55mph wobble - Or - A year of E34 Ownership Reflection?

[Scott C]

Okay,

Can see my prior posts dealing with all that i have done to fix this once and for all - and I am close.

Symptom - 55mph wobble that came and went, stock wheels. Occasional pull to left that was unexplained but also came and went - and the two were not really correlated - until later...

Latest big change - calipers. I decided that after 15 years, it was time she got new calipers and sure enough she thanks me. I am running 32 psi tire pressure for the first time in years vs 45psi. Apparently the front calipers were sticking (the piston not the slides) enough to cause the pads to chatter. Front done, rear to be done.


Of course this is after:
Tighted steering box - helped but no love
Up tire air pressure to 45psi helped a LOT
Yes - control and thrust arms - on my third set, now with M5 bushings - which are great
Tightened big nut on column - helped with slop
Wheels balanced (stock wheels)
Driveshaft (U-joint was notchy around center, CV was fine, center bearing was fine) replaced with reman - twice (tested with half shafts out) - this solved a hum in the tunnel
Half shafts (old ones were fine but could have used new grease - by the way, the tool from Autozone makes it so easy to put bands on if you need to..)
Rear subframe bushings - old were fine but hey, its Betsy
New engine and tranny mounts - they were squashed
New front wheel bearings - the grease was very dry on old ones
And now calipers & hoses (front so far)

Anyone want to guess how much $ Betsy cost this year?

Wins this year - replacing oil pump innards was cheap and fixed my engine ticking permanently. 55MPH shimmy mostly gone and will hopefully be fixed when new hoses show up for rear.



Scott

[Robin-535im]

Hi Scott - wow, that reads like a who's who of all possible shimmy sources. Didn't MicahO go through something similar a (long) while ago? Maybe you needed to do the old "remove radiator cap, drive old car out, drive new car in, replace radiator cap" move.

I haven't been following the thread but wheel bearings, mounts, bushings, half-shafts, drive shaft, control arms x3, steering nut tighten, steering box adjust, that is a very thorough list.

Did you try the heater core? wiper arm spacer? fuel door hinge? That's all that's left!

Good luck on finally damping the vibration, it sounds like you're an expert and then some. My guess is $2350 if you did the work mostly yourself, double that if an indy did it, (triple that if the dealer did it).

Take care,

- Robin

[BMW4LIFE]

okay so I was going to go with $2000 flat but after I read the part about bringing to PSI to 45 I'm gonna go with $2839 cause I know how much Nitrogen costs these days! ;)

[Triton540i]

Yikes, that reminds me of the stuff I should be doing with my car. This is weird, I had worse problems with shimmy with 17" BBS 2 piece forged BMW wheels than the stock 15" BBS cast wheels? Maybe more weight, more problems?

I'm going on my 3rd set of thrust arm bushings... I'm wondering if you've tried polyurethane bushings yet? I'm thinking about moving in that direction, but haven't really heard much for feedback as to their performance and which is the best option. I switched out the worn out stock bushings with new arms that had the 750i upgrade (BMA) Lemforder parts... then less than 10k miles the right side is worn out. Arms were all tightened under load just like the Bentley manual states... frustrating.

I'm going to be storing my 5er here pretty soon for the winter, so many little things to do in the spring... where to start?

-Eric

[Scott C]

Actually, I haven't added the numbers up completely but suspect I killed about $800 (afraid to count so far), I did all the work myself and know this car all too well. This vibration has been a real annoyance.

Scott

[ahlem]

I solved my 55mph wobble by replacing the rearward control arms. I bought urethane bushings and stock control arms and had the stock bushings pressed out. I was planning on only changing the bushings but when I removed the bolt through the bushing, the ball joint proved to be real floppy. I had the urethane bushings from Bavauto and found the control arms at a local independent parts store. I run 18" in the summer and this made a huge difference. I have to change sway bar ends next. That should be a piece of cake compared to the control arms.

[Scott C]

Just added it up - $1899.20. But the deal is I really like this car! It doesn't owe me a thing, I feel safe in it (lot of steel) and it has never let me down. I do a lot of PM to keep it safe and reliable sometimes replace things that don't really need done (although I was too lazy on the calipers). It hasn't been to the dealer since it was there for the false tranny program in 2003? (which almost cost the mechanic his job and I promised him it would never come back - which is true).

This also includes dogbones (they were shot), guibo (which was still okay) and new battery (it was 8 years old)

[Tiger]

Control arm you are talking about is lower control arm on front suspension or is it another part?

[Scott C]

Control arm you are talking about is lower control arm on front suspension or is it another part?


Yes, thrust and control arms on the front end. Funny thing is that I never wore out the bushing, just the ball joints...

[Scott C]

Hi Scott - wow, that reads like a who's who of all possible shimmy sources. Didn't MicahO go through something similar a (long) while ago? Maybe you needed to do the old "remove radiator cap, drive old car out, drive new car in, replace radiator cap" move.

I haven't been following the thread but wheel bearings, mounts, bushings, half-shafts, drive shaft, control arms x3, steering nut tighten, steering box adjust, that is a very thorough list.

Did you try the heater core? wiper arm spacer? fuel door hinge? That's all that's left!

Good luck on finally damping the vibration, it sounds like you're an expert and then some. My guess is $2350 if you did the work mostly yourself, double that if an indy did it, (triple that if the dealer did it).

Take care,

- Robin

Actually, 2 fuel door hinges - last one just 3 weeks ago...

Lucky for me - no heater core.

I did completely replace the AC system except for the evap and became AC certified (online class) so I could buy R12 (but that is a different story)

[Scott C]

Yikes, that reminds me of the stuff I should be doing with my car. This is weird, I had worse problems with shimmy with 17" BBS 2 piece forged BMW wheels than the stock 15" BBS cast wheels? Maybe more weight, more problems?

I'm going on my 3rd set of thrust arm bushings... I'm wondering if you've tried polyurethane bushings yet? I'm thinking about moving in that direction, but haven't really heard much for feedback as to their performance and which is the best option. I switched out the worn out stock bushings with new arms that had the 750i upgrade (BMA) Lemforder parts... then less than 10k miles the right side is worn out. Arms were all tightened under load just like the Bentley manual states... frustrating.

I'm going to be storing my 5er here pretty soon for the winter, so many little things to do in the spring... where to start?

-Eric

I don't know about poly bushings - I thought that Jon K was running them but he has that super motor in his car as well so likely he needs them!!!!! My car is a daily driver that doesn't see anything worse than 62MPH :D daily and some really nasty potholes in upstate NY.

Regal has had good luck with the M5 bushings, I can echo the same - I don't see how you can wear them out.

[Scott C]

Update - it has now been 2 months - 55/60 mph shimmy (steering wheel) is gone. It seems that the front left caliper would occasionally not retract its piston fully and cause a vibration (variable in amplitude) as it skipped on the disk, all i know is the front end shimmy dance is gone now that the front calipers are new. (The old sliding pins were spotless). It really does explain why control arm balljoint failures were on that side :)

I have one more vibration to take care of that is driveline - driveshaft center bearing adjustment but really wanting to wait till it gets warmer before I tackle this one. Its peak amplitude is around 50mph and disappears at 61.

Scott

[Kibokojoe]

Yeap had the same problem in mine cleaned the pistons in the calipers and the shimmy was gone. I noticed that if I stopped the car it would not roll on a small incline unless I gave it gas. Jacked up the front end and the drivers side wheel was dragging. The piston had a layer of varnish on them. Uses 2000 grit wet sanding and good as new. Replaced the seals of course. Need to replace the rotors but don't have the money right now


Update - it has now been 2 months - 55/60 mph shimmy (steering wheel) is gone. It seems that the front left caliper would occasionally not retract its piston fully and cause a vibration (variable in amplitude) as it skipped on the disk, all i know is the front end shimmy dance is gone now that the front calipers are new. (The old sliding pins were spotless). It really does explain why control arm balljoint failures were on that side :)

I have one more vibration to take care of that is driveline - driveshaft center bearing adjustment but really wanting to wait till it gets warmer before I tackle this one. Its peak amplitude is around 50mph and disappears at 61.

Scott