[Mk84HDGP]

Whats up guys?

My steering wheel vibrates and shudders while I’m braking until I reach around 25MPH and then the vibrating ceases. Before I continue let me make it clear that it is not a balancing problem with the tires. I just had GoodYear install Eagle Sports A/S (225/45/17) all around, had the vehicle balanced and aligned and even had them test drive the car to try and diagnose the issue. They came back empty handed and said my brake components looked perfect and they couldn’t figure out why the vibrating happens. The vibrating is not present during the drive or cruise. It only begins as soon as I get on the brake pedal and ends while I’m passing below 25MPH.

Earlier this year I replaced the front rotors and pads, as well as the rear pads. Everything I purchased and installed were BMW original equipment and everything was tightened and torqued to specs. The vibrating didn’t come on till about a month after the brakes change. I’ve researched this left and right and I keep coming across warped discs as the cause of this yet, after inspecting my discs recently, no evidence of warping or distortions along the surface are present. Also, I don’t feel any shaking or shuddering on the brake pedal itself, just the steering wheel and the car shakes a bit as if it were about to break apart!

Any ideas or suggestions?

Im beginning to suspect it might be a steering rack issue here and I’m praying it isn’t. Shortly, I’ll upload a video so you guys can get a sense of the issue.

Thanks in advance guys

[Chappers 71]

I had a similar thing a little while back, turned out to be worn front lower suspension arm bushes. Replaced the arms & it went away. It was the slightest of movement & was only diagnosed by the car being put on a shaker lift.

[Mk84HDGP]

Originally Posted by Chappers 71

I had a similar thing a little while back, turned out to be worn front lower suspension arm bushes. Replaced the arms & it went away. It was the slightest of movement & was only diagnosed by the car being put on a shaker lift.

Thanks for the info there. I’ll have to take a look at mines or see if Can get it up on a shaker lift to determine that.

[Mk84HDGP]

https://youtu.be/xW_DEE-10nQ

Here’s a quick video of the vibration

[Pr0metheus]

Originally Posted by Chappers 71

I had a similar thing a little while back, turned out to be worn front lower suspension arm bushes. Replaced the arms & it went away. It was the slightest of movement & was only diagnosed by the car being put on a shaker lift.

So hilarious, have the parts sitting in garage and have been experiencing this problem after brake replacement. I figured it wasn’t discs because it was only happening at higher speed (65+mph) speeds and I was not able to replicate at low speed even with more braking force.

Looks like I know what I need to do. I did the fore links last year, time for aft links now.

[david in germany]

Ensure your wheels are torqued to spec as well. Over tightened wheels can cause vibrations as well as destroy your wheels.

[rjahl]

Lower arm bushings

[Mk84HDGP]

Originally Posted by david in germany

Ensure your wheels are torqued to spec as well. Over tightened wheels can cause vibrations as well as destroy your wheels.

Yup! I actually loosened them up and retightened/torqued to spec after GoodYear hit em with the impact gun at like 3000ft-lb

Thanks for the info guys. I think I know what I have to look for now and am happy that it may not be my rack and pinion after all (knock on wood).

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by Mk84HDGP

Yup! I actually loosened them up and retightened/torqued to spec after GoodYear hit em with the impact gun at like 3000ft-lb

Thanks for the info guys. I think I know what I have to look for now and am happy that it may not be my rack and pinion after all (knock on wood).

If for some reason you do need a rack I have one sitting here I’ll let go very cheap. (Its perfect, I pulled it out of my e92 a couple months ago because I swapped to a m3 steering rack.)

[david in germany]

Originally Posted by Mk84HDGP

Yup! I actually loosened them up and retightened/torqued to spec after GoodYear hit em with the impact gun at like 3000ft-lb

Thanks for the info guys. I think I know what I have to look for now and am happy that it may not be my rack and pinion after all (knock on wood).

So was that your issue?
I hope it was something simple like that. When I get tires installed I do bring my torque wrench with and tell them to just put the on the car and I will torque them.

[Love The Drive]

Hey, had this issue happen twice on the E90 328i. WARPED ROTORS! First time was around 40k miles and the dealer replaced both front rotors at no charge.

Most recently it happened again (at around 160K miles) and my mechanic sanded down the rotors to smooth them out. Worked for a while but the steering wheel started shaking again (during braking) after a couple thousand miles and now it's time for new rotors (165k miles now). He said he can't sand them down any more since they are already near the maximum tolerance.

Since my tires are near the end of their life my mechanic advised to get new tires before he changes the rotors. So, once I get a new set of tires he will put on new rotors. His reason for this is because most of the time tire shops over-torque the lugs, in the end damaging the rotors.

So, as others have said, make sure tire shops do not over torque the wheel lugs. Over-torquing can easily damage the rotors.

Although it's a pain in the back end, I always have tire shops hand torque the wheels to spec. No power gun nonsense.

Hope your'e able to resolve your issue.

[6ixSpd]

I've had this issue for a while since after changing my front brakes over a year ago. Chalked it up to work control arms. Swapped in new M3 TRW front control arms and it's gotten much better but still occurs. Time for new rotors I suppose...

[david in germany]

Originally Posted by Love The Drive

Hey, had this issue happen twice on the E90 328i. WARPED ROTORS! First time was around 40k miles and the dealer replaced both front rotors at no charge.

Most recently it happened again (at around 160K miles) and my mechanic sanded down the rotors to smooth them out. Worked for a while but the steering wheel started shaking again (during braking) after a couple thousand miles and now it's time for new rotors (165k miles now). He said he can't sand them down any more since they are already near the maximum tolerance.

So, as others have said, make sure tire shops do not over torque the wheel lugs. Over-torquing can easily damage the rotors.

Although it's a pain in the back end, I always have tire shops hand torque the wheels to spec. No power gun nonsense.

Hope your'e able to resolve your issue.

One of my pet peeves.. Rotors rarely warp anymore... Pad build up is the leading cause of vibrations from the rotors...
Repair shops and dealers no longer ( most anyways) resurface the rotors to remove build up and hard spots. So they tell you " warped rotor" and you buy a new one..

How do you avoid the symptoms? Stop using cheap alternative rotors and pads.

[zstreet86]

As already said above, either out of spec rotor/pad or lower front control arms can cause the symptoms you are describing.

[Mk84HDGP]

Thank you all for your input. Break pads are BMW Original and discs are Zimmermans. Never thought about the buildup on the discs themselves which is also something to consider inspecting.

Either way, I’ll be taking a closer look this weekend and hopefully determining what’s the cause here. It’s pretty annoying to have this rattling sensation everytime i’m braking!

[Love The Drive]

Originally Posted by david in germany

One of my pet peeves.. Rotors rarely warp anymore... Pad build up is the leading cause of vibrations from the rotors...
Repair shops and dealers no longer ( most anyways) resurface the rotors to remove build up and hard spots. So they tell you " warped rotor" and you buy a new one..

How do you avoid the symptoms? Stop using cheap alternative rotors and pads.

Hi. Thanks for the comments. Everything on the car is actually OEM, don't use aftermarket alternatives. It's not the first time this is happening on the OEM brake rotors.

My mechanic mentioned these rotors are quite soft and cautioned not to over-torque the wheels. Maybe it's not so common anymore, but he did resurface the rotors the last time the car was in the shop. It resolved the issue for a couple of thousand miles, so it worked, but it's time for new rotors now. Not sure why it is happening more often than one would like. As mentioned, the first time this happened was at 40k miles, under warranty.

After reading the first post again, I'm not sure if this is the OP's issue since they mentioned the shaking started only a month after installing new OEM rotors. That's just way too soon..

[david in germany]

Originally Posted by Love The Drive

Hi. Thanks for the comments. Everything on the car is actually OEM, don't use aftermarket alternatives. It's not the first time this is happening on the OEM brake rotors.

My mechanic mentioned these rotors are quite soft and cautioned not to over-torque the wheels. Maybe it's not so common anymore, but he did resurface the rotors the last time the car was in the shop. It resolved the issue for a couple of thousand miles, so it worked, but it's time for new rotors now. Not sure why it is happening more often than one would like. As mentioned, the first time this happened was at 40k miles, under warranty.

After reading the first post again, I'm not sure if this is the OP's issue since they mentioned the shaking started only a month after installing new OEM rotors. That's just way too soon..

Since you are using oem stuff you are going down the correct path. I would also check that the pads you use are not the BMW "value line" pads when you finally do the next brake job. You want part number 34116790759

[Mk84HDGP]

Originally Posted by Love The Drive

Hi. Thanks for the comments. Everything on the car is actually OEM, don't use aftermarket alternatives. It's not the first time this is happening on the OEM brake rotors.

My mechanic mentioned these rotors are quite soft and cautioned not to over-torque the wheels. Maybe it's not so common anymore, but he did resurface the rotors the last time the car was in the shop. It resolved the issue for a couple of thousand miles, so it worked, but it's time for new rotors now. Not sure why it is happening more often than one would like. As mentioned, the first time this happened was at 40k miles, under warranty.

After reading the first post again, I'm not sure if this is the OP's issue since they mentioned the shaking started only a month after installing new OEM rotors. That's just way too soon..

Sounds like you and I are having somewhat similar issues. Now that I think about it, I might've left the wheels torqued from the tire shop for a bit before I actually torqued them to spec. It sucks, if this is the case with OEM/Genuine BMW rotors.

But in contrast to your situation, the shaking came back within a month of replacing the rotors and pads. I just can't wrap my head around it thus far. Then again, the vehicle I'm driving is a rebuilt title (yes, it sucks) and it could've had some suspension/brake components installed incorrectly or what not. Yet, after four years and nearly 80k miles on it since my purchase, this is the ONLY issue I've had in terms of maintenance. Apart from changing my coils and spark plugs, fluids, filters, etc....nothing else has needed to be done on the vehicle.

If it comes to it, would you guys recommend me switching over to another brand on the discs/pads? First time I changed my rotors and pads was about 2 years ago and they were Brembos. Shaking came on sometime after that however.

[Mk84HDGP]

Hey guys just wanted to give an update. Got the car lifted yesterday and discovered my passenger side thrust arm had A LOT of play on it. Grabbed a set of pliers and gave the arm a wiggle and that thing danced around way too easilyy. Needless to say, bad bushings is the definite culprit here.

Thank you all for your input!

[david in germany]

Great to hear and it is always a bonus for people with similar issues to find your follow up post!