[WhiteComet]

Hello,

Have a question about steering wheel vibrations. Going at highways speeds in my M2C, the steering wheels shakes a bit. Not the normal vibration/road surface shake but something like the wheel balance/alignment is off. In city speeds, it is fine. So I'm wondering if it is more of the wheels need to be re-balanced vs alignment? Thanks

[JustinHEMI]

I would check balance.

[BigKutta]

Yeah, there shouldn't be a vibration. Normal rumbling through the steering is normal but not vibrations.

[DanG]

Sounds like you need your wheels rebalanced.

[blitzyo]

I get a vibration in the steering wheel starting at 120 and gets worse at 140 km/h+. It's bad enough that it completely overcomes the vibration from lane assist, but not bad enough to blur the rear view mirror.
My wheels are road force balanced, but tyre guy says my tyres are out of round.

[Moflow]

Yeah as others said, it’s likely just an unbalanced wheel, which is easy and cheap to get fixed.

[Fenerbahce]

Been there, done that. Had a very slight vibration in the steering wheel. Dealer looked at it and said it was normal. I persisted, and they rebalanced the wheels under warranty. The result was zero difference. It's a stiff car, and I've accepted that some level of vibration is normal. I tell myself it's the price to pay for what little feedback is left in modern steering systems. Since then, I've noticed the road surface seems to make a big difference in the vibration, so I suggest you try a different road if you haven't already done so. If it happens on every road, it's definitely worth getting it checked, but don't be shocked if it is determined to be "normal".

[DanG]

Originally Posted by Fenerbahce

Been there, done that. Had a very slight vibration in the steering wheel. Dealer looked at it and said it was normal. I persisted, and they rebalanced the wheels under warranty. The result was zero difference. It's a stiff car, and I've accepted that some level of vibration is normal. I tell myself it's the price to pay for what little feedback is left in modern steering systems. Since then, I've noticed the road surface seems to make a big difference in the vibration, so I suggest you try a different road if you haven't already done so. If it happens on every road, it's definitely worth getting it checked, but don't be shocked if it is determined to be "normal".

it really isn’t normal. I have zero vibration and never have had vibration in any of my numerous BMWs.

[Karmic Man]

Originally Posted by WhiteComet

Hello,

Have a question about steering wheel vibrations. Going at highways speeds in my M2C, the steering wheels shakes a bit. Not the normal vibration/road surface shake but something like the wheel balance/alignment is off. In city speeds, it is fine. So I'm wondering if it is more of the wheels need to be re-balanced vs alignment? Thanks

Not normal

[WhiteComet]

Thanks for all of your inputs. I will have my wheels rebalanced as a wheel weight might've fallen off. The car tracks straight with hands off the wheel so it isn't an alignment issue

[Driver87]

Originally Posted by Fenerbahce

Been there, done that. Had a very slight vibration in the steering wheel. Dealer looked at it and said it was normal. I persisted, and they rebalanced the wheels under warranty. The result was zero difference. It's a stiff car, and I've accepted that some level of vibration is normal. I tell myself it's the price to pay for what little feedback is left in modern steering systems. Since then, I've noticed the road surface seems to make a big difference in the vibration, so I suggest you try a different road if you haven't already done so. If it happens on every road, it's definitely worth getting it checked, but don't be shocked if it is determined to be "normal".

Not normal at all. Did you see the dealer balance the them? They most like pulled the placebo on you.

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Fenerbahce

Been there, done that. Had a very slight vibration in the steering wheel. Dealer looked at it and said it was normal. I persisted, and they rebalanced the wheels under warranty. The result was zero difference. It's a stiff car, and I've accepted that some level of vibration is normal. I tell myself it's the price to pay for what little feedback is left in modern steering systems. Since then, I've noticed the road surface seems to make a big difference in the vibration, so I suggest you try a different road if you haven't already done so. If it happens on every road, it's definitely worth getting it checked, but don't be shocked if it is determined to be "normal".

I have owned 11 BMW's. It's not normal, and I have even taken delivery of two BMW's that needed rear tires re-balanced.

Take it somewhere else and have them check your wheels for balance and they are true.

[Mosely]

Do you have spacers or suspension mods? I had a defective set of spacers recently that vibrated from 80-90mph or so. Swapped out for fresh set and it disappeared.

[Poochie]

The second, that the wheels just needs to be rebalanced..

If aluminum wheels where bent or there where another other underling issue, you would most certainly know by now..

[brandontrek]

It is constant or does it come and go?

[Poochie]

Originally Posted by brandontrek

It is constant or does it come and go?

Between 40 to 100mph, you can sort of feel the floorboard vibrating, if the tires are out-of-round..

[Racekaby]

I had an Audi rs3 which was a very stiff ride. Got vibration at about 75mph. Tried rebalancing a few times to no effect but then read about road force balancing etc
Found a garage with the right equipment. He put my wheels on without the road force attachment/arm and they were all reasonable well balanced. As soon as the road force arm was put on all wheels were quite a bit out and needed rebalancing to suit. Ride home.....first time 0 vibrations. Quite a common issue with stiff suspension cars which often have large alloys and therefore stiffer tyre wall section tyres to suit

[Bumpinjeep]

if the dealer isn't fixing it properly, i would check out a proper alignment shop to see if they can rebalance or hell, even a discount tire.

[Poochie]

Originally Posted by Racekaby

I had an Audi rs3 which was a very stiff ride. Got vibration at about 75mph. Tried rebalancing a few times to no effect but then read about road force balancing etc
Found a garage with the right equipment. He put my wheels on without the road force attachment/arm and they were all reasonable well balanced. As soon as the road force arm was put on all wheels were quite a bit out and needed rebalancing to suit. Ride home.....first time 0 vibrations.

Most local mom-and-pop tire shops doesn't have a "high speed balancer," so their system only spin-balances your wheels up to 40mph. Their machine is not capable of testing beyond that speed, for any wheel imbalance, at speeds above 40mph or so.

When a high-speed, Hunter Roadforce equipment is used, it spin-balances the wheels up to 100mph of testing.

Hence the reason the lower-end shops, without the high-speed equipment, does a poor job of smoothing out wheel weight imperfections, at higher speeds.

Moral of the story: find a shop that uses high-speed, wheel balancing equipment only.

[WhiteComet]

Yup, found a Hunter roadforce wheel balancer shop. Hopefully be able to book an appointment soon to fix the issue.

[///MCollection]

Ask them to spin them slowly to check for buckles too, sorry if it's been mentioned above.

[medphysdave]

Do you track your car? Was watching a video of Joe Achilles at the EBC shop. In the discussion they touched on the BMW rotors not being fully free floating and when worked hard can not return to neutral position. It causes a vibration. I'm guessing it causes the rotors to be slightly out of balance.