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I have a 2002 BMW 325i, automatic transmission (unfortunately) with about 103K miles... I've only had it for 6 months, and it does have a few minor problems here & there. But everything was basically running smoothly until maybe 2 weeks ago, when it started to shake/vibrate at 65-70mph. On the road I use to commute, at the times I commute, that is BARELY the flow of traffic - so going any slower than that means being tailgated & passed constantly.
I took it to a local place for a wheel balance, hoping that would solve the problem, but now it's even worse! It is now shaking at like 30-40mph, and getting even worse the faster I go. I called the shop to let them know, and they said I can bring it back for another check and possibly re-balance. They also said (on the day I took it in) that my lower control arm bushing is cracked and "has play," but I'm honestly not sure what that means. Could that be the main issue? If not, what else do you think would be causing this shaking? It's not when I brake, for the record, just when I hit a certain speed.
Unfortunately I can't make it back to that shop until Friday, due to working late all week, but I might stop by the shop next to my work tomorrow... just hoping for some "expert" opinions first, so I don't go in sounding like the novice I actually am.
P.S. I only bought this car as a "temporary fix," and plan to trade up in about a year... so I don't want to do anything uber expensive to it, and just need it to run smoothly and safely in the meantime!
I have a 2002 BMW 325i, automatic transmission (unfortunately) with about 103K miles... I've only had it for 6 months, and it does have a few minor problems here & there. But everything was basically running smoothly until maybe 2 weeks ago, when it started to shake/vibrate at 65-70mph. On the road I use to commute, at the times I commute, that is BARELY the flow of traffic - so going any slower than that means being tailgated & passed constantly.
I took it to a local place for a wheel balance, hoping that would solve the problem, but now it's even worse! It is now shaking at like 30-40mph, and getting even worse the faster I go. I called the shop to let them know, and they said I can bring it back for another check and possibly re-balance. They also said (on the day I took it in) that my lower control arm bushing is cracked and "has play," but I'm honestly not sure what that means. Could that be the main issue? If not, what else do you think would be causing this shaking? It's not when I brake, for the record, just when I hit a certain speed.
Unfortunately I can't make it back to that shop until Friday, due to working late all week, but I might stop by the shop next to my work tomorrow... just hoping for some "expert" opinions first, so I don't go in sounding like the novice I actually am.
1) A tire could be bad as was mentioned.
2) The bolded. Did the tech say how badly cracked or how much play? If the bushing is really bad, that would allow the control arm to move/wobble on the frame, which would easily be felt in the wheel. I cannot say I have experienced a bushing so bad it caused the wheel to wobble as you describe, but I could see it as a possibility if the bushing were really bad, or from being bad there was other damage to the control arm attachment point.
in my experience, a failed lower control arm bushing will have driving issues at almost any speed.
given that it takes higher speed before the wobble to show up, it likely points to rotating mass problems. A failed tire, particularly with the ones that you describe as worn out ... is the first place to look.
A good tire shop should have caught this on inspecting the tires when the wheels were off for balancing. There's more to this than simply rolling the wheels over to the machine, closing the safety shroud and spinning up the assembly to get a wheel weight read-out. The wheels should have been checked after the weights were applied to verify that they were running true and balanced. Many shops omit this verification after slapping on a set of weights per the readout on the balancer machine.
As a stray thought: Have you run through any mud or debris on the road that might have been caught in the wheels? Wouldn't be the first time that a wheel was way out of balance due to foreign matter stuck to the wheel and a tire shop didn't make sure the wheel was clean before balancing it. We see this all the time around our place due to all the dirt and gravel roads in the area, especially after a rainstorm.
Thanks for the above responses! As you can probably tell, I know very little about auto mechanics... I'm a good driver and know my car makes/models, but don't ask me to actually fix anything. LOL. So I'll take note of everything you've said, and see about getting a GOOD mechanic to check these things for me.
The shop I went to for the balance was just a low-level chain, because I thought it was something simple (balance, alignment, etc) and money is tight. I'll still take it back for a re-check, mostly to ask for a refund since it's WORSE, but won't have them do anything more complicated than that. We have much better shops around here, but of course they all charge an arm & a leg - especially for a BMW. I'd even consider taking it to BMW servicing themselves, if they weren't so obviously overpriced and the car wasn't so old.
If a 2001 has original control arm bushings, there's little chance they aren't completely worn out at this point. Many owners replace the entire control arm assembly on the E46 BMW's. FWIW, on my E46 ('05 330i) the front bushings were dead at 5 years/55K miles. On an '02 you should probably be on your third set by now!
Another thing to look at is the wheels themselves. The BMW wheels are hub centric, and wheels that do not have the correct inner bore need hub rings to center properly. A poorly centered wheel might be balanced correctly but if it's mounted off center it will behave much like an off balance wheel. This is more likely to be an issue with aftermarket wheels or those from another model other than a 3-series.
Finally, the shop doing the balancing could have screwed up. I had a severe vibration issue after getting new wheels and tries mounted. I took the BMW into a performance shop to see what they could do about it and they found the tire chain that did the install put way too many weights in. They re-balanced and everything was smooth again.
Yeah, I'll get those back two replaced asap... just had some financial setbacks recently, so I've put it off longer than I probably should have.
Quote:
2) The bolded. Did the tech say how badly cracked or how much play? If the bushing is really bad, that would allow the control arm to move/wobble on the frame, which would easily be felt in the wheel. I cannot say I have experienced a bushing so bad it caused the wheel to wobble as you describe, but I could see it as a possibility if the bushing were really bad, or from being bad there was other damage to the control arm attachment point.
He said they were "moving around," but not to the point where I shouldn't be driving or anything... and when he quoted $700-800 to fix it, I just said "yeah, no." I'll shop around, and see if I can find someone with a better price on doing that. What would you estimate is a good price? Keep in mind it's a BMW and I live in the Bay Area.
If a 2001 has original control arm bushings, there's little chance they aren't completely worn out at this point. Many owners replace the entire control arm assembly on the E46 BMW's. FWIW, on my E46 ('05 330i) the front bushings were dead at 5 years/55K miles. On an '02 you should probably be on your third set by now!
Another thing to look at is the wheels themselves. The BMW wheels are hub centric, and wheels that do not have the correct inner bore need hub rings to center properly. A poorly centered wheel might be balanced correctly but if it's mounted off center it will behave much like an off balance wheel. This is more likely to be an issue with aftermarket wheels or those from another model other than a 3-series.
Finally, the shop doing the balancing could have screwed up. I had a severe vibration issue after getting new wheels and tries mounted. I took the BMW into a performance shop to see what they could do about it and they found the tire chain that did the install put way too many weights in. They re-balanced and everything was smooth again.
As I've only had the car for about 6 months, I honestly don't know what has or hasn't been replaced since '02... it did belong to my sister for that entire 12 years, so I'll see if she has service records (unlikely she'd know off the top of her head). She claimed to have done everything it needed along the way, but now I'm beginning to wonder!
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