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[Solo_M_Tech]

So alittle back story:

Ever since I purchased my 08 , I've noticed a slight steering wheel vibration ( side to side wobble) that starts at 75 mph, and goes away about 95mph. This has stayed consistent for a year now.

I have had 3 different wheel and tire set ups, and the vibration has remained. I noticed the vibration got a little more prevalent after my last track day. I didn't hit anything but the brakes took a beating.

So since that track day, I've installed new Apex Arc 8's in 18X10 square with New DZ2 275 square tires that were road force matched and balanced. New brake pads installed, and rotors were runnout checked by myself ( 0.001" of runout) which is well within spec. I do not feel any vibrations under braking, even at the track ( abused and well heated).

So none of that fixed the vibration, so I suspected steering or bearing related issues. So my next step was some lift time at work. So after racking the car, I checked for play in the tension struts and LCA's, and both were rock solid and showed no signs of cracking or bushing deterioration ( used my big pry bar lol). Ball joint ends were solid with zero play. I checked the tie rods for play, radial and linear, found that there were solid, no perceivable end play. So I thought maybe it's the wheel bearings on the front. So I decided to check for runnout and play. Could not detect any play in the bearings, they sound and feel smooth and there is no roaring from them when driving (tried to load each bearing sided to side through a slalom) and nothing straight line.

Note: When sitting still, if I rock the steering wheel back and forth from 11 oclock to 1 oclock I feel "play". it's less prevalent when servotronic is set to sport.

Im kinda stumped at a tech TBH. I've done a weeks worth of research now, and found that alot of E9X chassis owners experienced the same thing and never found a solution.

My question to the group is this. Have any of you found a fix for this speed specific vibration?

Before any of you say the words ROAD FORCE BALANCE know that I already know that's the only correct way to balance wheels and tires and yes, all 3 sets of wheels and tires were balanced this way. None of them had out of spec road force variance. ( apex's were 1-5 lbs of road force each. )

Tire and wheel combos
1. Stock 220M with stock sized RE71R's- vibration present
2. AG 359M 19X9 and 19X10 with 255/275 Conti DW brand new- vibration present
3. Apex ARC 8 with 275/35 square RS3's- vibration present
4. Apex ARC 8 with 275/35 square DZ102's- vibration present

At this point, I'm thinking about replacing the inner and outer tie rods ( even though I didn't find play when it was on the lift) just as a preventative measure. Get a new alignment and repeat my tests.

I drive every single day in the 75 to 90mph range and it's starting to get annoying.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Spacers ?

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Spacers ?

No spacers.

[JsL]

Clean the hub and wheel surface that touches the hub? It may look clean, but take some fine grit sandpaper and give it a quick sanding.

Edit: LIGHT sanding. Don't over do it.

[tlrid3r]

I have a 2008 with high miles, I had similar issue, where I had a persistent steering wheel shake. What helped my situation the most was 2 full bottle of CHF 11s. I just kept flushing the system using a fluid extraction pump. I raised the front wheel off the ground and pumped out most of the powersteering fluid and refilled with fresh fluid, steered the wheel from lock to lock and kept repeating till I ran both bottles through. My issue is gone.

[Solo_M_Tech]

Originally Posted by tlrid3r

I have a 2008 with high miles, I had similar issue, where I had a persistent steering wheel shake. What helped my situation the most was 2 full bottle of CHF 11s. I just kept flushing the system using a fluid extraction pump. I raised the front wheel off the ground and pumped out most of the powersteering fluid and refilled with fresh fluid, steered the wheel from lock to lock and kept repeating till I ran both bottles through. My issue is gone.

This is very interesting.

[Rassilon]

I am interested

[W Cole]

I had the exact same shake you are describing for the past several YEARS through different sets of rims and tires and I finally fixed it this past week.

Over the last few months I have replaced my front rotors, one front hub and the front thrust arms (the ones with the rubber bushing that always wears out). And I still had the vibration, so I swapped to another set of wheels and the problem was fixed. I had run this same set of rims before and had issues with them so my conclusion is there were multiple things wrong with the car including the balance of my current set of wheels.

I was able to get the TRW thrust arms (they are literally the OEM bmw ones with BMW ground off) for $50 each on amazon. Even if yours have no discernible play I'd replace them. I went through the same process of measuring the runout of my hubs and rotors and everything seemed OK but I ran out of ideas so I replaced them anyways but I have a feeling my issue was the thrust arms as I think they may able to be at fault even if they show no signs of an issue.

[Drifter2090]

Did you ever get this resolved? I'm having a similar issue.