I've got a 2010 535xi wagon (e61), but assuming this is not wagon specific. This is the wife's daily driver, but she texted me this morning after getting to her work (~30 mins away, mostly highway) and said she felt vibration when accelerating and asked to swap cars when I went to pick up my son. We swapped and I drove the e61 home and did indeed feel the vibration she mentioned. I noticed it once underway on the highway and it continued all the way home, including once I got on the local streets.

Basically, seemed like every time I accelerated I felt vibration in the steering wheel and pedal, some in the seat. If I stopped accelerating (let up on the pedal), the vibration stopped as well. It felt like it was coming out of the front of the car, not the rear. It felt more mechanical than electronic, if that makes sense.

After doing some searching I came up with this list of possible causes. Let me know what you think.

spark plugs
fuel injectors
engine mounts
front drive shaft(s)
drive shaft guibo(s)

When I got home I drove the front up onto my ramps and crawled under the car. With the undertray installed I couldn't see much, but I wiggled around the front suspension parts, including the front axles. The suspension components seemed solid. The front axles, both sides, could be moved in a side to side motion and could also move slightly in a perpendicular direction to the side to side direction. Hope that makes sense. Is this normal?

No codes coming up.

Can't think of anything else to add right now.

All help is appreciated!

Eric

 

Ok, just took her for a spin around town to pick up something. I can't say I noticed much. Around 40mph I could start to feel some vibration. Didn't get much faster than that around town. Need to hit the highway again.

Forgot to mention before but I don't feel any power loss. Car still accelerates as she has since we got her.

Eric

 

I highly doubt it is the spark plugs or fuel injectors those will give you an error message something like "low emissions head to the nearest dealer". Engine mounts do not go bad in 6 years on this car and if it does you would be getting a knock from the engine bay. It could be the half shafts but again 6 years I doubt it its a BMW unless you have a lot of miles or have real bad roads.

I would start with a balance maybe a weight fell off or try putting the front tires to the back (that you can do yourself and it cost nothing to do) before a balance. If it proceeds then its more than a balance and it is something in the suspension/transmission. Take the front engine cover off and inspect for punctures around the boots or ball joints (looking for grease). It should look good (im not putting my bet on it being a suspension issue. It could very well be the flex plate "guibo" or u-joint. I say that because you say you are feeling it in your seat. I have not felt vibration in the seat from a balance issue.

How many miles do you have on the car?

Let us know what you find out.

 

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, I will check those out. Good idea on a weight falling off.

Milage should have been one of the pieces of the puzzle I offered originally, sorry about that. She currently has 107k miles.

Thanks again, I will give your suggestions a try tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Eric

 

Would be good to check for any codes, just in case.

You need to get the wheels off the ground to really check out the suspension.

Could also be control arm bushings or ball joints. The lower control arm (aka tension strut) has a liquid filled rubber bushing. Those have probably ruptured by now. Mine (2006 E60 xi) had been ruptured for a few years and I changed the control arms last week. Wife's 2009 X5 hydro bushing ruptured a few weeks ago. I never had drivability issues like yours, but I'm sure the failure of the bushings can manifest differently.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know about the control arm bushings. Oh and I checked for codes and none came up.

Yesterday I did as suggested by Sean and rotated the front wheels to the back and took her for a spin. Not 100% conclusive, but the vibration feel did change. Didn't feel like it was coming from the front as much and could still be felt in the seat. Took my wife along for the test drive and she said the same from the passenger seat.

I am setting up an appointment with my favorite tire place and will get them to re-balance all 4 wheels as well as a general undercarriage inspection. I'll mention the control arm bushings as well.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks again!

Eric

 

I'm experiencing similar issues with my 525 m sport e60, would like to know how you get on. Mine vibrates when accelerating and even worse when I hit the brakes, had new pads discs, balanced and still the same

 

I had the same problem changed my axles, problem solved.

 

Sorry for the extremely late response. I have been traveling for business and the issue is still not 100% resolved which is annoying.

What I have done so far is took it to the tire place as mentioned above where they found 1 wheel very out of balance (don't remember how much). That helped some a good bit, but not completely.

So I set up a time to take it to another place close to my house and left it with them. They found 2 different wheels slightly out of balance (both rear). After driving it was better again, but now the situation I have is this: when first driving everything seems fine, but after 5-10 mins of driving I start to feel a wobble in the car. I am leaning towards 1 or more tires have some sort of issue that is noticeable after the tires of heated up and expanded fully. Is there any way I or a tire shop can check for this?

535 dreamer,

Which axles did you replace, front, rear or both?

Thanks,

Eric

 

I had a similar issue when I first got my E61, and it turned out in addition to the tires being out of balance, one rear tire was newer than the other and the slight difference in rolling diameter seemed to be causing at least part of the vibration. A new set of tires Road-Force balanced solved the problem.

I guess the X-drive system can be very sensitive to differences in tire diameter. I have been rotating my new set of tires every 7-8k miles and the problem hasn't returned.