STEERING VIBRATION UPON BRAKING

[Yuben]

Guys, please help me out here.

This relates to my E83 X3 3.0D:

My tyres are new, front discs fine, just installed brand new pads about 3 weeks ago.

All was fine until a few days ago, where I am now getting heavy steering vibration/feedback upon braking.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

Suspension?

Thanks

 

[Mc Member.]

LOL!

I have gone through caliper bushings, upper control arms, tie rod ends, balancing and alignment.

Still to go:

Lower control arms.
Springs.
Shocks.

Best thing to do is get it up on a lift IMHO.

Also, have a look at the tyres and make sure those arent out of round as well perhaps?

 

[VictorMike]

Guys, please help me out here.

This relates to my E83 X3 3.0D:

My tyres are new, front discs fine, just installed brand new pads about 3 weeks ago.

All was fine until a few days ago, where I am now getting heavy steering vibration/feedback upon braking.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

Suspension?

Thanks

Control arm bushes.

 

[Kyle]

Guys, please help me out here.

This relates to my E83 X3 3.0D:

My tyres are new, front discs fine, just installed brand new pads about 3 weeks ago.

All was fine until a few days ago, where I am now getting heavy steering vibration/feedback upon braking.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

Suspension?

Thanks

Had the same issue on my E46, resolved by replacing the steering coupling. Not sure if the X3 uses the same system...

When you say the discs are fine, how have you checked this? Vibration under braking is usually disc related..

 

[SubLoaded]

Sounds like warped discs to me.

Check that the lug-nuts weren't over torqued.

 

[GoCart]

Suspension should talk to you through clunking noises, unless you've suffered a complete bush or ball joint failure which will more then likely cause some kind of feedback through the steering.

This rather sounds like either wheel balancing or warped discs.

As you have recently removed the front wheels, perhaps you've lost a weight.

I'd have the fronts checked for imbalance.

 

[Yuben]

Cool thanks guys:thumbs:

 

[evnmopwr]

Guys, please help me out here.

This relates to my E83 X3 3.0D:

My tyres are new, front discs fine, just installed brand new pads about 3 weeks ago.

All was fine until a few days ago, where I am now getting heavy steering vibration/feedback upon braking.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

Suspension?

Thanks

jack her up, take a Pry bar and Pray away at suspension buts to see where there is Play

My E46 Did that with damaged Control arm bushs so thats my guess

 

[ChefDJ]

I did almost all suspension bits on my E39 trying to resolve this exact issue.

It ended up only going away after the shock absorbers and top shock mounts, which were my last items to do, go figure.

 

[Ralf*]

Guys, please help me out here.

This relates to my E83 X3 3.0D:

My tyres are new, front discs fine, just installed brand new pads about 3 weeks ago.

All was fine until a few days ago, where I am now getting heavy steering vibration/feedback upon braking.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this?

Suspension?

Thanks

I see you didnt replace the disks ?
only comment is that they are "fine"

but new pads,
possibly ....possibly not run in (matched) properly, leading to Variable Disk Thickness (or commonly referred to as warped disks), To much heat build up and possibly rapid cooling.

If the disks are "fine" ie enough thickness remaining...get them skimmed, costs around R200 to R300
Thats a cheap starting point to fault find the issue
And run in the disk/pads properly, lots of friction with minimal heat build up

thereafter it gets more expensive with bushes and bearings etc etc as other members have suggested

 

[NtandoN]

Had this exact issue on my E90 and it was warped discs.

 

[abmi0000]

Skimming discs off the car isn't great as it never caters for possible hub run out. If you are skimming, get it done on the car so that there isn't a recurrence after a short space of time.

 

[Beemerbro]

usually warped discs cause vibration on braking
but other things may do- worn control arms, or just the control arm bushes- too much play in them may do- but if they are then the car would also feel "loose" generally. If it feels firm on the road and corners well and no play in the wheel when you rock it in jacked position then they're not the problem
I had this vibration on braking years ago on a T Corolla- turned out to be worn front shocks. Check those too for springiness.
On my 330ci it vibrates when I've lowered the front tyre pressures to 220kpa and lower. When raised to 240 + no vibration. One rim is slightly buckled and is not palpable when well balanced with pressure tweaks.
I had a Laguna some years ago did same thing and when i set driver side front tyre 10kpa more pressure than left the handling was tops and no vibration. Don't ask me why but it just worked.
Vibrations can be a costly job to trace and resolve, but sometimes they can be cured mysterioulsy by small adjustments to things that cost nothing- like tyre pressures, or a cheap fix like wheel balancing. So try moving from the simplest like adjusting tyre pressures and eliminate issues as you move to the more complex and expensive fixes.