Update on Shakes and Crap

[632 Regal]

well kinda narrowed some of the problems down.

Havent had the money or resources to wrench for a bit so I accumulate most of this to just plain bein rusty.

The rear clunk and chunk I believe the most part to no LSD additive after spinning one tire on ice, perhaps deglazing the steels or frictions, anyways thats acceptable now. The dogbones were wasted, not the wheels have real bad angles like the springs are way too short...deciding on what to do bout that in the future.

The rotor fade/shake I dont believe were completely rotors, got the Oppart rotors and was gonna put them on but the Axxis Ultimate pads were heat cracked so I put old rotors on til I got the raybestos QS pads.

On the highway the shudder faded to just about the typicak 55-65 shimmt of thrust arm bush failure.

New rotors on today with new pads, will see how it does but im betting the thrust bushes are toast.

Another thing I wont admit is the caliper pistons had a ton of buildup and wasnt making positive contacct with the pads, never had a prob on american cars but food for thought was the raybestos instruction ov using the synthetic grease on contact surfaces... makes sence to me now. Might have caused most the problems myself from lack of experience with this particular stuff.

Hope theres a point or 2 for the next person that has problems and what to avoid.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I recently did a lot of the same stuff: dogbones, sway bar end links, Racing King subframe inserts, and Royal Purple in the tranny and diff. Rear feels a lot better, and like Jeff my shimmy has reduced itself to the 55 MPH thrust arm death shake. Not much money and the car drives much better.

[Jr ///M5]

Jeff,

The pistons in the calipers can bind when old because of buildup, pitting, or just plain old age. With an application of the brakes, the caliper can bind or seize and you won't really notice it until you get some speed up. Then it will pull a little and start shaking really bad.

Take the thing out for a drive and use the brakes a few times. Find a place to pull over and get out and feel the wheels to see if the heat is dissapating. If there is no heat buildup, they are fine. I've caught my old 535 this way, the 318iS and Natalies Mercedes Benz. The Benz wheels would get hot to the touch, I'd jack it up and open the bleeder to see if it was the piston or the brake line. It turned out to be the master cylinder, but I didn't know it until I had replaced the lines. (Start with the simple stuff first rule)

I've replaced both front calipers on the old 535 and the 318iS because of intermittent binding.

Just something else for you to dwell on...

Jr

[632 Regal]

im saving the final rant for them FCP hamburger POS parts we were testing....who would have thought <10k? (less than? been a while)

[liquidtiger720]

Jeff,

The pistons in the calipers can bind when old because of buildup, pitting, or just plain old age. With an application of the brakes, the caliper can bind or seize and you won't really notice it until you get some speed up. Then it will pull a little and start shaking really bad.

Take the thing out for a drive and use the brakes a few times. Find a place to pull over and get out and feel the wheels to see if the heat is dissapating. If there is no heat buildup, they are fine. I've caught my old 535 this way, the 318iS and Natalies Mercedes Benz. The Benz wheels would get hot to the touch, I'd jack it up and open the bleeder to see if it was the piston or the brake line. It turned out to be the master cylinder, but I didn't know it until I had replaced the lines. (Start with the simple stuff first rule)

I've replaced both front calipers on the old 535 and the 318iS because of intermittent binding.

Just something else for you to dwell on...

Jr


How did you determine it was the master cylinder after changing the brake lines?

[Jr ///M5]

With the car jacked up, you check the wheel....it won't spin easily and is hot to the touch.

When you release the pressure in the bleeder, and the wheel all of a sudden spins freely, then the problem is a collasped brake line. If the problem still exists, it's the caliper binding. In the case of the Mercedes, after the brake lines were replaced, the problem was still there. The only other thing it could be was the master cylinder.

[RobPatt]

... maybe just do that? ( I think that's my shudder under breaking, but first need to remove wheels, etc and ensure a clean mounting surface... )

[sKilled]

632 Regal
94 530ia
10 Grand Master Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 10,092

WTF? How'd you manage that? Last time I checked you were what, nearing 3k? Nice job!

[632 Regal]

been busy? LOL :D

632 Regal
94 530ia
10 Grand Master Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 10,092

WTF? How'd you manage that? Last time I checked you were what, nearing 3k? Nice job!

[DanDombrowski]

Jeff,

My new dogbones came in the mail yesterday. Before I put them on, I was going to check to see what it does for the camber. I put a level up to the wheel, and I can tell I'm running a significant rear camber on the backs.

I thought about picking up a gage that shows rear camber and seeing how much an effect the dogbones have, but I don't think it will be much.

I saw a couple of camber gages that are magnetic and clip to the rotor. Ever try one? I saw them on ebay for like $15. I figured for that price I would just pick one up the next time I was at harbor freight or something. Do they carry them there?

[Bill R.]

here. I've posted this a few times in the pasthttp://www.bimmernut.com/%7Ebillr/images/Tracklink.jpg




Jeff,

My new dogbones came in the mail yesterday. Before I put them on, I was going to check to see what it does for the camber. I put a level up to the wheel, and I can tell I'm running a significant rear camber on the backs.

I thought about picking up a gage that shows rear camber and seeing how much an effect the dogbones have, but I don't think it will be much.

I saw a couple of camber gages that are magnetic and clip to the rotor. Ever try one? I saw them on ebay for like $15. I figured for that price I would just pick one up the next time I was at harbor freight or something. Do they carry them there?

[DanDombrowski]

Well, theres that answer. Thanks for posting that Bill, that clears things up a bit. Looks like I gotta just bite the bullet and get some new rear bilstein tourings.

I'd still like to get a camber gage to track any other changes I make.