OK, its been awhile since I posted, but I am back to chronicle a problem. This first post is going to be long. I have a 2008 535xi with about 80K miles, best car ever! (for me anyway). The handling, ride, and acceleration are perfect for me. I bought it CPO, so I have 20K left on the warranty.

So when I got the car about a year and a half ago, I noticed no vibration at all. Then after a few thousand miles I though I noticed a vibration between 65 and 75mph. Sometimes felt it and sometimes did not. During one of the many service trips to the dealer I asked them to check it out and they said there was noting wrong. I chalked it up to "paranoid BMW driver syndrome".

Over time it got worse and more noticable but still intermittent. My wife then hit a pot hole a few months ago and popped a tire. I took it to the dealer (this is a real story - and I still use this dealership, but I am thinking about changing) and they said it needed a new tire, rim was bent and needed replaced, and there were some suspension issues that were going to total in the thousands to fix. I said go ahead - I bought the tire and wheek warrant which covers all of that. A few hours later I got a call from the service technician who said after re inspection all it needs it a tire, rim and suspension were fine. Really. So they changed the tire - now I had a new tire up front and half worn tires all the way around. They said this was fine.

So I drove away and the car was back to the way it was. Occ vibration at speed. Over the last several months got worse. I had more problems with the car, so back to the dealer I went and the changed a tie rod, recommended new rear tires. Vibration was still there so I decided it was a tire/balance issue.

I purchased new Continental DSW's last week, had them balanced at an alignment.

Car drives the same. Intermittent vibration at 65-75mph, but when it happens the whole car shakes now.

So here is my plan

1 - get tires road force balanced - the place that put them does it (and I completely trust them) and recommedned only do the road force if the regular balancing is not perfect. So I am going to do that this weekend

Here are my questions

1 - any onther thoughts?

2 - Can I have a shop, who I trust, do suspension work on my car, or do I stick with a dealer I do not trust, or do I drive 30 minutes to another BMW dealer?

I started this post assuming that the road force balance will not work , but I hope it does.

 

my 2 common cents...

1. i doubt it's a tire balance problem.

2. diagnose the root cause of the longstanding problem + keep in mind now you had other damage [tire/wheel]

3. yes, go to another dealer --- you have warranty

4. insist that the "first" dealer address the problem --- talk to the service manager, you can always contact bmwna.

5. 2nd opinion, of course...through another dealer or indy.

 

My '04 545i does the same thing, has for awhile now. I have not put alot of effort into finding the route cause (because my wife drives the car predominately), but my limited research says that it is not an uncommon problem and a general consensus on the cause does not exist. I dont think it is a tire/wheel issue. The vibraton is annoying enough that I choose not to take the E60 on long trips, choosing the old E38 instead (smooth as butter at speed).

If you figure it out, let us all know.

 

If you've totally eliminated tire/wheel issues as the cause (and it sounds like you have) the next place is drivetrain. I would have looked at front and rear drive axles and drive shaft for openers. the xDrive / xi cars have so many moving parts that if any one of them get out of sorts (cv-joints bearings, etc) a vibration would get set up. As a last resort it's possible that a intermittent engine "miss" is creating some vibration but only at a certain RPM and it may come and go especially if the cause is something electronic - like an intermittent open circuit on one of the coils ?!?

 

had the same issue, had my tires rebalance and it was gone

 

I've got the same issue on my 04 545i. My plan is to inspect the guibo and driveshaft support bearing when I get the chance, for starters.

 

Well, I got the road force balance doen today. It helped. The shop said one of the tires slipped after mounting and one of the rear wheels was out of alignment. The test drive was much better, but there is still a slight vibration between 65 and 75.

What I can not figure out is why it is not consistent.

I am going to set up an appointment with another dealer and see what they think.

Any other specific recommendations for what to do next (and be specific - and I already thought of always driving over 75)

 

Just got my 2008 535xi back from the dealer after two months of investigation and repair. Car has 70K miles. Purchased a few years ago Certified Pre-Owned and noticed last fall a shudder or shimmy in the car when accelerating. Noticed this at all speeds, but particularly from 12-20 MPH. Dealer had similar approach with rebalancing, but I should have known that this was not the issue because it only happened under load. Next, they replaced all fuel injectors, rear differential, rear transaxle, decarbonized intake valves and air intake. None of this helped. After that, they replaced front suspension bushings and front differential and then problem was even more pronounced! They found corrosion on driver-side front CV joints and replaced all front CV joints and half shafts. Problem solved. Still, I have no explanation why there was metal in both front and rear differentials and corrosion on CV joints. Seriously debating if I want to own a BMW when the warranty expires. Robb

 

Another possible trouble spot is the lower control arm bushings. They are liquid filled. When they go, you could have some affect.