Originally Posted by
R brown
I took delivery of my 535i @ SC Performance Center 4/21/2011. As soon as I got on the highway, I noticed a driveshaft vibration that I could feel and hear (thrumming sound) starting around 55mph and still detectable up to about 75mph, but most prominent from 60-65mph. I've been back to the dealer (Valley BMW, Roanoke, VA) twice on this issue. The car is otherwise perfect. Very smooth, powerful, quiet and fuel efficient. The first visit, I took the service manager for a ride and he agreed there was some vibration and they put the car up on the lift and slowly ran the car (probably up to whatever speed the traction control would allow- 5 or 10 mph) and sais=d they could detect no vibration or runout in what turned out to be the axle halfshafts!! I reminded him that we were talking about the DRIVESHAFT. He said, yes, those things connected to the hubs. When I, again very patiently, explained the difference, he told me they found no problems and that whatever it was it was a NORMAL VIBRATION!!!! So, after a few weeks of stewing on this bit of intractability, I put my wife in the car, turned off the traction control, raised the car up on the lift in my shop and had her run it up to 1600-1700rpm in 8th gear (60-65mph; the speedo doesn't function with the wheels off the ground, apparently). The exact same vibration was felt,heard and visualized. It was even more apparent underneath the car than from the relatively insulated interior. Visible driveshaft (or as the British say, propshaft) shaking the diff housing and the tranny somewhat in their rubber mounts. So, armed with such incontrovertible evidence, I arranged another visit with the SM and he agreed to duplicate my test on their lift. However, when I got there they retreated back to their former brushoff, saying that such a test would be too dangerous (I guess it could be if you were dumb enough to grab on to a moving part or something). To confirm their case that such a vibration is normal, the SM and I drove a brand new 535i from the lot, and sure as the dickens, it had the same vibration at the same speed as mine, though not quite to the same extent. I have driven several of these cars 528, 535, and 550 prior to buying one. There was only one of those cars that exhibited even a trace of this problem, the SM just proved to me that several cars have this problem, not that THEY ALL DO IT. The vibration is about 3X the frequency of a tire imbalance shake, and makes the characteristic thrumming sound of a bent or out of balance driveshaft. I know people have had tire/ wheel issues on these cars, but I am practically certain that this is not the problem on my car. I've had plenty of tire problems on other vehicles (including my previous 06 330i with the sport package). This is different. I would appreciate any help, advice, etc from the other forum members..
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