[Boganian Rubes]

Yo guys, how's it going. So my cars handling is pretty shitty right now. Steering easily influenced by the road, all over the place most of the time, i feel like i always need a very firm grip to the steering wheel to keep it in control because the car feels like jelly especially while changing lanes at 120kph. There is a light shake/vibration at the steering wheel, might be because it's a diesel. I took it in for a wheel alignment but they said it was almost perfect, and suggested the issue might be with bushings or the sway bar. Any ideas guys? Maybe suspension issues too? The jelly all over the place feeling is really doing my head in.

[Flex68]

Spongy struts and springs ???

[Boganian Rubes]

Sorry just to specify the jelly feeling is more of the car going side to side as if the steering is loose

[vtl]

Did they give you a printout of the alignment sheet? If so post it up, otherwise if they didn't you can't really know if they did anything.

Does the suspension clunk over bumps? Jack up the car and test all the suspension arms, tie rods for play. Rock the front wheels side to side and up and down while the front is up and check for clunking and play in the joints. Any loose joints will make the car go all over the place.

Should not be any vibration through the steering wheel, not normal.

[Boganian Rubes]

No printout, it was at beuarepairs, open workshop, he brought me out and told me that the alignment was fine, that he hadn't done anything, even rechecked it infront of me and let me go with no charges but asking for a printout didn't cross my mind (Didn't even know you got those)
@ Suspension, there is no clunking over bumps at all. At low speeds however i can hear the hiss of the shocks i think? As i go over bumps and such.
For the steering wheel vibration i'll have the front tyres replaced and balanced soon that should fix it.

UPDATE:
Just played around with the suspension on the front, pushing it up is tight and only does that little hiss i was talking about, to the sides is tight, but when i push it down it goes like 2mm until it gives me a thud, not a clunk.

[satz]

Do you have RFTs? A couple of suspension places have told me the RE050As can really get into the groove (in a bad way!) on rough roads.

I find that on my 335i sedan, sometimes at low speed the steering pulls left or right because of the road surface. It's okay at higher speed though it's never 'relaxed'...unlike most other cars I've had.

Is your suspension stock?

[Boganian Rubes]

No run flats, stock suspension.

[bradsm87]

I'd check the condition of the tension rod bushes and if they're good, take it to another reputable wheel alignment shop and ask that they carefully check ALL alignment specifications.

[Socket]

go to the guys at Rowville, they can check it out and give you a full report. Price when I had my alignment done was cheaper then the majors

[Pete.J]

How many k's on the car? That could probably give us an indication of how badly worn out your suspension components are atm?

[335e92]

Check- Air pressure? sway bar links?
My sway bar link snapped once, felt like shit.

[Trev88]

Lol time for new coilovers haha

[Boganian Rubes]

Don't know what tension rod bushes really are or where they are or sway bar links lol :P I'll have a look but, k's are about 178k. tyre pressure isn't the problem. Um yeah i guess i'll give it to "the guys" at rowville to check out, who exactly are the guys?
Damnit trev no thanks lol

When my car got damaged some months ago the front left wheel got shifted to like almost \ when it got hit, I think all they did was an alignment to fix, could this have cause some bigger issues inside?

[Pete.J]

At 178,000km I am going to guess that there will be a fair bit of play in suspension joints, bushes, top strut mounts bearing, blown control arm bushes.. etc. depending how the car was treated by previous owners.

If you're planing to keep the car for long, at your k's I'll be looking for a full suspension overhaul. It could get costly if you don't know how to turn a spanner and work on your car by yourself though

[Boganian Rubes]

Originally Posted by pitos_7

At 178,000km I am going to guess that there will be a fair bit of play in suspension joints, bushes, top strut mounts bearing, blown control arm bushes.. etc. depending how the car was treated by previous owners.

If you're planing to keep the car for long, at your k's I'll be looking for a full suspension overhaul. It could get costly if you don't know how to turn a spanner and work on your car by yourself though

fuwaar
I can turn a spanner and do some stuff myself lol, just don't know what to do
Don't want to spend too much, it would be nice to switch to a 335i vert, and theres one for 27.5k at about 80k on the clock ffs lol >.>

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Rub3n

Don't know what tension rod bushes really are or where they are or sway bar links lol :P I'll have a look but, k's are about 178k. tyre pressure isn't the problem. Um yeah i guess i'll give it to "the guys" at rowville to check out, who exactly are the guys?
Damnit trev no thanks lol

When my car got damaged some months ago the front left wheel got shifted to like almost \ when it got hit, I think all they did was an alignment to fix, could this have cause some bigger issues inside?

Traction Tyres Rowville
http://www.tyresandmore.com.au/store...qtGDLIaTywg.97

Yeah if you got into an accident who knows what is bent. If you're not that familiar with a wrenching on your car either look up some diys or take it to someone to inspect it.

If your wheel was bent that far off then there's no way it can be fixed properly with an alignment.

[AUSf22]

maybe your two front wheels need to be rebalanced?

[Scotty89]

Take it to bedders, they'll do a 28 point check for like $14 or something.

They will give you a complete report on which components are worn or failed completely, and they will price up the cost of parts+labour to fix, with no obligation to get the work done with them.

I had a similar feeling in my e46 and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. As soon as I took into the workshop and they lifted it on the hoist (both wheels unloaded together), they noticed the steering rack was loose!!

[Boganian Rubes]

Originally Posted by Scotty89

Take it to bedders, they'll do a 28 point check for like $14 or something.

They will give you a complete report on which components are worn or failed completely, and they will price up the cost of parts+labour to fix, with no obligation to get the work done with them.

I had a similar feeling in my e46 and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. As soon as I took into the workshop and they lifted it on the hoist (both wheels unloaded together), they noticed the steering rack was loose!!

That sounds great man I'll definitely give it a go, google searches on bedders only turns up with bed and mattress sales lol, you got a link or something?

[vtl]

Pedders

[plazski]

Traction tyres in Rowville did an alignment for my car. They really know there stuff, did a good job.

Bear in mind the stock suspension was designed with run flats in mind, which have a harder sidewall. So when you switch to a standard tyre with a softer side wall the suspension can become a tad too soft. As the springs and struts we're designed for run flats.

I suggest getting an alignment done first, then maybe invest in aftermarket struts and springs if it doesn't fix it. Maybe koni yellows or bilsteins b8's.

[EB89]

Originally Posted by plazski

Traction tyres in Rowville did an alignment for my car. They really know there stuff, did a good job.

Bear in mind the stock suspension was designed with run flats in mind, which have a harder sidewall. So when you switch to a standard tyre with a softer side wall the suspension can become a tad too soft. As the springs and struts we're designed for run flats.

I suggest getting an alignment done first, then maybe invest in aftermarket struts and springs if it doesn't fix it. Maybe koni yellows or bilsteins b8's.

Would getting the harder suspension stop slight rubbing of the tyres on the fender?

I changed from run flats to regular tyres and found it rubs now.