01-19-2018, 11:58 AM | #1 |
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Continue vibration - need opinions from other owners
I bought a 2014 X5 50i M Sport last August, ever since I got I have felt vibration through the seat and especially the steering wheel. 33k miles on it.
I initially tried couple wheel balances and road force balances, upon the last trip the tire shop showed me there was movement on one of the wheels. I had all the wheels checked and they repaired the bends. No change. Figured maybe the wheel company did not balance them right and tried another roadforce balance. They still pointed that there was a slight wobble in the wheel, and I ended up replacing that wheel. Well, issue still continued and brought it to the dealer for a thorough check of steering rack, bushings, all suspension components and wheel bearings, no issues found. They also tried roadforce balancing the Bridgestone Dueler RTFs, got the rears to 3/4 lbs of roadforce but could not get the fronts under 20lbs. They had put those Duelers on when I bought the car and replaced them under warranty with Conti DSW06 (as I need AS tires anyway). They roadforced better, but of course, the damn vibration/bounciness continues. BMW says they drove other X5s and same this is the behavior of the car, which I have a hard time accepting. My X5 has the stock suspension and it is a bit bouncy for sure, but the bounciness/wobble/vibration is present at any speed, lower speeds feels like more of a bounce (like a square spot on the wheel), higher speed it turns to vibration, most noticeable at 70-75mph. Happens on any surface, worst when the surface is the smoothest surprisingly. Any more ideas what could be the cause here, other than buying an after market set of wheels? I read somebody had a casting issue resulting in similar behavior. I have the 20s 469Y wheels. Tried balancing, roadforce balancing, wheel repair, brand new wheel, bmw checked suspension and new tires and alignment. No change. Ready to lose my mind. |
01-19-2018, 12:23 PM | #2 |
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If steering wheel vibrates then it's something with front wheels or front suspension/steering. If you feel it's like a tire having a flat spot - meaning when you go slow you can feel bump on every tire rotation - then it's definitely either rim or tire. If you changed rims and tires and you still feel same thing - then it's something in suspension.
Have you put NEW rim + NEW tire on front axle? Also, if your front wheel has bent rim - that means previous owner hit something either pothole or curb - hopefully your BMW dealer is right and there are no bent control arms and alignment is correct |
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01-19-2018, 03:38 PM | #3 |
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Did you get a copy of the alignment report? Given your issue and the usual suspects have not resolved it, I would not assume any of it is good.
Anything in the rotating mass of the front end could be causing your vibration. If you are willing to do some work yourself. I would recommend jacking the front end up, remove the wheels and begin with a througrough visual inspection of all the rotating masses. Clean everything up, making sure the mating surfaces for the wheels and hub are clean and even. Rotate your brake discs and see if there is any movement/play or binding. If you have a Go-Pro or similar camera that you can mount so that you can record the tire as you drive down the road, you may be able to narrow down the issue to a specific wheel. That's about all you can do at home. There are shops that still do on axle wheel balancing. Used to be really common place for high-end high-speed cars, but with technological advances, most cars don't need it anymore. I would recommend that next. Many times, on axle wheel balancing can identify issues you can't visually detect. If nothing else, it should isolate the issue to a specific wheel hopefully that you can then dig deeper into. Bottom line, anything in the rotating mass or play in the components holding that mass can lead to vibrations. Not what you want to hear, but when the usual suspects don't resolve the issue, these problems are really difficult to isolate. Good luck; let us know if you get it solved.
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01-22-2018, 08:49 AM | #4 | |
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01-22-2018, 11:12 PM | #6 |
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Here's short video of a NEW replica 20 inch rim (I think style 469), it came from seller in a box new and was put to the test after noticing that car vibrates/shakes while driving:
Rim was defective from the beginning and owner jumped through all the hoops like OP, checked balancing 2 times, alignment, suspension, changed tires - nothing helped until they finally diagnosed the issue to be a bad rim I mean I know replica is not original, but I would have never thought nowadays rims can be so bad (it's still a lottery) |
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01-23-2018, 12:17 AM | #7 | |
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The slightest bit of wobble in the rim, will cause the issues you are feeling. |
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01-23-2018, 02:28 PM | #8 |
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Yup, I think it is still a wheel issue. I'd like to keep 20inch wheels on it, so I can use the stock sizes for All Season Contis. Any good recommendations? I like the Vorsteiner VFF103s, but they only come in 21s for the X5..
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