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Steering wheel shake after FCAB replacement

8K views 24 replies 11 participants last post by  325xittt 
#1 ·
I thought I would start a thread to document my adventures in replacing original suspension components on a high-mileage car. Earlier this week my brake pad light lit up and I brought my car to a local independent specialist to check it out. I would have checked myself and done the job myself but it's not allowed in my townhome complex. :thumbdwn: I'm pretty busy outside of work so its also pretty hard to get to a friend's garage to work on my car. Car has 126k miles with original brake and suspension components. Please dont flame! I plan on slowly replacing everything soon.

They said the rear pad sensor had tripped. I had them replace the rear rotors and pads, brake fluid and fuel filter. He recommended replacing FCABs and the rear diff mount. I had him replace the FCABs only.

I can definitely feel a difference with the new FCABs, but now I am getting a moderate shake in the steering wheel between 60-70mph. I had shake before, but not nearly as much as now. The range of steering wheel shake is about 1/2", observed at the outside of the rim. It comes and goes and is hard to diagnose. About all I can say is it seems to happen easiest when I accelerate through 60mph uphill.

I plan on taking it back to the shop to get a diagnosis. I don't know if they screwed something up when they installed the FCABs onto the original CAs, or if the other old suspension components are now being subjected to more of the suspension movement. Hopefully it is something as simple as an out of balance wheel.
 
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#2 ·
Was an alignment done after replacing the FCABs? I just did mine about a week ago on my '03 330 at 72k miles and the end result was a pretty severe steering wheel vibration at around 65-75mph. Had an alignment done the next day at the recommendation of a friend and now everything is perfectly smooth.
 
#3 ·
Alignment has absolutely nothing to do with vibration. Nothing.

Your wheels simply need to be balanced by properly calibrated/operating equipment. Look for a road force balance by a machine made by Hunter (IIRC). It's possible your old worn CABs hid this vibration.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I still say it's your tires. Think about how before you replaced your bushings, those tires were moving around a lot more and wearing in a bad way. Now your bushings are fresh and stiff and it's amplifying the bad wear on your tires. They could be cupped or have flat spots, ect. I had the same issue after doing my FCABs, and after putting on new tires it went away completely. It was most noticeable when the tires were still cold in the mornings. As the tires have worn down over time now, they've lost some of that smoothness, but since they've worn in evenly, I no longer have that vibration.

So, get your tires checked and at least re-balanced if you want. Then just live with it until they wear in or it's time for new tires.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I had found a few similar posts in a search and planned to start simple. I'll have them check the tires and balancing first. As a few have said, the tires have likely taken a beating on worn shocks and I'm now feeling the irregular wear pattern in the steering wheel.
 
#7 ·
Update: I swapped the front wheels and runflat tires with 2 from a set I have in storage. The tires on that set are fairly new, non-runflat summer tires. They were mounted and balanced on to repaired M68 wheels (bent rim from a pothole), then put directly into storage about 3 months ago.

The vibration between 60-70mph is 90% gone, but I am still getting some intermittent mild vibration at around 70-75mph.
 
#11 ·
OK.Thanks for the update and i would appreciate what your current position is. I have something similar.

2002 330CI. Mostly highway driving. 179K miles. Not abused.

I started with a vibration at 80mph. (it has been about 1 month since front control arms/bushing change). Due to this, I had the tires balanced. Now the vibrations are at 60MPH BUT it comes and goes! (just like you mentioned in your original post). Car is going back to mechanic to recheck but i am curious about your outcome or anyone else's input.

Thanks!
 
#9 ·
Just the ball joints. The control arm itself is a big hunk of metal, as you said. Because the ball joints are not replaceable, the whole thing requires replacing. This is why most people go with Meyle HD control arms, since they have replaceable solid ball joints that are extremely stiff.
 
#17 ·
Update: just returned from the tire shop. I asked them to re-balance all 4 tires due to the vibrations I was getting. They did a visual inspection and noted the tires looked fine with no irregular wear. After a short test drive at 60mph, I'd say 80-90% of the vibration is now gone! I'll give it another week under various conditions to really be confident.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Update: As stated before, re-balancing the wheels has reduced the steering wheel vibration by 80-90%. However, I am still experiencing some through-the-seat vibrations. The vibration is noticeable starting at about 30mph. It increases in frequency with speed but is a little more tolerable at highway speeds. Since I don't have access to a lift or regular access to ramps or a jack, I'll probably have my local independent mechanic try to diagnose it. My guesses are either the old runflat tires are just beat up and out of shape, or it is a giubo, driveshaft bearing or rear drive axle issue.
 
#23 ·
Update on my case:

Closer examination of my rims by the shop, showed that 2 of them (front) are bent. The two in the back have slight distortions too. Highway near my house is under construction hence a lot of lane changes and resurfacing with bumps/dips etc. I presume that is the culprit.

I put the front wheels to the back for the time being while i get the fixed and the vibrations are reduced tremendously. Still a slight vibration (understandably). Will get these fixed asap. Just an update to others as an FYI.


.
 
#24 ·
If you guys come up with any end results please keep them coming as I am having the same issue.

99 323 has 175k. I recently replaced my tie rods, front control arms and FCAB. Got an Alignment, tires balanced and rotated. Tires are only 6 months old and there is no irregular wear pattern. Front bearings were replaced about 40k ago and I have never replaced struts.

The car ran smooth before I pull the wrench out and started replacing everything.

I too am experiencing the vibration above 60mph. After alignment it still veered to right so I took it back. Right after balancing the front left had thrown a weight so I thought that would be my issue but I had them rebalanced and the steering wheel vibration is still there, although it does seem to disappear at times.
 
#25 ·
Have to disagree about alignment not causing a shake. I just replaced CABS, control arms and ball joints, Put new tires on and had them balanced on round wheels. The car had a noticeable shake in the steering wheel between 60 to 65 mph. Had it aligned and presto smooth as butter no shake what so ever. There are many reason for wheel shake and alignment is one of them.
 
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