Wobbly front end 325i

[Skip]

Fully enjoying my new 325i Touring but have one gripe - the front end feels like its all over the place! Travelling at 70mph on the dual carriageway the steering is being tugged all over the place (in small movements) and when I brake it is pulling to the left - but not all the time... Replaced the front tyres that were shot to bits anyway and its no better...

Anyone any ideas? Read somewhere that it might be the lower control arm bushes - if so is it worth replacing them with polyeurathane ones?

Cheers

Skip

[mrLEE30]

yep control arm bushes and worth doing steering ball joints while youre there too, not too hard a job with decent jackstands and a Bentley manual.

mrlee

[MONSPORT42]

Really is a question of working your way backwards up from the road. New tyres are the place to start as you have. I'm assuming they were balanced when put on and then tracking is next. Other points to check are wheel bearings - jack each side up and check for rumble on a slow turn or any side ways play. If you are pulling to the left, check the brake calliper operation while the cars up and also break disks aren't warped (although you'd hear that). Then track rod ends for play and then as you say Control Arm Bushes. These are often the culprit. The usual upgrade is to fit E30 M3 bushes as these give you a noticably quicker, more direct turn in. Lastly, or perhaps firstly, if you have after market 17" wheels, check that the centre spiggots are seating properly when tight.

[Skip]

Cheers for the replies - all brakes were new not long ago (according to the service history) so hopefully its not that - any ideas on part numbers for the M3 bushes? Worth doing would you say?

[Martinaston]

Put your foot lightly on the brake pedal and give the steering a tug, kind of see-saw it a few inches and you can sometimes feel a slight knock through the wheel and pedal. If so it's the ball joints.

If it's the bushes try slowing down from about 20mph to a stop on a level road and if you can feel a knock just as the front of the car rises back up (suspension unloading) it's most likely the bushes. Thats not as reliable as crawling under the car and levering the control arms sideways with a crowbar though.

Of course you may have both problems though which won't help with the diagnosis.

[eko]

may also be worth checking the steering coupling as well because these tend to split making the car feel like an old Transit with a worn steering box!

[bmwe30mtech]

Does it feel like the front wheels have a mind of their own? And its noticable on the dual carrageway? I have this problem i think, and it feels like the front end of my car is not 'fully controlled' by the steering wheel!

[Martinaston]

bmwe30mtech
That sounds more like the tracking's out, you probably need to have the toe in increased, do it too much and it kills the feel of the car and the tyres.
Cheap way to check it is to let some air out the tyres, drive it and then again with higher pressure and see what difference it makes.

[toptints]

if you do have bigger wheels on the car it can cause "tramlining" .... as mostg people call it. The wheels tend to follow the wear of the road a lot more for some reason. The bigger you go on the wheels, the worse it can get. Just a possibility, but could also be any of the above suggestions to.

[bmwe30mtech]

bmwe30mtech
That sounds more like the tracking's out, you probably need to have the toe in increased, do it too much and it kills the feel of the car and the tyres.
Cheap way to check it is to let some air out the tyres, drive it and then again with higher pressure and see what difference it makes.

Thanks, i posted a thread on it, but dont remembeer this answer. I will try the tyre prsssure thing you mention. If it is out, can i get this done at quick fit or somewhere? ...I think it had the tracking checked actualy?!

Thanks,

Paul

[Martinaston]

You can go to kwik fuckup if you like but i've never had them fix a tracking problem EVER, there useless. Did it myself in the end rather than part with main dealer money.
As toptints mentioned if you have larger wheels it can cause problems with the handling so if you still have the old wheels it may be worth putting them back on to see if it improves things.

[Skip]

Does it feel like the front wheels have a mind of their own? And its noticable on the dual carrageway? I have this problem i think, and it feels like the front end of my car is not 'fully controlled' by the steering wheel!

Yup thats exactly it!

Its due an MOT next week so I will get the garage to look at it for me as it sounds like it could be any of the above diagnosis!

[Dan318-is]

i also have this problem with my newly acquired 16s

i think larger wheels bring out a cars weekpoints

[bmwe30mtech]

i also have this problem with my newly acquired 16s

i think larger wheels bring out a cars weekpoints

NO! Dan we had this conversation lol, my car DEFINATLY did the exact same thing on 14" wrongness!!! Its not the wheel size!!

Paul

[bmwe30mtech]

Does it feel like the front wheels have a mind of their own? And its noticable on the dual carrageway? I have this problem i think, and it feels like the front end of my car is not 'fully controlled' by the steering wheel!

Yup thats exactly it!

Its due an MOT next week so I will get the garage to look at it for me as it sounds like it could be any of the above diagnosis!

Hi,

Its a real pain isnt it! I had my car in a garge for a few weeks in late summer and the whole thing was gone over thourghly, cost hundreds in parts! And they could not find the problem! It had new shocks, disks and pads, steering joints, bushes (front and rear) and origioanl rivet joints were drilled and tightly bolted. A great car now, but this problem is still there! Let me know how it goes with yours, and hopefuly the things i have listed that i have had done will halp you as you know its probably not them! I had the tracking done, and it is the same still. Also whels and tyres i dont think it can be as it did it on both my sets, exactly the same. It can be a problem going straight on the motorway cant it, as its a bit unpredictable! Hope this is usefull to you.

Paul

[Skip]

my car DEFINATLY did the exact same thing on 14" wrongness!!! Its not the wheel size!!

I am on 14" wrongness so its not wheel size!

Will keep you posted Paul...

[E30BeemerLad]

I would vote for spigott rings, my mates who owned the car before me spent thousands chasing around the car replacing most of the suspension twice over and it still wobbled.

Ԛ£18.99 for some spigott rings cured it in the end. This was with 17" alpina reps, but those of you on 14" alloys may not be on genuine bbs ones, which cannot exclude the possibility of the centre of the hub being a smaller diameter than the centre of the hub on the alloys.

Worth a try.

Try this first...

Remove your front wheels and put them back on again. Does the vibration occur at a slightly different speed? If so then the alloys not being centred properly on the hub and new spigott rings may cure

[bmwe30mtech]

I would vote for spigott rings, my mates who owned the car before me spent thousands chasing around the car replacing most of the suspension twice over and it still wobbled.

Ԛ£18.99 for some spigott rings cured it in the end. This was with 17" alpina reps, but those of you on 14" alloys may not be on genuine bbs ones, which cannot exclude the possibility of the centre of the hub being a smaller diameter than the centre of the hub on the alloys.

Worth a try.

Try this first...

Remove your front wheels and put them back on again. Does the vibration occur at a slightly different speed? If so then the alloys not being centred properly on the hub and new spigott rings may cure

Hi,

What are spigott rings? Also i dont think its a vibration (well not for me) more of a loseness/wobbeling. Is this cured by the same thing?

Thanks,

Paul

[Martinaston]

As a personal rule if one garage can't cure the problem and only offer expensive options that MIGHT cure it , Don't go back there.

[Skip]

I would vote for spigott rings, my mates who owned the car before me spent thousands chasing around the car replacing most of the suspension twice over and it still wobbled.

Ԛ£18.99 for some spigott rings cured it in the end. This was with 17" alpina reps, but those of you on 14" alloys may not be on genuine bbs ones, which cannot exclude the possibility of the centre of the hub being a smaller diameter than the centre of the hub on the alloys.

Worth a try.

Try this first...

Remove your front wheels and put them back on again. Does the vibration occur at a slightly different speed? If so then the alloys not being centred properly on the hub and new spigott rings may cure

Good info there Beemerlad but it was the same for me on 14" bottletops and now on genuine 14" BBS crosspokes.... with knackered and now new tyres...

[Skip]

Update - Whilst driving home last night I realised that the steering does not self centre - if you turn it - it stays there! Not had anyone look at the car in detail but I let a friend drive it who cut his mechanic teeth at a BMW main dealer when E30s were new so he knows his stuff - he says it is probably either the rack or the bottom UJ on the column....

MOT is next Wednesday and he said if either of those are fooked then they should pick up on that - I will keep you all posted!

[eko]

sounds like rack or coupling to me

[bmwe30mtech]

I immediatly thought of the rack on mine, but not many people suggested this to me, as im told they don often wear out, if ever it seems! Keep us posted.

Also anybody know the price of a new rack/fitting?!



Paul

[Gwynleym10]

Standard E30's from new were critisied for not self centering very well.

Sport suspension ones are far better

However

My old car felt twitchy at 70 mph, needed to be "steared" all the time, ie would not go in a straight line on it own. Very irritating and tiring on the motorway.

I didn't replace any of the front suspension/stearing.

It was the rear axel carrier bushes (not the traling arm bushes, they rarely fail) Once replace the car was way better.

Whats the mileage on the car? have they been done?

Anything around 80-120 000 and hasn't had them replaced needs to.

[Skip]

I immediatly thought of the rack on mine, but not many people suggested this to me, as im told they don often wear out, if ever it seems! Keep us posted.

Also anybody know the price of a new rack/fitting?!



Paul

My mate told me that a rack would probably be about Ԛ£150 from our local motorfactors (although that was a bit of a guess)

Interesting about the rear carrier bushes - I did wonder that myself in my pessimistic way "Fix all the front and then it will be something at the back"

[Skip]

Whats the mileage on the car? have they been done?

Anything around 80-120 000 and hasn't had them replaced needs to.

Its done 155,000 - have a full service history and a massive wad of receipts and I dont remember seeing that they had been done...

[bmwe30mtech]

Had my axle carrier bushes done in the summer along with the rest. My car has done 112000 but seems to have been driven by an old lady. (gear box etc still tight!).

Paul

[Skip]

Well just heard from the garage today and apparently both bottom ball joints were shot to bits, one was so worn it could hardly hold its own weight and the other was seized up! Mechanic also checked the bottom steering UJ and said it was ok...

Wont be picking it up until tomorrow so I will let you all know how it goes...

[Skip]

Well I picked the car up yesterday and what a difference!

It actually drives properly now! My mechanic replaced the entire bottom wishbones on both sides as ALL the ball joints were shot to bits! Car actually stays in a straight line now, the steering is lighter and it returns to the centre when you let go of the wheel after turning a corner!

MOT guy was very impressed with the car and said you dont see many as clean as mine which made me happy!

[bmwe30mtech]

Thats good news, i will get mine looked at by BMW this time and tell them this info also. Thanks.

Paul