tires and wheels SHAKING STEERING BETWEEN 20-55 MPH

[Brendino]

My 76' steering wheel shakes(about 2" back and forth)between 20-55 mph.

I just had both tie-rods changed and didn't seem to help. What should I look for. I did noticed it more when I changed my wheels to 15" rota rb. I'll be honest that I don't really know what to look for, I'm still learning. I searched the forum search and didn't come up with much. any help would be appreciated.

thanks

Brent

[Napes]

After your tie-rods were replaced was the front end aligned? It should have been. Were the tie-rod connections torqued with the weight of the car on the wheels? They should have been. Next thought is wheel/tire balance. Either of those could contribute to your shimmy, though 2" of steering wheel movement is more that I've ever heard of.

And, I'd strongly recommend you do not drive the car until you've resolved the problem. Something is off enough that it ain't safe the way it is.

Bob Napier

[Guest Anonymous]

you could eliminate tires/wheels as the culprit by swapping backs and fronts or side to side and seeing if the problem changes. Wheel balance is more likely to cause shaking than wheel alignment. There are lots of other suspension parts that could be at fault as well - take it to a good shop.

[mcaden]

In my case, spin balancing my front wheels eliminated the shimmy you describe (but there could be other causes)... see this post: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/p,621723/highlight,/sid,7fbdf3f58d77c8f10977aa3fc6674345/

Good luck.

Marc

[RayC911]

Sounds more like wheels need to be balanced or bent rim. Did you check your lug nuts? Swap you old set back to see.

[1453aalapapa]

take the wheels to a good tire shop, and see if you can watch them balance the tires. most good shops have a wheel balancer. when i was in the shop, we used to get a LOT of wheels in, and they would be out of round. even brand new. i think the only brand we never had a problem with was bbs/mahle. the guy that did our balancing used to cut the weights down, so he could get smaller increments, and the wheels would balance out way better than tire shops. your better brand of tires will come with marks on the sidewalls for the high point in the rim, and a valve stem mark. if the high point cant be found, then the tire is lined up with the valve stem mark. tire shops will tell you these marks are no longer important, but bmw's, especially the older ones, seem to be more sensitive to tire balance/out of round.

[Brendino]

Thanks for the help. I will swap the wheels front to back this weekend to see if there is any change. I will definately bring it to a good shop. the garage that put in my tie-rods had no clue what they were doing. They said they alligned it but didn't seem like it. There is a good bmw shop a few towns over that i'll try.

Brent

[1453aalapapa]

Thanks for the help. I will swap the wheels front to back this weekend to see if there is any change. I will definately bring it to a good shop. the garage that put in my tie-rods had no clue what they were doing. They said they alligned it but didn't seem like it. There is a good bmw shop a few towns over that i'll try.

Brent

there is a REALLY good shop in rock hill. bavarian auto service, bob shields, owner. it is worth the trip just to see his E30/M62 kick ass street legal track car. bob is a long time racer, and knows 2002's.

[Brendino]

i may check his shop out. thanks

[PatAllen]

ball joints, tie rods and other such mechanical parts are not the cause of a dynamic vibration, they can just make an existing one worse since the parts are more free of movement.

The cause of a vibration at specific speeds is from something that ROTATES.

it must be something like tires out of round, out of balance, bent rims or you have semi seized calipers with bad disc/pads or a combination of all of this.