DKNewYork

Easiest fix. drive 55 mph. I have the same problem, except for the seat vibrating. Which reminds me, I have to have my wheels checked

AchtungE60

Many reasons could cause this and i'll try to list them but it would help if you give a little more info. Does your car shake between certain speeds and only at those speeds? what are the speeds? Say if you stay at 80 does it still shake? Or is the shake intermittent?

Reasons:
Control arm busings (check them all for cracks)
ball joint
Stabilizer links
Wheels out of balance (road force balance really is a must IMO)
Wheels are not hubcentric. If you have spigot rings, one or more may be bad.
Warped (uneven) tires
Rocks in tire treads
bent wheel

ctcoin

Add to the list. Out of balance drive shaft.

Will Greer

All of those are scary, big problems, and all possible. It could just be that your tires are wearing unevenly - this can cause a vibration that feels exactly like an out of balance condition or a bent wheel. Easy to diagnose, too - just get under your car and look at the tire wear. If you see a wear pattern where one part of the tire is worn much more than the rest of the tire (the inner third, for example), your car needs an alignment and your tires are causing the vibration.

Ogg

i was having the same problem with my 545i and figured it was the wheels bc they were non-oem.. i picked up a newer set of 5 series wheels that were oem had them put on perfect and still have the same issue. mine happens only when i get up to 70-80. so although it could be a wheel/tire problem, i went in that direction and still havent fully pinpointed the issue

carfucious

I have been chasing the very same problem on mine. So far have replaced:

Wheels/tires
front tension struts/bushings
front spindle and bearing assemblies

I am now thinking it may be related to the brakes, as it subsided slightly after I replaced front pads and left the allen-head locator screws (rotors)loose when I reassembled the front. My thinking is that the front rotors may be slightly out of trus and causing a vibration at speed.

Good luck, please post if you figure it out.

Michael-Dallas

No experience on the 5 yet, but it def sounds like tires need to be rebalanced. It's not uncommon for tires to slip on the wheel or wheels to lose weights over time.

Based on experience with my E36 M3:

- steering wheel shimmy at wide sweeper turns at 55mph ended up being front lower control arm bushings (inspect LCAs for torn bushings or movement when car is in the air)
- horrible vibration at front end that occurred intermittently at highway speed ended up being stuck front brake caliper pistons (this completely freaked me out as I initially thought it was wheel bearings)
- vibration at highway speed that transferred from seat to steering wheel after tire rotation from rear to front ended being tires out of balance

Also, if you have aftermarket wheels, then they can be crazy out of balance. A local guy was determined that his tires were not out of balanced - he had more than one tire shop rebalance his tires and also bought new tires... it ended up being his aftermarket wheels.

Good luck.

Michael.

Isaiah_Charles

I had 2 bent rims and just found out I have 3rd. I am doing control arms and tie rod ends today I do expect a HUUUGE difference in the vibration even w/o fixing the 3rd bent wheel.

Isaiah_Charles

Update: cars feels muccccch better after changing inner/outer tie rod ends and left control arm. Vibration is minimal b/c of a rear bent rim

craigpinto

Most of the time it's a tire out of balance or uneven wear.

My 2007 525i did the same thing. Took it to a dealer, and was told I had two bent rims. They ordered 2 new front rims. No change, and they let me keep the rims for no charge for the trouble.

I then put on 4 new Conti DWS tires ... vibration gone ... Drives and sounds perfect...

I had GoodYear NCT 5 Runflats, and had intended to put them back on after winter was over, but not now.