E34 shakes slightly at 55-65mph..

[Mobius20]

Okay, hopefully someone here has some experience with this sort of problem..

For a long time now I've been trying to pin down an odd shake that seems like it's coming from the driver's side front wheel. It's not a strong shake, it's just enough to make my calf muscles jiggle just so (LOL JIGGLY!)...

In chronological order, I've:
-Replaced my thrust arms with new ones - 750iL bushings and all (same as it had before)
-Replaced both front tires. The old ones were 'feathered' (Z-shaped wear, side-to-side).
-Had an alignment done, found that the pass. side toe was slightly out - corrected that.
-Had wheels balanced multiple times.

And nothing has changed.

It's a tolerable shake, but over time it was obviously bad enough to feather my old tires (but they needed to be replaced anyhow). It also managed to loosen the nut that holds the driver's side strut in its tube, making horrible "good god the wheel is going to fall off" noises on any sort of bump.

So I can keep going and eventually replace my entire front supension, and it's looking like it's what is going to have to be done. When I had my alignment done, I had a lengthy discussion with the tech and he was as confused as I was. He said nothing looked loose in the steering, the alignment was only just so slightly off, the control arm and tie rod ball joints looked good...

There's a 'clunk' in the steering coming from behind the wheel when I do a lock-to-lock turn on pavement, so I think the alignment tech guy wasn't quite right about the tie rods.

My control arms are still of undertermined age, but they aren't leaking grease. I have the (expensive) aluminum ones, and I accidently bought a set of the (cheaper) steel ones, so I'm debating replacing them anyhow.

The last thing I can think of is the strut tower mounts, but I really hope they're not the problem, because they're fairly pricey. Things don't look good, though:
http://home.comcast.net/~rjchristie2/SA/535i/DS.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~rjchristie2/SA/535i/PS.jpg

The flakey junk is probably a bad sign, no?

So, any help would be appreciated. I'm confused.


Oh, and my radiator started leaking today (around the top hose clamp), and the little cold-air-intake hose for my alternator gave up after 10 years of being shaken. Yay for everything happening at once.

Thanks in advance, guys.

[shady]

My car does the same thing, started at 140k miles and hasent really gotten any worse. I figured car is just old and I drive faster, but if anyone knows of a serious problem id be awesome to figure it out

[JamesM3M5]

Change the tie rods (all 3) and the idler arm. They are relatively cheap and will probably fix the shaking and feathered tire wear. Got them for $195 plus shipping for left, right, center rods and idler arm.

The Sir Tools balljoint puller tool is a must-have for this job. Remove nut, install puller. Tighten bolt, rap with a hammer, repeat until balljoint pops. Easy as pie.

Aluminum lower control arms are $149 each, steel are $75 each. Save $$ or save about 3.5 pounds, less than half of that is unsprung weight.

All parts are Lemforder brand, highest quality. I would stay away from OCAP and MOOG.

[Mobius20]

Okay, you're the second person (posted on another board too) to fault the tie rods. I'd have replaced them already, but the alignment guy told me the old ones were still good (and I doubted him on that..).

Definitely changing them out now. Like I said, I've got a set of new outer rods (and steel control arms) sitting right here, just waiting for me to schedule another alignment to throw them on.

Unspring weight is sort of a non-issue with me and my stupid-big 18s. Whatever weight I'd save with the aluminum arms would be an excersize in futility with heavy-as-shit wheels on the end. Is there any real difference in strength, though, between the two?

Thanks for the advice, it's very much appreciated. :)