# Wheel shimmy caused by rear tires?



## vsvo (Oct 23, 2002)

I picked up my '04 530i almost a month ago, with 85 miles on the clock. On the drive home, I noticed a steering wheel shimmy at highway speed on smooth blacktop. I noted this to the service writer when I took the car in to get the iDrive screen replaced at 700 miles (dead pixels). He told me they balanced all four tires, but that the rear tires were out of round. Could bad rear tires cause a noticeable shimmy in the steering wheel? Even after balancing the shimmy is still there.

When I asked for replacement tires the service writer told me tires weren't covered under warranty. After I raised a ruckus about how the shimmy was present at delivery he finally agreed to cover it under warranty. The tires are on order and I'm taking it back in next week (3rd time in less than a month for warranty repairs). I read the other threads regarding tire pressure and bent rims, so I will check the pressure in the morning. I just assumed that the tires were brought up to proper pressure during balancing.....


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## jun (Oct 10, 2002)

*I had the same problem with my 03 540*

I had the shimmy from day 1. I took it to the dealer and they rebalanced all 4 wheels. It didn't fix anything. They then replaced all 4 tires. That didn't do anything. I took my car to another dealer, Sterling BMW, where the tires were again rebalanced. It improved at lot, but, I can still feel soime shimmy when I am driving above 60. Last March, I bought a new set of BBS wheels with Goodyear F1 tires. Voila, my shimmy problems have been resolved since then.


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## McCandless (Oct 3, 2003)

Our CPO 99 528iA with Style 29 wheels and new Toyo Proxes FZ4s had no initial "shake" problem but over the next 10k or so it crept in. Had wheels/tires "road force" balanced. Torqued bolts to 80 lb ft. Much improved but crept back in. Had dealer align. Better but they messed up the steering wheel centering and when I forced them to fix that they screwed the alignment up. Took it to an NON BMW indy shop with BMW specs in hand. Beautiful! But looked "knock kneed" in the rear. (To much negative camber). Got some Style 5s, cleaned, polished, and VERY carefully checked for wobble and runout. All in spec. Installed and had re-aligned but with one (1) degree negative camber on the rear, minimum toe front and rear. Perfection. Smooth as glass, 0-110, which is plenty fast for this old fart. Bottom line. They are TOUCHY to the max! If EVERYTHING isn't perfect it's gonna shake!


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## vsvo (Oct 23, 2002)

Thanks for your replies folks. Jun, I read about your problems in the other threads and I'm glad you've resolved them. I'm not ready to go the route of new rims and tires since this problem was present at delivery, so I'm not willing to let BMW off the hook. This car is an August '03 production, and I picked it up middle June '04, so heavens knows what happened to it over the duration. It was the exact color combo and equipment I wanted, so I took it. This is my 3rd BMW, and I never had this problem before. I guess it's a testament to these cars that the tolerances are this tight even on a production car, but you're right McCandless, that's touchy. The shimmy is all the more annoying because the car is otherwise so solidly planted on the road.


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