XSeries-forum

recently bought a set of 20" le mans wheels off ebay!

since putting them on ive had a slight vibration at around 60mph, had them balanced and 2 tyres replaced but still there! had them balanced by another tyre place today who said the balancing was out so re done it but still doing the vibrating!

really beginning to lose faith in this car now ans tempted to just sell it and buy something else!

anyone got any ideas what else i could try?

thanks

I had the same problem once, it was buckled rims. They balanced them to no avail, when I took it back they put it on a 2 post ramp, asked me to stand behind the car whilst they spun the wheels by hand, 3 out of the 4 rims were buckled.
Hope that's not your problem after just buying the rims

Hi did you have the same problem on your old wheels ?
Are they genuine BMW or after market wheels ?
As Horizon said sounds like buckled wheels , get them back to the wheel balancer get them to spin them by hand & watch for buckles .
 

Hi

I had a similar problem on my old cavalier and went to local Lincoln Tyres and they could balance the wheels on the car as fwd.

and it solved it the car drove absolutely perfect so would suggest calling definitely worth a try although being 4wd it may be more specialist.

For info yes I have a slight wobble on both my 20's and 22's at different speeds around 50-60 but at 70 both sets ok.

Hth
Graeme

so you think that the 20's may all give off a very slight wobble and its something i will get used to?

thanks

Hi I wouldnt get used to it get them checked again , then contact the seller this maybe the reason they got rid of them , I would be looking at replacing them !

My 20"s are fine but my 19"s have a very very slight shimmy at 60mph.  Dealer has been unable to identify it but have said the balance is as good as they can get it and the rims are 'true'.  I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't something about one of the tyres, but they look fine.

Richard

are they second hand, i read about people having similar issues where water got inside the tyre while been stored or what ever, also what are the roads like as the 20s have a habit of tranlining and if the roads a crap pick up any inpefections in the road, my ml is on 295 fronts and that similar some roads it vibrates slighly (our road near me are crap) soon as i go down new by pass at same speeds its perfect not a wobble or shake in sight

Some thing I noticed with some vehicles when a big set of tyres or wheels is fitted.... is that the bigger set-up will highlight other ailing issues, like slop in joints, bushes, pins & pivots etc....
A wheel is generally considered balanced when even 5 grams is showing... however, the 5 grams is amplified with a bigger wheel diameter... and any worn parts will readily show their wear at this point.
Ive had wheels with some notable buckles in them, and they can be balanced only so much...
But it may be worth getting under the car and giving all the joints a check over... before you junk the wheels..

If your wheels are balanced correctly and there's no damage in them, the cause of your problem more than likely is a worn bush or balljoint, did this problem start only when you got the 20 inch wheels fitted?
Obviously correctly balanced BMW wheels shouldn't cause this problem so if you've new tyres and balanced wheels the problem lies elsewhere
Is the wheel shimmy only when you brake? That would point to worn thrust arm bushes ... When braking from around 70 - 40 mph

Long shot but check the mating surfaces - where the steel hub touches the alloy wheel. These should be clean, very lightly greased and free of corrosion. Contamination or refurb residue can cause a problem.
Before you remove the wheels, do the spin test and look at the inner as well as outer rims for misalignment. A good tyre fitter would have spotted a buckle, I think (not that I have encountered many of these!)
Then go for suspension as the previous posts advise.

my car had vibration about 60-65 mph and felt it when arm leaning on center armrests. Stratstones balanced rear wheels as they said if it was front you would feel it through steering wheel and all good so far for me but see you have tried this but just thought i pass on my experience.

Just wondering whether a perished prop shaft coupling would cause an imbalance in the prop shaft and feed into the car, worth checking as they're known to perish and crack with age.
Failing that, I would agree that checking the mating faces are clean is a good call, then look at suspension bushes and joints, as 20 inch wheels will amplify any wear.

Dave
2003 BMW X5 4.6iS Auto
2007 '57' Saab 9-3 Aero 2.0T Auto

Just a thought! Have they been bored out to fit an E70 in which case you would need spigot rings to centre the wheels onto the hubs . Spigot rings are only £10 so worth checking before you spend a whole lot of money . If you can put your old wheels back on if no wobble you know what the problem is !

I'd say it is one of the following:

One of the alloys is a non genuine alloy so not equal widths (LOTS of non genuine Le Mans wheels about and they are .5 inch narrower).

Part worn tyres have been put on that have once been put on the wrong rotation (I had this problem on my X5 and was a nightmare to find out what was going on).  Run your palm across the top of the tyre clockwise, it shouldn't dig in.