Steering shakes when cornering hard - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Martin G · 9th July 2004, 15:21

Hi people. This is my first message on here. Can anyone help me. When driving quick round roundabouts the steering seems to start shaking. It doesnt do it all the time. As your turning left and accelarating the steering wheel vibrates a little and sometimes quite hard. I had the thrust arm replaced a couple months ago but it must be something else. Also when i go over bumps sometimes there is a slight knocking noise coming from the same side. (Drivers side) Any suggestions? Im awaiting for some BMW discs that i bought off ebay, then im going to have a look myself. Its due an MOT today maybe they will find something. Apart from that the car is superb.

Martin G · 9th July 2004, 15:26

Whoops. I mean turning right. Not left round roundabouts. sorry

AndyE · 9th July 2004, 17:16

I'd been getting this (although only slightly) and more importantly, some quite serious vibration when braking softly at speed.

After close investigation of the steering components, I determined that both control arms and bushes were in fine fettle - so in a process of elimination, I determined the fault to lie with the steering tie rods, so I replaced them all earlier this week.

Centre tie rod, idler arm and both outer tie rods: Lemfoerder (OEM) parts, £98.64 from GSF and about an hour and a half labour from me to fit them.

I had the tracking adjusted the next morning (£30) (toe-in only 2 degrees out on one wheel - not bad 'visual' tracking from me!!) and now all vibration is gone.

AndyE · 9th July 2004, 17:20

The knocking you describe could also lie with the steering componentry, but a more likely culprit is the anti-roll bar drop link. They're only £12 ea; worth changing while you're under the car. Only a ten minute job.

Brian M5 · 9th July 2004, 17:46

Good luck with finding the problem among the steering bits and pieces.

Whisper it Take a look at the nearside front shock absorber for signs of leaking / sweating. Changing this out was what cured my vibration issues as described above.
I had by then, spent enough time on replacing the cheaper items that the leak in the shocker was more readily apparent and more obviously the cause.

AndyE · 9th July 2004, 19:51

Because I'm really helpful, here are pictures of what's in store if you replace the steering tie rods and idler arm.

http://www.b1a.co.uk/andy/m5steering/gallery.html

In the pictures, you can see (amongst other stuff)

Balljoint puller is your best friend,

Restricted space on 17mm nut to steering box arm (ratchet spanner comes in v. handy),

Bent track rod;

Causing seriously irregular shoulder wear on Bridgestone Potenza.

Martin G · 9th July 2004, 19:55

Cheers for all your suggestions. It passed the MOT this afternoon. No problems. Going to have a look underneath tomorrow. Got my BMW discs as well today. One is TIS and the other two discs are ETK. They look quite helpful.

M5e3438 · 9th July 2004, 22:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyE

Because I'm really helpful, here are pictures of what's in store if you replace the steering tie rods and idler arm.

http://www.b1a.co.uk/andy/m5steering/gallery.html

In the pictures, you can see (amongst other stuff)

Balljoint puller is your best friend,

Restricted space on 17mm nut to steering box arm (ratchet spanner comes in v. handy),

Bent track rod;

Causing seriously irregular shoulder wear on Bridgestone Potenza;

Thats just like my front right Bridgestone Potenza which has hopefully been sorted by the wheel alignment/replacement of tie, track rods and idler arm. btw is that tyre an mot failure?

AndyE · 9th July 2004, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by M5e3438

btw is that tyre an mot failure?

Theoretically no, the tyre still has legal tread across 3/4 of its width.

ajw45 · 14th July 2004, 17:33

Also make sure everything up front is tight. I had the exact same problem and it turned out that some of the front subframe bolts hard worked loose.