Brake'n and Shake'n

[gr8full]

Changed rotors and pads, and a tie rod on my '98 328is w/ 120,000 miles, but my steering wheel and front end are shaking when I am braking. After the rotors were replaced about 10,000 miles ago, the shaking was minimal. Now the shaking is intermittently getting worse.

Searching gave me the following possible replacement or maintenance remedies:

steering rack
bleed the brakes
lca bushings
ball joints
control arm bushings
shocks
wheel bearings
balance

What should I try and in what order, considering expense, ease of replacement, and the probability of solving the problem!

I am trying to fix the shake to sell the car, so I really only want to replace what will help me right now. Thanks for your thoughts.

[onrails318]

First of all make sure the wheel bolts are torqued to ~90ft/lb. Or get them snug on the ground with a ratchet then go an extra 1/4 - 1/3 turn. This is tight enough. With the car on a lift or jackstands, shake each wheel as if it where turning. Any there should be no/hardly any play. If there is up front then you should inspect your inner and outer tie rod joints. The outer tie rod looks like a ball joint. Squeeze this with a big channel lock. If there is movement up and down replace the tie rod. The biggerr ball joint is the outer ball joint, this can be tested the same way. Squeeze them and look for any movement. Good ball joints will not move when squeezed. The more it moves the faster it will detiorate and may cause further damage/poor handling. Make sure all other bolts you removed where properly torqued also. This is all I can think of right now.

[Boondoggie]

Control arm bushings cured those very symptoms in my car.

[themadhatter]

90ft lbs is too much, you can actually warp your rotors that way.

go down to 72-76 pounds.