right.. finally wised up and quit trying years ago.

[GJR]

Thanks for the advice, guys. This makes me wonder about the competence of the dealer techs, especially since they scratched the you-know-what out of one wheel in the process of mounting a tire and had to replace it at the dealer's expense when I brought it back and pointed it out to the advisor.

[LEDZEP]

Most techs at the dealer are not very good with tires. Even most of them will admit that.

[JF]

Are we sure that this is caused by tire imbalance?

I experience the same feel and had my winter tires balanced 4 times. I installed the oem 18" tires and wheels 3 weeks ago and the feel is exactly the same. I called Frysby Tire and told them that I will keep my winters the way they are since the vibration is there with the original tires.

I was starting to think that the vibration is actually feedback from the road. Like for the OP, the vibration is different on different road sections and can happen at any speed. At one point, I even imagined that it was the power steering that was pulsing...

The funny thing is that everytime I watch a road test in a television show(e.g. Top Gear), I try to see if the steering wheel vibrates!

JF

[LEDZEP]

I wonder that too. But we also have the E91 with the 16" Bridgestone EL-42s and it rides perfectly smooth from day one - no vibration - no shimmy - same roads. Very confusing.

[GJR]

Well, to make this even more interesting, I recall a slight shimmy in my winter setup also (17" Pirelli Sottozero runflats). What a racket. I'm going to try and drive some different cars on the same stretches of road to see if there's any similarity at all. Maybe it could be slightly uneven road surfaces which make themselves even more noticeable in the BMW because of the ultra-sensitive suspension/steering? I'm reaching here.

[LEDZEP]

I do think part of it is the feedback our cars give us. I'm trying not to get freaked about it like I did on my '06, but it is annoying. If I didn't have the E91 as a direct comparison it might not be as bad.

I've only put 600 miles on my '07 so far, and I want to be sure before taking it in (once they start messing with the balance you're pretty much comitted).

[2e9x's]

I am assuming this is not happening during braking, so it is not a brake rotor issue. Right?

Sometimes BMW's get issues with front ball joints. Try this...go out to the car, grab hold of the front wheels (engine off), and try to shake them. Listen for any odd sounds. Also check to see how much the wheel moves either on the vertical axis of left-right. There should be no noise and virtually no movement.

Does the car do this on the same stretch of road every time? What is the road surface? Are there rain grooves? Sometimes tires follow rain grooves and that can cause odd motions in the steering (some folks refer to that as tramlining). The RFT's on my Mini did that pretty badly.

I also suggest taking the car to a different dealership. While there, have their shop foreman or lead tech drive the car with you in it.

Good luck!

[IS2000]

I have slight vibration on my steering wheel as well, and I could also feel the rear wheels vibrate on bumpy road surface. This was from the 1st day I drove the car home. I had the front wheels re-balanced and they got better. I'll probably bring the car to the dealership to have this look at after the break-in period.

[Greeney]

I have it too... the dealer wants me to replace 2 rims and tires...

[Pim]

Got an appointment with the dealer on monday 21 with that same problem. The car has to stay in for a day or 3 they said ... a worried here ....
But anyway I give you some feedback after the repair .....

[2nynbak]

I had a similar experience when I bought my BoxsterS new. I went through several road force balancings plus the dealer replaced the original Continentals with Potenzas because I liked them on my prior Boxster and then to Michielins. One thing they tried was to rotate the tire a quarter of a turn on the wheel as well as rebalancing. This can sometimes improve a supposedly balanced tire. In my case the car pulled slightly and or the wheel shook slightly. Remembering from my prior Porsche I suggested they look to see if a wheel might be out of round as one was on that car. To the total shock of the head mechanic 3 of the four wheels had "run out" problems. This if you don't know as I didn't is the side-to-side out of round of the wheel. They were between 1/8 and 1/4 inch off and it makes it impossible to remove the vibration even when the machine says the wheels are balanced. Although Porsche refused to replace the wheels saying they were in spec. another dealer had them trued and the car is fine. I will never buy another Porsche because of them stiffing me with 3 bad $550 wheels but I learned how touchy large wheels and low aspect ratio tires can be to get a steady steering wheel. When your wheels are being spun watch closely how much those wheels move up and down and side to side as that could be your problem. I hope you find a fix.

[LEDZEP]

I ranted about my recent long drive here - http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...764#post985764

There is certainly a problem, and I have an appointment this week. Unfortunately I am not totally optimistic about them fixing in on the first vist. I had the same problem in my last E90 and it took several trips and was never quite perfect.

It seems that the QA at the factory is woefully inadequate when it comes to the wheels and tires. Mounting and balancing must be the entry level job where the put the new guys with little or no supervision. I'm sure their attitude is "let the dealers take care of any problems". But the dealers don't seem to like dealing with wheel issues and they approach it less than enthusiastically. They put it up on the balancer (often cold with flat spots from sitting) and then say they've done all they can.

For people who haven't had this problem and don't understand why those of us who do are so furious about it - imagine your BMW driving like an old pickup truck, with the steering wheel literally shaking your arms when you drive at highway speed. Imagine driving it like that for 800 miles. It is maddening.

[mike328xi]

I had this problem once with a new car. After 3 sets of tires within the first 500 miles, a service technician took a hard look at the rims. He found that three of them were out of spec and could not be balanced. They were quickly replaced and all was well.

mfl