High Speed shakes, Driveshaft???

[JustinM]

let me start by saying i've replaced the upper thrust arms,lower control arms, Tie rods ,alignment,wheels balanced(brand new wheels and tires). i get a Good vibration from about 50mph to as fast as i want to go .The dash vibrates at about..the shop that did all the work thinks it might be the driveshaft ..The vibration get pretty bad the faster i go it starts shaking the seats and dash and the steering wheel,even though the streering wheel doesn't shake as bad as the dash and seats. Any helpful hints or advice would be helpful

[Brandon J]

I would still check the wheels and tires, especially if you are feeling it through the steering wheel.

The guibo/flex disk and center bearing can go bad. It is felt through the middle of the car and usually through the seats. Sometimes it feels like it is coming from the rear.
So check the wheels and tires again for balance, assuming the shop installed the thrust arms correctly by tightening it under load. Go here http://128.242.141.111/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm to look for hunter GSP9700 wheel balancing machines in your area.

[JustinM]

Thanks alot brandon ,i have an appointment tomorrrow with a shop for wheel balancing
.How will you know if they torqued the thrust arms under load ?? what would i do without this Board...

[Rick L]

I noticed that you have two different sets of aftermarket rims. Both 17" and 18". Do you have hub centric rings for the rims? If not, that's the problem. Also, try this. Release the lugs and retighten the lugs in the usual star pattern but when you tighten each lugs, bring the lug you are about to tighten to the top and then tighten. This process helps the rim to sit closer to center of the hub if you don’t have hub centric rings. I have a Maserati with HRE wheels and cannot find any hub centric rings for this car so I used this method and it really works.

Rick L





Thanks alot brandon ,i have an appointment tomorrrow with a shop for wheel balancing
.How will you know if they torqued the thrust arms under load ?? what would i do without this Board...

[Rick L]

I don't think the driveshaft/flex disc will cause the problem you described. You would only get the vibration if you are accelerating, NOT coasting. Make sure you have the correct hub centric rings. It needs to match both the car's hub and the rim (72.56-xx.xx).

[robertg]

wheel connection. i got my hub centric rings from there a long time ago. or you can order them from the place you bought your wheels from. the vibation you have is the hub centric rings.

[JustinM]

we will find out tommorow . they place where i ordered the wheels gave me plastic rings they should be ok

[Bellicose Right Winger]

to front/rear and driveline/wheel-tire by lifting the rear of the car, putting in gear and running to 50mph and checking for vibration. If gone...then front end problem. If present remove rear wheels and repeat. If still present likely driveline issue, if gone....wheel/tire balance/concentric problem.

Paul Shovestul



let me start by saying i've replaced the upper thrust arms,lower control arms, Tie rods ,alignment,wheels balanced(brand new wheels and tires). i get a Good vibration from about 50mph to as fast as i want to go .The dash vibrates at about..the shop that did all the work thinks it might be the driveshaft ..The vibration get pretty bad the faster i go it starts shaking the seats and dash and the steering wheel,even though the streering wheel doesn't shake as bad as the dash and seats. Any helpful hints or advice would be helpful

[Hector]

only thing I'd take issue with is you might mis-diagnose the driveshaft because it wouldn't be under load. You might miss the vibration depending on how pronounced it is.


to front/rear and driveline/wheel-tire by lifting the rear of the car, putting in gear and running to 50mph and checking for vibration. If gone...then front end problem. If present remove rear wheels and repeat. If still present likely driveline issue, if gone....wheel/tire balance/concentric problem.

Paul Shovestul

[Jason]

I had to do it a bunch of times before I finally got the rings

[JustinM]

I had to do it a bunch of times before I finally got the rings

What did you try before you ordered the rings...Also were your rings plastic or metal...if metal where did you get them at

[JonE]

Rick L's post about tightening the lugs does work, I had the shimmy after 50 you described with snow tire/rims on and narrowed it down to one rim's center hole not quite concentric (slightly enlarged?). I carefully recentered the rim and slowly tightened the lugs to keep it centered, even before lowering the car, it worked very well with it tightened pretty good. Another question would be if the shimmy is still there with a different set of rims on the car, did you have 17's or others available to try this? Good luck!

[Jason]

I had put on the Style #5 wheels before replacing the suspension compnents (I really have my priorities straight) then had everything replaced and it was still shimmying. Tried that technique of tightening the bolts, it worked, but then had to get the rings. I have aluminum ones now, got them from tirerack. i had a set of plastic ones on my E30 and they worked fine too. I might have an extra set.

[Bellicose Right Winger]

but it's easy to check via test drive if vibration is better/worse when accelerating, coasting or decelerating above 50mph. From the description there's no indication it varies under these conditions. This vibration seems too violent to be a driveline problem.

Paul Shovestul




only thing I'd take issue with is you might mis-diagnose the driveshaft because it wouldn't be under load. You might miss the vibration depending on how pronounced it is.

[JustinM]

Well it was the hubcentric rings or lack there of ..the shop that put the wheels one never bothered to tell me it didn't have any at all..So i called wheel exchange and told them that i never recieved any and they next day aired them(Now that is Customer service) And i put them on today and bammmmm no more shake at all none zip zero......so happy i almost did a burnout!!!!!

[Bellicose Right Winger]

and can't wait for the proper rings, you can wrap layers of electricians tape around hub. It's compliant and will center the wheel. I use one layer of tape, being careful not to overlap it, in addition to my Tire Rack A670's. The tape helps eliminate the play that shows up after many changes. Be sure you tighten the wheel bolts before you lower the car to the ground...this is important when using the centering rings also as they're not designed to support the weight of the car.

Paul Shovestul



What did you try before you ordered the rings...Also were your rings plastic or metal...if metal where did you get them at

[RicK L]

That's great that you got the problem solved. I forgot to mention... You should put some grease on the rings. This way, hub / ring / wheel wouldn't corrode and makes easier to take the wheel off.

[Unregistered]

Hey there,

me too I have the shakes under load. Especially when the auto box shifts into overdrive and the revs drop. pretty violent shake. Replaced Flex disc, bearing, silent block, stabi in front etc. Still shaking.

Engineer at the beemer garage pointed me to the ignition coild, if one or two are about to fail they will start to fail under load and the car will shake violently. I just ordered new coils but have not received them yet so can not report on the effects.

Something to look at?