Car shakes at 120 km/h and above

Alerium

Hello

I recently bought a 2013 BMW 520d and noticed that when I travel at around 120 km/h or higher, I can feel the car sort of shaking (steering wheel and from the floor). It's not a major shake and you can drive with it but it would become annoying on a longer drive. At 100km/h or lower you can feel anything.

I also noticed it sort of shakes when breaking from 130 to 100 for example.

Before I go and get my wheels aligned / tyres balanced and all that jazz, is there anything else that it could be (it could be anything, but something more specific?)?

Thanks

bazz26

First and cheapest thing to do is have your wheels rebalanced. If it's shaking under braking then I'd be thinking that a brake disc is warped or worn and need replacing.

Doltanian

bazz26 wrote: »

First and cheapest thing to do is have your wheels rebalanced. If it's shaking under braking then I'd be thinking that a brake disc is warped or worn and need replacing.

It could also be badly worn tires causing it.

wotzgoingon

This is a long shot but 15 years ago I bought a Honda Civic and it done the same apart from shaking while braking as in it used to shake like crazy doing speeds over 120km/h. And I got the car serviced and shaking was gone. Worth a try as well as getting the wheels balanced.

Irish Steve

Most likely issue is that there's a tyre out of balance, which is a quick easy job to do, but if there's also some issues when braking, the other possibility is that the car has clattered a pot hole at some stage and buckled a wheel, which balancing won't fix, but it may be possible for a specialist wheel company to sort that out, but it's not as cheap.

alta stare

A failing inner cv joint can cause vibrations at speed.

judeboy101

I assume you are doing these speeds on a private track :-)

pa990

It could be a number of things.

Wheels might need balancing and or alignment.

If you have run flats, the side wall may be damaged, and the damage isn't visible

Tie rod may be worn.

Control arm bushing

mickdw

judeboy101 wrote: »

I assume you are doing these speeds on a private track :-)

Why?

Doltanian

mickdw wrote: »

Why?

He obviously wants a race, you versus this jockey on his high horse.

RobbieTheRobber

mickdw wrote: »

Why?

Braking from 130km when the possible legal maximum speed on any road is 120km

judeboy101

mickdw wrote: »

Why?

Because it is illegal to go above 100kph except on motorways where it is 120kph.

artanevilla

RobbieTheRobber wrote: »

Braking from 130km when the possible legal maximum speed on any road is 120km

There is no legal maximum on some German roads where the recommended limit is 130.

biko

Last I had this issue balancing didn't help. I moved the fronts to the rear and that helped. Probably a slightly bucked alloy in my case

Cee-Jay-Cee

alta stare wrote: »

A failing inner cv joint can cause vibrations at speed.

Its a BMW, they're RWD...no CV joints.

alta stare

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Its a BMW, they're RWD...no CV joints.

I know BMWs are RWD iv had two and believe it or not they had CV joints..........

Dartz

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Its a BMW, they're RWD...no CV joints.

There're CV joints in the rear suspension to enable the wheels to move indepedently of each other.

All independent suspension cars will have them.

Indricotherium

biko wrote: »

Last I had this issue balancing didn't help. I moved the fronts to the rear and that helped. Probably a slightly bucked alloy in my case

does this really work!!??

Edward M

If you feel the shake through the steering, eg, vibrating in your hands and feeling it in your arms, then your problem is in the front.
If you feel it through the floor but steering is still smooth to feel its in the rear somewhere.
BMWs are full of joints, bushing, and arm ends.
Take it somewhere fairly competent to have it done, guess work will cost a fortune.
Also if you are doing those speeds you mention op, you are risking life with a defective car, be careful out there!

lawred2

alta stare wrote: »

I know BMWs are RWD iv had two and believe it or not they had CV joints..........

Was it X series with 4WD?

alta stare

lawred2 wrote: »

Was it X series with 4WD?

Was what an X series with 4WD?

zilog_jones

Before wasting money on balancing the wheels, are the tyres any good? Crap tyres are more prone to getting misshapen in my experience, not to mention they can be dangerous in emergency conditions. If they're Triangles or Runways or some other cheap junk, then get rid of them ASAP.

H3llR4iser

To summarize, considering the average road conditions and use of cars here, the most likely culprits of the vibration are:

1. Front wheels out of balance and/or alignment;
2. Unevenly worn / damaged tires;
3. Buckled / damaged alloy;

Check these before anything else - quickest way to do so is to bring the car to a trusted tire fitter and have them check it.

If there is a shudder under heavy-ish braking from high speeds, then the brake rotors might need to be replaced as well as they may be warped.

Dravokivich

lawred2 wrote: »

Was it X series with 4WD?

You're thinking of an xdrive variant.

biko

Indricotherium wrote: »

does this really work!!??

Not sure why you ask as I just said it did work for me.

I think that the alloy was buckled but not noticeably, not that I went over it with a magnifying glass..

lawred2

alta stare wrote: »

Was what an X series with 4WD?

Was that a difficult question?

You said you owned two BMWs with CV joints. They would only be found on the FWD or AWD cars.

Wailin

My guess would be a buckled alloy, especially if they're the 19" 351 style. Doesn't take much to do it in fairness, small pothole.

alta stare

lawred2 wrote: »

Was that a difficult question?

You said you owned two BMWs with CV joints. They would only be found on the FWD or AWD cars.

Exactly i had two and they had joints.

lawred2

alta stare wrote: »

Exactly i had two and they had joints.

you had two AWD BMWs?

rex-x

lawred2 wrote: »

Was that a difficult question?

You said you owned two BMWs with CV joints. They would only be found on the FWD or AWD cars.

Rear wheel drive have normal cv joints too......

munchkin_utd

I had a similar problem with resonance at about 120kmh and turned out to be a bulge in the tyre knocking it out of balance, which we only found after getting the wheels balanced. The tyres were a good brand but tipping 8 to 9 years old at the time so just glad they didnt blow on me on the road.

Fair play to the lad in the tyre centre (R+R tyres Ballincollig btw), he not only had the right size of all weathers in stock, he waived the wasted cost of the balancing when i replaced the 2 tyres.

Edward M

munchkin_utd wrote: »

I had a similar problem with resonance at about 120kmh and turned out to be a bulge in the tyre knocking it out of balance, which we only found after getting the wheels balanced. The tyres were a good brand but tipping 8 to 9 years old at the time so just glad they didnt blow on me on the road.

Fair play to the lad in the tyre centre (R+R tyres Ballincollig btw), he not only had the right size of all weathers in stock, he waived the wasted cost of the balancing when i replaced the 2 tyres.

8 to 9 year old tyres/
Jesus was it ever driven?

munchkin_utd

Edward M wrote: »

8 to 9 year old tyres/
Jesus was it ever driven?

winter tyres so only on for 6 months of the year .

lawred2

rex-x wrote: »

Rear wheel drive have normal cv joints too......

Actually they would I suppose if you've got independent suspension which BMWs probably do

alta stare

lawred2 wrote: »

you had two AWD BMWs?

You having a slow day today? Its ok it happens. Taking a nap usually helps.

biko

The snippy comments stops here


Thank you

Alerium

Thanks for the replies everyone. All noted and I will visit a trusted tire fitter and see what the issue is. The wheels are 17" and the tires are Continentals - all look in good nick. This may be a stupid question but how do you check if the alloy is damaged? The alloys look fine and not buckled/damaged.

Thanks again

Wailin

Alerium wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone. All noted and I will visit a trusted tire fitter and see what the issue is. The wheels are 17" and the tires are Continentals - all look in good nick. This may be a stupid question but how do you check if the alloy is damaged? The alloys look fine and not buckled/damaged.

Thanks again

Would be hard to buckle a 17" alloy, so maybe that's not the issue. Only way to see a buckle is to take the tyre off and get it on a balancer to spin it.

testicles

This post has been deleted.

Alerium

Wailin wrote: »

Would be hard to buckle a 17" alloy, so maybe that's not the issue. Only way to see a buckle is to take the tyre off and get it on a balancer to spin it.

Yeah it's a 55 tire profile. If I went to get the tires balanced they would obviously know if it is buckled or not, so I might start there.

pa990

testicles wrote: »

Ever been on the N25 out of Cork?

Or the N22 by Ballincollig in cork.

bladespin

Wheel balance would be my bet, try it on a bike; all grand up to a set speed then mad weave/wobble.

mickdw

Alerium wrote: »

Wailin wrote: »

Would be hard to buckle a 17" alloy, so maybe that's not the issue. Only way to see a buckle is to take the tyre off and get it on a balancer to spin it.

Yeah it's a 55 tire profile. If I went to get the tires balanced they would obviously know if it is buckled or not, so I might start there.

Ya get balancing done but tell them to have a good look at the wheels for buckling and the tyres for issues.

Alerium

I went to a garage and they had the car on a ramp. Had a look around and said everything mechanical was fine but the rear left alloys is buckled slightly from the inside.