Bav Auto Anti Shimmy Kit - WOW!

[mjweimer]

Please do post up some pics and dimensions. Everyone I have spoken with that used this kit when it was available says it made a big difference.

Thanks!

I have a new old stock Bavarian Auto Anti-Shimmy kit at home.
Complete with directions etc.

Will dig out the BAS kit, take pictures and post when I am back home next week. Also will measure the bushings and/or washers and post the dimensions.

[wally509]

I have a new old stock Bavarian Auto Anti-Shimmy kit at home. Complete with directions etc.
...
Will dig out the BAS kit, take pictures and post when I am back home next week. Also will measure the bushings and/or washers and post the dimensions.

Had the kit installed many years back on my 83'is and it does make a difference....provided the rest of the suspension is fresh. Cannot remember if the kit made everything 100% perfect but it was pretty damn close.

Was never made as a work around to solve suspension issues due to worn out parts and improper alignment.

Forget what was included in the kit but it was not much. Also, they pop up on EBay periodically as well....

That would be quite awesome. I would be interested in purchasing or borrowing the kit from you for the purpose of reverse engineering if it is not to well used (meaning the soft materials, if any, haven't been crushed down too much). I own a laser scanning business where we do a fair amount of R/E. We use real scanners mounted on CMM's, not crap-tacular hand-held or desktop units you can pick up for $30 grand. High accuracy scanning is overkill for this application, but I am just saying. I will scan it, make a SolidWorks or Pro-e/creo solid model that will be accuracy verified, check the durometer of any soft materials, etc. Depending on how it's manufactured, I have access to a variety of processes but not in house so I would probably throw it out to others on the forum here.

I did install the new OE BMW rubber front "D" sway bar bushings yesterday and to my surprise it actually did make a difference. It seemed to chop off the lower speed shimmying and reduced the main 45-55 from the obnoxious level down to the annoyance level. Thanks again to all who gave input. I am going to tighten the wheel bearings a little now that they've run in and try to get a pro alignment this coming week if my work schedule allows.

Wally

[DougIng]

Great news! And great thread. I learned a lot in here. My company does a little manufacturing of Delrin and aluminum parts if that helps.

[wally509]

...
I did install the new OE BMW rubber front "D" sway bar bushings yesterday and to my surprise it actually did make a difference. It seemed to chop off the lower speed shimmying and reduced the main 45-55 from the obnoxious level down to the annoyance level. Thanks again to all who gave input. I am going to tighten the wheel bearings a little now that they've run in and try to get a pro alignment this coming week if my work schedule allows.

Wally

Sorry to turn this from a thread about the bavauto kit into the "demise of wally509's sanity over this shimmying" thread but...

One step forward and two back. I adjusted the wheel bearings. They were both pretty loose, when pulling and pushing the bottom of the wheel I could really feel it move and hear "clunk, clunk" as I pushed/pulled the bottom of the wheel. I didn't put an indicator on to see exactly how much it was moving but suffice to say it was about as loose as I've run any wheel bearing. So I tightened it to a point where I could just feel it moving in and out as I pushed/pulled. I thought I nailed it. No good deed goes un-punished, the car shimmies as bad as it ever did again!

I thought "well I had the wheels off so maybe previously they were in the ideal position and I hosed that up" (even though the wheels/tires are brand new and have been checked for runout several times now), so I went back and rotated them again with no change to the shimmy obviously.

Then I decided to do the "bavauto anti-shimmy kit" emulation/kluge job of throwing a couple rubber exhaust hanger donuts between the control arm bushing and the big washer. So I start driving, 30mph...35mph...40...45, smooth as silk, I got it!! Then SMACK, 55mph and it's back. All this kluge did was move it up about 10mph. AAAAH!!

I was invited down to Autobahn Country Club next weekend and I really wanted to take this car and go around the track a few times in the touring group. I was really looking forward to it, now I'm thinking I should just throw a cover over this thing and take the 911 like every other...

[Hagbard]

I just want to say if/when you guys reproduce these anti-shimmy kits I will also be in the market for one.

[bflan2001]

Wally, have you recently replaced the wheel bearings? Maybe they're bad? The only other thing I can think of is having the frame checked out.

[wally509]

Yes, wheel bearings and races are brand new.

I've run some of this past one of the guys here at work that used to work at a tire/suspension shop. His opinion is that most of this is points to the car not liking these tires. When I told him it took play out of the bearings and it got worse, he indicated that the only thing in the "system" past the bearing is the wheel and tire (if that makes any sense, he explained it pretty well but I can't). He suggested I try going up and down with my pressures 4 or 5 psi in each direction to soften/stiffen the sidewall and report back if that makes any difference. I wish I knew someone in the area I could borrow a known set of good wheels/tires from for a test drive.

p.s. I also gave him the info that I might not have here that sometimes the shimmy goes away, then comes back again. So for instance it will be smooth no shimmy, then you go around a turn and it's back again. This is why I hauled all the way back to Tire Rack to have them double check the balance. To me this would indicate the two front tires occasionally get "in sync" and cancel out the vibration. Obviously, if there was a road (radial) force variance issue this would act the same way to a sensitive car, which the e21 apparently is.

[bflan2001]

That all makes sense to me. Are you sure there's no one around you could swap wheels with for a quick test?

The pulling after cornering could be a simple toe adjustment. Neutral or positive toe will cause that, iirc.

[dspulv1]

Will be back in town on Wednesday and hope to post picks by Thursday. Again, the last time I looked at the kit I think it had two rubber bushings, two metal washers and a set of directions.
Very rudimentary.

[charter21p5]

Will be back in town on Wednesday and hope to post picks by Thursday. Again, the last time I looked at the kit I think it had two rubber bushings, two metal washers and a set of directions.
Very rudimentary.

Excellent! Hopefully we can get these re-created for forum members!

[dspulv1]

So, here is the BAS Anti-Shimmy Kit. Much more rudimentary then even I remembered. Two identical bushings with one side concave, the other side flat plus the directions. No washers. Here are some photos....

[DougIng]

Does the Bav spacer need to flex with the control arm bushing? Would it be bad if the spacer/limiter were harder and it limited control arm movement?

[tinkwithanr]

Go figure, my car had those on it from a P.O. and I didn't even realized it lol. I figured they were there from the factory.

That could explain why I don't have a shimmy.

Doug - I'll check the ones I have on on the car, but if my memory is correct it's a very hard rubber. I'd be hesitant to make aluminum or deralin versions, but a hard poly (i.e. machinable) would most likely be fine. Kind of an inbetween of the factory bushing alone and full poly bushings.

[sbcrockett]

interested if somebody fabs these up

[Hagbard]

Me too. Put a couple hockey pucks on a lathe and take my money!

[tinkwithanr]

Il figure out the durometer tonight and post up a price they can be reproduced at

[Jester323]

The main issue that I've experienced with just a shimmy kit spacer (I ran those years ago when they were still available from Bav Auto) is that it only solves half of the problem. I haven't seen decently reproduced OEM style rubber in over a decade and the rest of the rubber in the OEM style bushings is likely to fail in short order. A spacer could be a decent band aid, as long as it was installed on both sides of the control arm (so a total of 4 spacers would be needed for each car). But you still have the issue of the poor quality OEM rubber on the inside, and the spacers are likely going to mask rubber bushing wear until complete failure.

I have spent a lot of time designing and redesigning the outer control arm bushings that I sell, In fact my design for the outer control arm bushings was due to my constant thinking that there had to be a better and more secure way to do this after multiple OEM bushing failures. I have had countless customers thank me for helping them cure their shimmy issues. I have also had countless customers compliment my products because they were not as "harsh" as others had lead them to believe. For those who have experienced the issue of the shimmy moving from 45 MPH up to 65 MPH after installing just a set of outer control arm bushings usually report back that they cured the rest of the shimmy with new tires, or steering rack bushings or sway bar bushings.

I've been playing with e21s for a long time, and there is a reason that I still offer the products that I do, because I believe in them, and run them on my personal cars. (I own an '81 323i, and an '82 323i Baur, as well as a rolling shell project car and have owned at least a dozen other e21s in the past) In my experience, the best cure for the infamous shimmy are my outer control arm bushings and steering rack bushings, combined with well balanced quality tires, straight wheels, good wheel bearings. Sometimes front sway bar bushings are also needed, and rarely inner control arm bushings.

[Tom D]

......the best cure for the infamous shimmy are my outer control arm bushings and steering rack bushings, combined with well balanced quality tires, straight wheels, good wheel bearings......

amen to that.

I was invited down to Autobahn Country Club ... wanted to take this car and go around the track a few times in the touring group....... now I'm thinking I should just throw a cover over this thing and take the 911 like every other...

dont do that, the shimmy is not a mechanical problem, only an irritation you feel through the steering wheel. i vote for taking the E21.

[tinkwithanr]

Popped the driver side off this afternoon to take some measurements. I'm planning to turn them out of 90A Black urethane, which should be right around what the Bav Auto solution was. For price, how does $25 shipped sound? This would be using USPS flat rate boxes, so if anyone wants multiple sets they would just be an additional $20 per. I hoping to have the material here tomorrow, so I can make them over the weekend and get them shipped out Monday if orders are placed ahead of time.

If interested please put your name below, I'll add payment info later tonight:

1)
2)
3)
4)
etc etc

[320iAman]

Okay, for you whom will go the rubber disk method, make sure you have the control arm bushing the way the kit describes.

Check out these control arms, they are different--bushings are reversed. same yr 1980

Left from Bavauto-?



Left from Pelican parts-febi



right from Bavauto-?



Left from Pelican parts-febi



For reversed bushings would knock them out and reinstall, metal housing lip on front side of control arm

The earliest discussion I read on this it was said BMW supplier only had a 1/2 bushing in it.

Jester Idea is the best here, IMO, complete bushing all the way thru,to dampen flex, vibration ect, have to order me a pair of these, got Jesters steering rack bushings from bflan, saving them to install later.

Randy

Dorman at Rockauto is reversed from Bavauto as well, oops.

Just order a set, Black color--support your amercian/US made products

[tinkwithanr]

I agree, Jester's bushing are the best solution all around. That being said if someone doesn't have the means to drop the suspension and replace the control arm or press in new bushings this is a quick, cheap solution that could fix the issue. It also helps those that don't want to put solid urethane bushings in their suspension.

[320iAman]

If your bushings are not reversed, other wise drop the sway bar ect.
Check Jesters method of removing old ones and installing these poly ones on eurometric,, its easier than you think, plus, dont have to do it right away, could do it when the plastic cup in these ball joint wear out, cant miss that, stopping over going over a bump you'll hear the movement., having new ones in hand make the change then or if your like me, do the work when your schedule fits it.

Randy

[Hagbard]

Hey, when installing Jester's bushings do you guys recommend buying new control arms and cutting the stock bushings out or just reusing the old control arms, cutting out the old bushings and pressing-in new ball joints?

[Jester323]

Hey, when installing Jester's bushings do you guys recommend buying new control arms and cutting the stock bushings out or just reusing the old control arms, cutting out the old bushings and pressing-in new ball joints?

You don't need to cut the old bushings out, the outer control arm bushings can be knocked out with a large socket & a mallet. You can't buy press-in replacement ball joints, so if your ball joints are shot, then you'll need to buy new arms.

[charter21p5]

I must have missed the post... Jester how do I place an order?

tinkwithanr I really appreciate you willing to create the washers for the forum and I am also interested however Jester has a proven solution so I want to go that route first.