Not sure on the cost as it was covered by CPO warranty. I swapped tires front to rear and had them spun balanced. Tires and wheels checked ok. Even with the front wheels lifted off the ground
I couldn't feel any play in the bearing or hear a noise as I spun it. The vibration didn't shake the steering wheel. Just a ticking feel and a slight accompanying noise. Like a knot or a flat spot on a tire. The service record shows my car had a rear bearing replaced at 35k miles. The symptom on the record reads: "rear wheel bearing rough running". Hope this helps.

 

Here's a short guide to check your wheel bearings. Quite simple stuff that you may already know.

Checking the wheel bearings:
- lift the car up
- take a good grip of your right/left front wheel --> shake left and right --> if you can feel/see any backlash, possible damage in wheel bearing
- if it's the wheel bearing, you should feel/see the backlash when shaking the wheel vertically too --> if there's not any backlash vertically, the problem probably locates in suspension parts
- if the problem is in the wheel bearing, the another way to be sure about it is to ask a friend to press the brake pedal while you're shaking the wheel --> again, if it is the wheel bearing, the backlash should disappear when the brake pedal is being pressed


- Antti -

 

Hey there - I run a business in Australia of fixing and balancing tail shafts - we are the only ones in Australia who can do BMW / Mercedes / Audi shafts properly and do work for most of the dealers.

Anyway, it MAY be the tail shaft - BMW tail shafts tend to fail at around 200,000 - 250,000km (and can fail earlier in hotter climates) and start with a slight vibration, but ususally at a little quicker than you describe (generally 60-70km/h) and then disapear if you go quicker.

Try and exhaust other simple options first (like you are doing) becuase for your mechanic to remove the tail shaft they need to take the entire exhaust system off and then all the heat shielding. Feel free to ask me any questions about the tailshaft and i'll answer them if I can.

Also, don't let them tell you that you need an entire new shaft becuase this is complete BS. They are difficult to fix for people who are not tooled up to do it, but if you find someone that can do it properly they can fix it back to new for around a quarter of the cost of a new one.

 

Very helpful. Thanks for the time in putting that together. I will most definitely try this.

 

By the way, you can check for a bent wheel yourself with a jack.
I know that it seems dirty, but the best way to check is just to remove the wheel and bring it into light. If the wheel is bent, you will see the flat lip.
With a 19" wheel, it is very easy to spot. The 19" inch wheels bend very easy in potholes or even parking lot speed bumps (if you go over an edge).
There are many people with bent wheels that don't even know it.

If you have a bent wheel, there are places that will charge you only $130 to fix the wheel. The place that I go to will also finish the wheel with a nice powder spray to make it look new.
I was surprised that they made the wheel as good as new.
Also make sure that you are balancing the wheels on a Hunter 9700 Road Force machine (or better). I know that it has been said 1000s of times, but if you are using anything else, you could be way off with the balance.

 

I had a similar vibration, almost surging at constant speeds and rpm's in 2nd and 3rd gear. At about 20 mph in 2nd gear, the car would vibrate, and surge a bit. The tech told me, this could be a VANOS related issue. Not so much an issue with the VANOS, but he said that it could be the "in-between" point in the rpm range where the VANOS was activated or not.

Not sure if this makes sense, but this is what he told me.....If it's BS, someone call me out....

thanks,

 

So, after balancing my tires, checking the rotors, checking the wheel bearings per Antti's instructions, had a wheel repair place check my wheels (all is good), and finally checking each suspension component....the final verdict is: New tires...

I have put only about 20,000 on my goodyear FI's and although they appear to have PLENTY of tread, the wheel repair guy said they are toast....he showed me by jacking up the car and then spinning the wheel. If you look only at the tire, you could see the tire almost look like a wave...going up and down and not rolling smoothly.

So, two new tires are in the works...I think I would have preferred a bent rim, much cheaper !

Just thought I would give a resolution to the problem if anyone has this experiencing down the road. So the moral is, always check the rubber !

 

Good to hear you got it solved!

 

its probably one bent wheel

 

My tyres are making an awful noise, like running over uneven surface, as you say, when they get a bit old they go-off !!! and become less-round, causing all this vibration.

I would have said 'bearing or tyres' but you fixed it already - good news !

X2 run-flat tyres = almost the cost of my first car