I've been chasing an annoying wobble that sounds a lot like the one in this thread. It felt like it could be an out of balance / round tire, and mine were getting a little long in the tooth. Also, I painstakingly swapped the tires around and the issue did seem to change when I moved the right front to the right rear. I bit the bullet and swapped out my tires for new Michelins yesterday, and the problem seemed to get worse. Sigh.

I'd noticed (in the middle of the 7,000 mile trip) that the right rear camber was excessive (went from about 1.5° to well over 3°) so adjusted that back in my sister's garage, using a phone-based bubble level app. Not sure why that moved, since it seemed plenty tight when I tried to loosen the nut to adjust it (it had been professionally aligned). But that had me thinking that I should check over the entire suspension. Got to Texas (my son's place) and put all four corners up in the air and spun it up. All four tires had a couple mm of out-of-roundness, but nothing that looked like it would be noticeable. I checked all the bolts for tightness (I'd recently replaced virtually all the suspension, after all). I checked all the axles, and they all felt good, though I did notice the tiniest (sub-mm) movement in the right front axle. Hard to imagine that causing any issues, but who knows?

I decided to take it into a local shop for an alignment check, just to see if something moved. The tech took it out for a test drive - he came back and said the problem was an axle (yes, the right front). I'm not sure what he did during the test drive, but when I got the car back (after they ordered an axle) it was 5x worse than it had been. I haven't checked it for play the way I did before, but I'm betting it's a lot more noticeable.

I'm not even sure what brand axle they ordered, but this being rural Texas, I am going to take what I can get. It hurts to have someone else do the job (knowing how easy it is to swap a front axle, at least after you've gone to the trouble of fixing / cleaning out the rust between the axle and hub)... but I don't travel with the tools I'd need to do that job! Still, if this puts a stake through the wobble's evil heart, the ~$500 is money well spent.

 

Didn't know that such a small looseness could do this much. But your vibrations/wobble goes away at speeds or gets faster?
Anyway, life is harder for you guys with xdrive ahah

Had a short question, when my steering wheel is straight, the car goes straight. However when I remove my hands off the wheel, the steering turns itself to approx 5deg causing the car to go right. I suspect it's not normal but considering alignment was done and rechecked how is it possible?

 

It could be due to many things (i.e. control arms, bushings, etc etc). Why not just have an indy BMW specialist look at it?

 

Well, considering I changed control arm, thrust arms and tie rod, I don't want them to tell me it's due to the job I did or the parts I bought (OEM but not bmw)
Also, they take the car one day and charge 200 € for the diagnosis only.

And, I like doing stuff myself, I feel like i know the car better, that's why I always go on forums like this one

 

I meant have them find out what it is, then you have the option of fixing it yourself. Indy shops don't charge as much as the dealer. You're actually spending a lot of sweat money thus far, which is the same thing as money.

 

Oh, I didn't know what the indy meant. Got it.

Yes, you are right. I'll go change my tires tomorrow, i'll talk to the mechanic about the issue. Maybe it will go away with the tire change...

 

Well, you can do that or go to a tire shop and have them check the tire(s) first. One time, I had a tire that had good tread but when they removed it when I asked them to check it, it had a bulge / separation inside.

 

Yeah I should ask thanks for the tip. Tires are old so I also change them to be safe (2012)

Did you have issues with the steering like mine?

 

Not with my e60. I've owned several BMWs.

 

Let's move your issue to a new thread. The OP is still trying to get his issue resolved and trying to work your issue in the OPs thread confuses people trying to help him out.