I guess my original front control arm bushings are finally shot, 18+ years and 158K miles the front shakes when I'm at 50-55 MPH. At any other speed it's fine.
Looks like I'll need to crawl under it once again.
Good idea to rotate the tires/wheels front-to-rear to eliminate them before you plunge in.
Ed in San Jose '97 540i 6 speed aspensilber over aubergine leather. Build date 3/97. Golden Gate Chapter BMW CCA Nr 62319.
Likely a slight out of balance/round on a wheel plus whooped TAB's. Rotate as above first.
98 540i 6, 525 whp, 120 mph 1/4, V3 Si S/C'er @16 psi, W/A I/C, Water/Meth, Supersprint Headers, HJS Cats, 3" Custom Exhaust, UUC Twin Disc, Wavetrac LSD, GC Coil Overs, Monoball TA, AEM FP, Aeromotive FPR, AEM Failsafe AFR/Boost, Style 65's w/275's, M5 Steering Box, Eibach Sways, M3 Shifter, Evans Coolant, 85 Deg Stat, PWM Fan, 10" Subs, B.A. speakers, Grom Aux/BT, Still Rolling as my DD!
99% sure it's not the tires. They are staggard, but the rears should fit on the front.
A few days ago I thought I felt a slight shake in the wheel, today I can see it shake about 1/2" back and forth when I hit that speed.
Sometimes the weights fall off.
Ed in San Jose '97 540i 6 speed aspensilber over aubergine leather. Build date 3/97. Golden Gate Chapter BMW CCA Nr 62319.
The front lower control arms may need to be replaced; the whole control arm -new bushings included...Mine held 170 k miles.
Inspect and/or replace the upper control arm while you are there.
540i jealous of the attention the hot-rod is getting. Wants some old time JimLev garage love.
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
Tire imbalance to me is felt at pretty much any speed. TABs are almost always in that speed range - accompanied with low speed clunking usually as well. Let it creep at a couple mph then jab the brakes. A clunking in the front is definitely bad TABs
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Really? I usually find tire imbalance to be in a range - usually "comes on at a harmonic point" and then sometimes fades away as you go faster (but if its really bad it just gets worse...) I've had lots of out of balance tires that you didn't notice until you went fast enough. For TAB's and the like, nothing beats getting car in the air and using some prybars with extreme prejudice and see what happens.
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
Tires for me always get worse the faster you go but I can feel an imbalance at parking lot speeds if its a notable imbalance. Years of driving hoopties has allowed me to develop a very sensitive butt dyno...
Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!
PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!
Dang, you got a lot of life out of those! Meanwhile I’m going to be replacing my thrust arms for the 4th time in two years, lol.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
4 sets of thrust arms in 2 years??? Wtf brands are you buying?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Must be buying the cheapest ones in the Internet?
I looked at the wheels, all the weights are there. They have the little (1/4oz) strip tape weights that you just cut off what you need and stick them on, not individual weights.
I just got back from driving it, no shake?? Strange, will need to repeat what I did the other day to see if it had anything to do with the shake. Will need a pretty much deserted highway so it may be a few days before I can test it out.
I was helping a friend diagnose similar issues on his car. The issue turned out to be a seizing passenger front brake caliper. The pad wear was vastly different compared to the driver front side as well. Ruled out thrust arms because those were still new as of 30k miles ago with Meyle HD bushings. Yes they are harsher.
Maybe what you did the other day and high speed braking could have contributed to it, and then normal driving to even them back out fixed it?
Last edited by WBAD530i; 12-05-2018 at 05:30 PM.
I was following a Toyota pick up today that had the side to side shakes in the butt at low speeds. RR wheel had a definite bend from hitting a curb or something as the vehicle was moving 3-6 inches left/right at 5 mph. At hwy speeds it looked like he had a jack hammer in the bed working away. Meanwhile, the driver did not seem to notice anything...
Some people sense very small issues while others would not notice a ground hog stuffed through windshield...
Good luck on the project. Might be time for a suspension refresh as I did one of mine at 97K and it was transformation on a little 6 banger wagon.
Current Garage Highlights
2003 525iT TiSilver
2002 M5 TiSilver
1998 528i KASCHMIRBEIGE METALLIC (301) (Goldie)
Former Garage Highlights
2005 X5 4.8is
2004 325iTs (2x)
1973 Pantera L
1971 Dodge Dart Swinger "Lite Package"
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack Alpine White
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1969 Road Runner 383
1968 Barracuda Formula S 340 Sea Foam Green
Nope, I never put anything cheap on the 540it. At 180k I replaced the original thrust arms (which were beyond shot) with Lemforders. Those lasted less than a year before going bad. Then I installed Meyle HD thrust arms, those were really harsh and the ball joints went bad pretty quickly so I still had a steering shimmy. After that I installed another set of Lemforders which leaked out and went bad in less than two weeks. Thankfully all of this was through FCP Euro so I really only paid once.
Each time the arms were torqued the proper way, with weight on the suspension. The car was aligned several times in that period too. I do drive it pretty hard, but it’s still silly that they keep on failing. And it’s just the thrust arms... everything else I’ve installed has been fine over the past two years.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
I'd check the calipers and hoses. Is one wheel covered in brake dust or hotter after driving? Is the inner pad more worn out? I had something similar happen to my e36 and it was the caliper. I've had wheel balance issues with my E39 and it was tires I did replace all of the front arms and tie rods, my front end is solid. I did them at 75k, 108k now.
Mark
Ha, your probably right. Pretty easy to love a 6.2L 450HP LS3.
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I'm wondering if it could have been a flat spot on the tire, usually that only lasts for a mile or so.
But it didn't happen until I was taking the exit ramp after slowing down from light speed.
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I sure did. Maybe replace the TAB's, I have the BMW cones to press them out and in.
Maybe replace the original rear ball joints, I bought new ones maybe 5 years ago in antipication of them not lasting this long.
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I'll probably be buying OE TAB's, don't want a harsh ride.
The rotors weren't excessively hot but it would be good to look at the inner pads. The outer pads have at least 1/2 left.
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Thanks, just when I'm about to stick the body on the '33 the 540 is begging for some wrench time.
Last month it got a complete top end gasket replacement job.
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I was looking at Lemforders at FCP. I don't think I'd ever buy Meyle or URO.
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Brake dust on my wheels? You haven't been on the forum long enough!
Wierd how it was so pronounced and now nothing.
The hoses are Stoptech braided ones so they should be OK, I hope. I gave away the perfectly good OE hoses I took off.
Shove a couple of GoPros in the wheel well to see what really goes on when these stupid thrust arms, and control arms go goofy.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Sometimes a good hard kick to the tire, turned out a bit, will show movement from worn bushings.
158k on the originals? You already know the answer.
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
Shoot, I’ll do it, just zap me over with the Bimmerupper..... Actually I have done that before, well, sort of, not at light speed, but at about 140, standing on the skids of an old ARMY Huey, flying through a canyon in the Philippines. That was one hell of a trip!!! Yes, I was wasted when we were doing that.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Snotty, can you hang on at 150?
I did shake the tires, no play.
Yesterday I went for a 40+ mile drive, no shimmy. I was going to jack the car up and look at all of the suspension when I got back home, however I stopped at an estate sale and got a killa deal on a pair of Klipsch speakers for $45.
Needless to say they had to be setup in the garage immediately to complement NHT and Bose Acoustimass. Gotta have garage tunes when you wrench.
Hopefully I'll get to it today.
Actually, the air around the fuselage of a helicopter at speed is quite calm. You feel like you are in a vacuum. Where the air is most turbulent is at the tips of the rotors. So when you think about a lunatic standing on the skids of a helicopter enjoying the rush, it really isn’t that crazy to do so. I’ve done 208 mph on my ZX12R Kawasaki, that is definitely more dangerous than standing on the skids, zooming through a canyon, 200 feet above a river. Can I hang on at 150? Depends on what I’m hanging on to. I have a 2003 Kawasaki Z1000, a fast bike without a fairing, at 150, it feels like the hand of God is trying to rip you off the bike. If my hands came of the grips, I definitely would have been roadrash. Times are changing, I’m starting to slow down. Getting old, or something like that is starting to invade my thoughts. At the time of doing death defying acts, I thought I was really living. Now, I think about trying to live longer. Funny how things work out.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Just to note it...i had a lot of shake up front and assumed it was the control arms and replaced them (they were pretty heavily worn)...but the shake didnt go away. Turned out to be the front brake rotors. Probably the arms in your case, just mentioning for the sake of information for anyone who finds this thread while researching shaking up front.
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Excitement is overrated.
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