[allcaps55]

Couple questions I have here if anyone could help me. I recently did a complete suspension refresh with M3 upper and lower control arms front and rear, Koni yellows with hr sports, and manzo rear toe arms on my E92 335. After driving for about a week I have noticed that I am starting to get a shimmy at highway speeds from the steering wheel and am trying to figure out the root cause.

I know for a fact my sway bar end links are shot due to the car being lowered so I ordered adjustable ones and will be installing today but would this be the cause of the shimmy?

I have also been reading that not torquing the control arms at ride height could cause the shimmy as well. I used my jack and a 2x4 to jack up the front wheel hub until the car came off of the jack stand before I tightened them but could that have not been enough?

Would putting the car up, loosening the control arms, dropping it back down on some ramps and then retightening possibly fix the issue?

Please let me know any opinions. Thanks!

[feuer]

m3 control arms don't need to be torqued at ride height. Probably is something with your wheels. Bent rim. Out of balance. Vibrations were there but ware absorbed by squishy non M bushings. Now are just being amplified enough for you to notice.

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by feuer

m3 control arms don't need to be torqued at ride height. Probably is something with your wheels. Bent rim. Out of balance. Vibrations were there but ware absorbed by squishy non M bushings. Now are just being amplified enough for you to notice.

From what I've read the lower thrust arms (mistakingly called control arms) do need to be torqued at ride height though, correct? Definitely a possibility for bent rim as the amount of potholes here is insane. Was going to get RFB next week just trying to think if anything else could be causing this shimmy besides that considering I just put everything on. Thanks!

[feuer]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

From what I've read the lower thrust arms (mistakingly called control arms) do need to be torqued at ride height though, correct? Definitely a possibility for bent rim as the amount of potholes here is insane. Was going to get RFB next week just trying to think if anything else could be causing this shimmy besides that considering I just put everything on. Thanks!

Top arm maybe? It's has been years since I have done last. Bottom arm, the arm that is longer and actually makes difference, definitely doesn't need to be torqued down at ride height. It's a ball bushing type that will rotate regardless of what position is torqued down at.

[weehe126]

After all of that work I hope you got an alignment. Post the final readout.

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by weehe126

After all of that work I hope you got an alignment. Post the final readout.

Yes, I got an alignment the next morning and it was doing fine after that. The shimmy started about 4 days after I can post the alignment specs when I get home from work if that would help diagnose

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by feuer

Top arm maybe? It's has been years since I have done last. Bottom arm, the arm that is longer and actually makes difference, definitely doesn't need to be torqued down at ride height. It's a ball bushing type that will rotate regardless of what position is torqued down at.

In this clip the one I'm mainly concerned about is the lower control arm. There definitely seems to be a possibility of binding when not torqued to ride height. I checked last night and it looked okay but I'm having a hard time discovering what else could cause a steering wheel shimmy besides that in other forums.

Sway bar links seem to be out of the question even though they are bad but perhaps tire balance and re-torque could fix it.

I guess I'll try those two options and then report back in case anyone else has a similar issue.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

In this clip the one I'm mainly concerned about is the lower control arm. There definitely seems to be a possibility of binding when not torqued to ride height. I checked last night and it looked okay but I'm having a hard time discovering what else could cause a steering wheel shimmy besides that in other forums.

Sway bar links seem to be out of the question even though they are bad but perhaps tire balance and re-torque could fix it.

I guess I'll try those two options and then report back in case anyone else has a similar issue.

Remove the lower arm from the upright and move it then you will see that is free to make full circle.

[allcaps55]

Alright so not sure if anyone will see this but I have an update. Since the original shimmy I went and got a road force balance which actually got rid of the shimmy for a while. The roads here are rough though and it came back around 80mph. I recently replaced the sway bar end links and it went away again but yet again it started after a while of driving. Finally tonight I replaced my pre cat O2 sensors, this made me have to remove my steering rack and then place it back on. Driving home from my friends garage and there was absolutely not vibration! It's as if the car resets after having been lifted off of its tires. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Every time I've had the car up and put back down the shaking goes away for a bit but always comes back.

[N54POWR]

I would suggest getting another alignment done and at a quality shop. A lot of my local alignment shops are terrible compared to the performance alignment shop I go to. It's possible they just did a bad job.
Align to m3 specs and make sure to get a printout of the final specs
Also, are you hooking up the sway bar links under load? When they're adjustable you want to make sure there's no preload on the sway bar.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

Couple questions I have here if anyone could help me. I recently did a complete suspension refresh with M3 upper and lower control arms front and rear, Koni yellows with hr sports, and manzo rear toe arms on my E92 335. After driving for about a week I have noticed that I am starting to get a shimmy at highway speeds from the steering wheel and am trying to figure out the root cause.

I know for a fact my sway bar end links are shot due to the car being lowered so I ordered adjustable ones and will be installing today but would this be the cause of the shimmy?

I have also been reading that not torquing the control arms at ride height could cause the shimmy as well. I used my jack and a 2x4 to jack up the front wheel hub until the car came off of the jack stand before I tightened them but could that have not been enough?

Would putting the car up, loosening the control arms, dropping it back down on some ramps and then retightening possibly fix the issue?

Please let me know any opinions. Thanks!

You should have measured the exact ride height before you took the wheel off & jacked up the car.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=788761

Follow this DIY...

I think he is using 18 3/4".... from the bottom of the wheel hub to the bottom of the fender. That's on a non-lowered car.

Torque specs are about 75# to the subframe & 120# to the hub. You are also supposed to go back in there after about one month & re-torque them.

It would be a smart move to do your tie rods "while you are in there"

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

In this clip the one I'm mainly concerned about is the lower control arm. There definitely seems to be a possibility of binding when not torqued to ride height. I checked last night and it looked okay but I'm having a hard time discovering what else could cause a steering wheel shimmy besides that in other forums.

Sway bar links seem to be out of the question even though they are bad but perhaps tire balance and re-torque could fix it.

I guess I'll try those two options and then report back in case anyone else has a similar issue.

The top of the "U" of the swaybar should be fairly level with the subframe or perpendicular to the ground (horizontal).

[tlow98]

WHats your lug nut torquing procedure?

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by N54POWR

I would suggest getting another alignment done and at a quality shop. A lot of my local alignment shops are terrible compared to the performance alignment shop I go to. It's possible they just did a bad job.
Align to m3 specs and make sure to get a printout of the final specs
Also, are you hooking up the sway bar links under load? When they're adjustable you want to make sure there's no preload on the sway bar.

I will probably go to another alignment shop soon just have not had time with work. All suspension components are new including tie rods. As for the end links they were put on while the car was on ramps with no load on the sway bar. I just put another pair of mehle ones and they have failed yet again. Definitely thinking I need to get some adjustable ones and lengthen them. As for jacking the car up to ride height when torquing everything I just the absolute best I could with my set up. The car was jacked with in an inch to where it needed to be with the new spring set up but the car was just coming up off the jack stands at that point.

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by tlow98

WHats your lug nut torquing procedure?

I got through and hand tighten them in a star pattern with the wheel off of the ground. From there I lower he car and using a torque wrench go to spec again in a star pattern

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

I got through and hand tighten them in a star pattern with the wheel off of the ground. From there I lower he car and using a torque wrench go to spec again in a star pattern

How many ft lbs?

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by tlow98

How many ft lbs?

I have it set at 90 ft lbs

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

I have it set at 90 ft lbs

well, then that's all i've got for you. sounds like you're torquing correctly.

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by tlow98

well, then that's all i've got for you. sounds like you're torquing correctly.

Yeah I've been at a loss recently as well. Everything seems to be as snugged as it's supposed to be. I've been under the car too many times to count and dream nothing but control arms and sway bar end link noises. Maybe with some properly fitted adjustable end links the shimmy will actually go away but who knows. The bent rims probably are not helping my diagnosis either

[BSM n54iS]

when was the last time you re-balanced the wheels? I mean just to eliminate..

[allcaps55]

Originally Posted by BdSM n54iS

when was the last time you re-balanced the wheels? I mean just to eliminate..

About 3 weeks ago had them road force balanced. They mentioned that my rims had a couple bends but they "got the hop out" as they described for the most part. The shimmy is pretty much immediately triggered at 80mph

[BSM n54iS]

Originally Posted by allcaps55

About 3 weeks ago had them road force balanced. They mentioned that my rims had a couple bends but they "got the hop out" as they described for the most part. The shimmy is pretty much immediately triggered at 80mph

I would say there's the culprit