[Bentley2012]

Hey did you manage to solve this issue yet. Im having a similar problem right now.

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by Bentley2012

Hey did you manage to solve this issue yet. Im having a similar problem right now.

I really haven't had time to look into exactly what is causing it.

I spent an hour the other day and took off the front calipers/carriers and rotors again. Cleaned the hell out of the hubs with my wire drill attachment and reinstalled everything again using proper torques from the Bentley manual.

I still have the shake. I plan to re-do all of that to the rears today when I get home and see if that helps anything.

After that I guess my last resort is to take to to a shop and see if they can find anything with the wheel balance…OR put my original front rotors back on, which aren't in bad shape really, and see if that fixes it.

I'd hate to think that I got a somehow imperfect rotor or that by bedding them in I caused them to warp somehow. I don't know what recourse I'd really have at this stage if it is a warped rotor since I've HAD to drive the car and thus use the brakes. I just don't see how it's a rotor if I don't feel it at all when I'm actually braking.

I just don't want to spend the money to have a shop look at it so I need to exhaust my options on my own first I guess.

[Bentley2012]

Yeah totally understand. Im going to the shop tomorrow to see if they can tell me.

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by Bentley2012

Yeah totally understand. Im going to the shop tomorrow to see if they can tell me.

So I removed everything on the rears then reinstalled it all, proper torques and everything.

Yesterday I felt like it was better, but I think it was be a placebo effect. This morning I felt it again.

I guess it's shop time.

[MrQuickR1]

Definitely keep this post updated what the shop finds.
I did mine last year, did not do the rears, just the fronts and went with power stop pad and rotors, rotors were drilled and slotted.
Although it looked nice, it was the worst ever.
The vibration I got just driving without my foot on the brake pedal and when I did brake, it was horrible, such a nasty vibration through the pedal and seat. I swore to never go that route again.
The car was totaled unfortunately.

Anyway, you seemed to have covered everything but have the wheels checked for balance or bends. I wish I had a resolution for you or something else to try.
You did lube the slider pins/bolts that hold the pads down right?
Whatever you do, don't use anti seize for that, use actual lube which you can get from auto zone or even the dealer. Also where the pads are seated (guides) should be lubed as well.
Keep us informed

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by MrQuickR1

Definitely keep this post updated what the shop finds.
I did mine last year, did not do the rears, just the fronts and went with power stop pad and rotors, rotors were drilled and slotted.
Although it looked nice, it was the worst ever.
The vibration I got just driving without my foot on the brake pedal and when I did brake, it was horrible, such a nasty vibration through the pedal and seat. I swore to never go that route again.
The car was totaled unfortunately.

Anyway, you seemed to have covered everything but have the wheels checked for balance or bends. I wish I had a resolution for you or something else to try.
You did lube the slider pins/bolts that hold the pads down right?
Whatever you do, don't use anti seize for that, use actual lube which you can get from auto zone or even the dealer. Also where the pads are seated (guides) should be lubed as well.
Keep us informed

Hey thanks for the reply.

I did lube the sides (not threads) of the pins, but i used anti-seize...I didn't put a lot at all, just kinda swiped them quickly against the spot of leftover anti-seize on the rag I used to spread it evenly around the hub before I put the rotors on. There wasn't globs of the stuff on the rag, just residue. I can't imagine this could be causing the issue.

I used CRC Brake Quiet for where the pads touch.

As I stated previously, I do know that my right front wheel has a slight bend, but I only every felt any vibration whatsoever between somewhere between 68-80 mph and even with that it was kind of more of a repetitive hum. That noise/vibration is still present at that same speed. This can't be the same issue I wouldn't think.

Im taking the car on monday to a local Euro shop where my neighbor works. He's a VW guy, but he's always working on the GTI and R32 he's got and his buddies are always over too. I'm hopeful they can figure something out at a reasonable price.

[Bentley2012]

So I went to BMW today and at first they told me it was definitely my wheel spacers. I argued that this was unlikely as I had driven almost 3k miles without issue before this. Then they agreed to pull the spacers off and drive the car and see if anything changed. No change after doing this so the spacers were ruled out. Ive already changed my front and rear control arms with M3 upgrade parts hoping it would solve the problem (made it better but didnt solve it). Finally, BMW tells me "oh your rims are all badly bent (Even though two other shops told me the wheels were all fine and i had bought them recently off a forum member here). I was not convinced about this bent wheel explanation so I took the car back to my Indy mechanic. He put the car back on the balance machine, and found one rear wheel to be off by 1oz and a front wheel off by 1.5oz. Get the car back and it rides smooth as silk. Super happy it got solved but annoyed at how many different stories and bs i got before getting this one solved.

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by Bentley2012

So I went to BMW today and at first they told me it was definitely my wheel spacers. I argued that this was unlikely as I had driven almost 3k miles without issue before this. Then they agreed to pull the spacers off and drive the car and see if anything changed. No change after doing this so the spacers were ruled out. Ive already changed my front and rear control arms with M3 upgrade parts hoping it would solve the problem (made it better but didnt solve it). Finally, BMW tells me "oh your rims are all badly bent (Even though two other shops told me the wheels were all fine and i had bought them recently off a forum member here). I was not convinced about this bent wheel explanation so I took the car back to my Indy mechanic. He put the car back on the balance machine, and found one rear wheel to be off by 1oz and a front wheel off by 1.5oz. Get the car back and it rides smooth as silk. Super happy it got solved but annoyed at how many different stories and bs i got before getting this one solved.

Did the indy not find that the first time or did you not go to him first?

[Bentley2012]

I didn't go to the indy the first time.

[Agentphish]

Had my front wheels balanced today. They were definitely out of balance, but issue still not resolved. I guess it has to be the/a rotor(s).

[Agentphish]

Updated the first post with my solution.

[petelazro]

Originally Posted by Agentphish

Update:
I FINALLY resolved my issue. Had the front wheel hub/bearing replaced under CPO. ALL IS GREAT NOW!!!!

Months of nonsense because I didn't specifically take a test drive with my master tech and he couldn't feel/hear what I was talking about until I specifically pointed it out with him in the car.

Even then it was guess because it didn't sound or feel like any bearing failure he'd experienced in the past but it definitely was the bearing. So moral of the story have them checked out if you have a similar issue.




I replaced my pads and rotors and now at certain speed, I think between 30-40mph, there is a very slight shake in my steering wheel. To be clear this isn't while braking.

I drove out of my neighborhood using only VERY light brake pressure, then did 6-8, 60-10mph brake bedding runs not stopping at any point. I have a long straight road with a median and 2 spots to make a u-turn at opposite ends of the median which is perfect for this.

Came back home, let the car sit for about an hour, then drove to the gas station about 2 miles away to fill up. I was lucky and hit only 1 light where I had to complete stop, which I did under very light braking again.

I have 4 new zimmermann z-coat rotors and Bosch pads which use BMW OE Spec material.

Ideas on things I can check. I doubt seriously I could have warped the rotors or anything but I don't really understand why I feel a shimmy in the steering wheel. Could it be bolts or pins not to proper torque spec, or even how my wheels were torqued when I put them back on?

I've done brakes and rotors before but only on a Ford several years back and didn't have this issue.

how did you get them to change it when they didnt think it was the bearing. I am facing similar issues and they are blaming it on my tires saying they are "feathered" and because i have aftermarket suspension which makes no sense.

any help would be appreciated as my cpo is ending soon.

[chatch10]

Good to hear you got it fixed. I'm in the same situation and I'm going to take it in and go for a drive with the tech because he says he doesn't notice it at all. Hopefully a hub/bearing fixes my issue as well.

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by petelazro

how did you get them to change it when they didnt think it was the bearing. I am facing similar issues and they are blaming it on my tires saying they are "feathered" and because i have aftermarket suspension which makes no sense.

any help would be appreciated as my cpo is ending soon.

I didn't say he didn't think it wasn't. I said it was a best guess scenario based on sound/symptom, location of said sound/symptom, and parts that could potentially cause that type of issue in that location. Deductive reasoning. It turned out to be correct.

In my case I believe this all stemmed from whatever caused the front right OEM wheel to be bent before I got the car. The hum/vibration was always there a very little. I just happened to notice it more after I took the wheels off and did the brakes and had everything apart...Probably because there's no way I torque things as tight as they do with air guns...In turn it caused a premature failure of the bearing. Obviously I can't be sure, but again, a best guess here.

They should at least be willing to check if you have good reason. Feel free to use this post as reference. If not try another dealer. Good luck.

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by chatch10

Good to hear you got it fixed. I'm in the same situation and I'm going to take it in and go for a drive with the tech because he says he doesn't notice it at all. Hopefully a hub/bearing fixes my issue as well.

With the roads in Milwaukee how they are it wouldn't surprise me if you had something jacked up

One thing that helped on my test drive was I knew exact speeds at which to reproduce the issue, and I knew that if I layed my leg against the right sidewall in the footwell as I was pressing the gas pedal I could always feel it vibrating through the car. When I had him do that was when he began to really hear and feel the issue. For me it was worst between 50 and 80 mph.

[chatch10]

Originally Posted by Agentphish

With the roads in Milwaukee how they are it wouldn't surprise me if you had something jacked up

One thing that helped on my test drive was I knew exact speeds at which to reproduce the issue, and I knew that if I layed my leg against the right sidewall in the footwell as I was pressing the gas pedal I could always feel it vibrating through the car. When I had him do that was when he began to really hear and feel the issue. For me it was worst between 50 and 80 mph.

Haha! Yeah the roads suck pretty bad right now because of the winter.

That is exactly what I'm feeling and it's worst between 50 and 80 as well. Thanks for putting this info out there. I'll go to my SA and let him know so hopefully they finally fix it.

[Agentphish]

Originally Posted by chatch10

Haha! Yeah the roads suck pretty bad right now because of the winter.

That is exactly what I'm feeling and it's worst between 50 and 80 as well. Thanks for putting this info out there. I'll go to my SA and let him know so hopefully they finally fix it.

Yeah my dad lives downtown and has a '12 Z4 in black metallic. I told him he was crazy for ordering that color for the amount of salt you get there!

He said the roads are absolutely horrible after the last two winters and all the road construction they did there to clean them up a few years back is basically null.

Again, doesn't surprise me you're having an issue of you've taken some hard hits on those roads.
Good luck to you sir.