Steering shimmy at 70+ mph

I have been experiencing steering shimmy with my car and CANNOT figure this out. Had this car since new in 2013 15,000 miles so no accidents

Replaced tires and road force balanced wheels. (Also tried other sets of wheels) no change

Checked bushings (all looked great) with much low mileage

Brake rotor runnout is within spec

Steering rack is fine

Wheel bearing are fine (replaced those)


All I can think of is shocks but with 15,000 miles I doubt it.

Any ideas ?

Work was done by a highly reputable shop in the Dallas Fort Worth area

Have you checked if it's driveshaft related?

I think so! But with 15,000 miles do you really think it’s that ? Carrier bearing ? Or axle ?

m3ticulous wrote

I have been experiencing steering shimmy with my car and CANNOT figure this out. Had this car since new in 2013 15,000 miles so no accidents. Replaced tires and road force balanced wheels. (Also tried other sets of wheels) no change. Checked bushings (all looked great) with much low mileage. Brake rotor runnout is within spec. Steering rack is fine. Wheel bearing are fine (replaced those). All I can think of is shocks but with 15,000 miles I doubt it. Any ideas? Work was done by a highly reputable shop in the Dallas Fort Worth area

Try different wheels AND different tires. The tires may have developed a non-uniformity which can not be balanced out. Perhaps the Dealership may agree to a test whereby a temporary loan of a different set of wheels and tires can be used?

Steering Wheel Vibration FAQ thread
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=695222

Do you have spacers on the car?

I do have spacers. But took them off no difference. Tried new wheels still no difference

shop thinks its shocks!

they swapped in new hubs to see if it was wheel bearings. still had vibration
they checked the steering rack. looked great
they checked all the bushings, thrust arm and lower control arm. with 15,000 miles they looked new

brake rotor runout was within spec

my wheels were refinished and had bends fixed. and I purchased new pilot 4s 2 weeks ago. they were road force balanced. runout was checked as well and it was well within spec.

they looked at driveshaft, they didnt see an issue.

the only thing they didnt replace or check was shocks and that's what they think it is. but I'm just trying to narrow it down to make sure its not shocks.

ive been trying to figure this out for years now. I figured since my old set of tires were 8 years old they were just flat spotted and needed new tires. but I did replace everything..


I ordered vac motorsports monoball bushings thrust arm so we shall see if that fixes it

Here is what the shop said

m3ticulous wrote

Here is what the shop said

here is the full write up

im dumbfounded don't really know where else to look.

Hey, I'm having similar issue. I thought I had this fixed last week but on a road trip today I still have the shimmy sometimes. It's way better than it was before getting a wheel bend fixed and tires realigned. I'm at 85k miles on my 2013. Mine is livable now and really hardly noticeable but it's definitely annoying. My car has had all the bushings replaced, wheels RFB multiple times, minor wheel bend repaired on my 359's, new tires, etc.
Very interested to see if new struts fixes your issue!

ill be going nitron r3 coilovers by the end of the year

Take the wheels off and wire-wheel the mating surface.

Actually you said they swapped hubs so I assume they used clean ones..

I only say this because I was getting slight vibration at 75-80mph and that fixed it

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=31139011&postcount=53

Replacing control arms fixed a similar issue for this person. Worth a shot at this point.

Such a common experience with our cars and it never seems to resolve easily despite claims like 99% of the time……

Will add that I have experienced steering wheel vibration coming from the motor. Once was due to a small fragment of accessory belt hanging off the belt’s edge, hitting the subframe every time it went around. The other was when a power underdrive pulley wasn’t torqued down properly. You have already done a thorough job looking in the usual places, it may make sense to check the belts, pulleys, engine mounts and accessory bearings (AC compressor, alternator, etc) for issues.

Mileage is not the only wear issue on parts. Time, and when not driven often, dry rot will also wear out parts. Rubber is well known for degrading with time and lack of use, so bushings may look ok but in fact are not. Motor mounts on this car are also well known to dry rot and come apart.

I ordered new thrust arm bushings. I’m going to do coilovers anyway.

Car only has 15,000 miles and the shop looked at the bushings and said they looked great but anyway we will see

Did the rod bearings 6 months ago and MPORIUM replaced the motor mounts. The old ones were still good

Just my 2 cents...
I swear I've read every forum that exists on m3post and scrolled through facebook groups for hours on end to research this since it has driven me mad. LOL
My car has had the entire front end bushing wise replaced, end links, arms, etc all with new genuine OEM. Motor mounts done, I believe the belts were done relatively recent since they looked brand new and still do when I got the car. I've had my genuine 359M wheel slight bend repaired by BMW, new michelins, road force balanced by BMW 3 times. My shake got a lot better after bend repair and they flipped tires around but it's still there ever so slightly. Only thing really original really up front is my EDC shocks (have eibach springs), wheel bearings. I've given up for now, going on a 1300 mile road trip in a week so I'll' update if I feel it across all of these different highways or just crappy CT roads. I know the tech at BMW and he and the shop foreman (who's been around since E9x M3 came out, had a lot of cool stories about the E9x M3 brand launch) said this is within spec at this point, but when I went on the test drive with him I did not feel it at all, felt it again after a few hours on the highway a few weeks later ( I rarely am on the highway). Yes I checked torqued lugs, checked PSI's, etc. So stumped at this, hoping you figure it out!

Any update?

Yes I replaced the thrust arms and added vac solid bushings. And it seems to be 99% solved. I think the rest of the vibration is a combination of road surface and just the nature of how much road feel you pick up. Something missed by newer BMW’s