Steering wheel vibration @ 40mph

[wz2wj1]

Hello,

I have a 1993 325I with 120,000 miles. I've noticed a slight steering wheel vibration or shake at around 40 mph. If you let go of the steering wheel it pulses back and forth about 1/4 inch. If i brake it will go away. When i go faster than 43 or 44 mph it goes away. I have recently installed new brakes , rotors and tires and i have had tires balanced twice. It has gotten better but still a slight pulse or vibration. Front end was also aligned. I've seen another article about ball joints or lower control arms? how do you check if these are bad? And is this something i can repair? Or is there something else to check. I really like the car and hope to keep it for awhile. Also my son put a stainless catback exhaust on it and now that i drive the car it's too loud for me anything i can do to make the car sound more like the original exhaust, maybe this is another post question.

thanks
george

 

[tonyvt]

I have always thought that shakes below 40 are somthing other than tire balance and over 45 is usually balance.. in general but not always..

 

[epj3]

It is either your control arm bushings or an unbalanced wheel.

The exhaust? Only way to make it quieter is with another stock exhaust - when you say stainless steel catback, do you mean a quality catback, like a stromung, or something with a 6" tip from pepboys? If it's the latter, remove it right away...they look quite silly. I'll prob be getting rid of my M3 exhaust, but I don't know if it bolts up to the 325i. If it did I'd sell it.

 

[DSK]

Best place to start is to get the wheels balanced as its not expensive but can be often done improperly by some tyre garages because the tyre folks may be very busy and want to get cars shifted on or they think that a few grams here and there or unbalanced rear wheels etc will go unoticed. On BMW's its worth having all 4 wheels balanced spot on. This usually cures most common skaking issues that drivers have.

If the wheel balancing does not cure the shakes then as mentioned, have your bushes etc checked.

 

[djthelo]

i had the same issue i started with wheel balance new tires it finally ended up being the u joint but you cannot just replace the u joint you need a new drive shaft cost me about 1100usd at a local mechanic

 

[wz2wj1]

I found that the tires were bad. I replaced them and there was a big chunk of rubber missing on one and another was badly worn. thanks
geroge