Steering wheel wobble and smoking hot front wheel

[sitrom]

Hello,

I was driving my car last week and suddenly when I was driving at over 35MPH I would get really bad steering wheel wobble. The faster I was going the worse the wobble would get. I pulled over to check for flat tyres and any obvious problems but I didn't find anything. The car would turn and drive without any strange noises but as I mentioned once I would go over the 35MPH the wheel would be all over the place. I drove it like that for about 5 miles and when I arrive to the place that I was going I got off the car and the driver's side front wheel was extremely hot (couldn't be touched) and there was black smoke coming out. I called for recovery and they send over a guy who supposedly checked everything and he said everything was fine and the only thing that he thought he saw was a bit of play from the top of the strut leg. Now My natural question was how would that make the wheel so hot that it was smoking? Anyway, I had the car recovered to my house and it is booked in to a garage for repairs in a couple days. Does anyone have a clue on what it might be? Should I be preparing for a big bill???

[X5Sport]

Brake unit failure, wheel bearing failure? Any effect on braking whilst this was happening? Black smoke could be overheated pads or fluid. Which part of the wheel was too hot? Where was the smoke actually coming from?

If it's the brakes then it depends upon how hot they got, and the failure type. If you're not using OEM parts from a Dealer then the shock could be a lot less. Worst case - new caliper, disk & pads plus a fluid change. Best case - new pads and a fluid change.

Wheel bearing failure would mean disassembly and replacement of the bearing parts etc. You might have a linked issue if the bearing hub overheated because of a brake issue. Hopefully no worse than repacking the bearings with grease.

Let us know what they find.....

[sitrom]

Just got a callback from the garage to report the damage. The verdict is a ceased break caliper. The things that will need to be replaced are:
a) Break caliper (obviously)
b) Front break discs
c) Break pads
And whilst they were down there they also noticed a split CV joint and wear on the inner side of the tyre so will also need
d) New CV gaiter
e) Tracking and balancing

Total cost £729. Now praying that my warranty is going to cover most of the damage.

[fenj66]

sorry to hear that. i hope the warranty covers the bill.
i had the exact same problem on my e46. i stripped down caliper and gave the piston a good clean up and problem solved, no discs or pads required.
if the warranty wont cover it and your mechanically minded you could try that to save some cash.