After Spacers, Steering Wheel Shimmy - Any ideas?

[ChapterM3]

What's up guys! I have an issue that I thought was resolved multiple times now, but it continues. Take a look below -

Overview -
Video showing the issue - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i2P...usp=drive_link

Related changes for your info -
- Koni yellow suspension and H&R springs (26k miles old)
- Control arms and with poly bushings replaced (36k miles old)
- Tie rods replaced (38k old)
- Steering rack replaced (38k old)
- Wheel and tire setup: Stock 18’s staggered setup, stock sized brand new Michelin PS4’s - F: 33psi, R: 36 psi
- No camber kit or anything else aftermarket on suspension

Summary of problem -
Shimmy in steering wheel came once installing spacers that will not go away - occurs around 50-80mph - This is still happening even with a brand new Turner Motorsport Flush kit.

This all started when I put 15mm spacers on the front, and 10mm on the rear. I bought a set of used spacers from another e46 M3 guy for $100 (Macht Schnell) with extended bolts and threw them on. I got a wicked shimmy in the steering wheel from this. From there, this is the diagnosis and solutions I’ve gone through.

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Current setup -
Front: 15mm Turner Motorsport Spacer, 39mm extended bolts, Stock 18” style 67 Wheel on brand new PS4’s at stock tire size

Rear: 12.5mm Turner Motorsport Spacer, 39mm extended bolts, Stock 18” style 67 wheel on brand new PS4’s at stock tire size

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Steps I’ve taken so far -

Step 1 - Install Macht Schnell Spacers 15mm F, 10mm R
- 15mm front spacers: the 43mm extended bolts I got for these would NOT fit on my hub. Every time I tried to tighten these down they would not fit the 15mm spacer with my wheel. They seemed to long for the hub and would essentially bottom out on the back of the hub. The 39mm fit well, and with 6 turns + torquing I felt safe with this. I also measured them and they measured out correctly for the additional size.
- Any wheel play in front wheels side to side? NO. Perfectly in-sync with steering wheel
- How are the tires? Inner bands pretty worn, and tires were 6 years old. REPLACED.
- New PS4 tires and static balanced - shimmy still exists

Step 2 - run tires at 42 psi - get car to 70mph and see if the shimmy is gone.
- If it goes then it’s dynamic imbalance and you need to get the wheels Force balanced - found from this guy on YouTube with a great explanation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9INhvG3TE4
Result: Shimmy was gone! So Force balance will seem to fix this issue based on this youtube video

Step 3 - Dynamic balance the wheels, run at normal PSI (33/36psi)
Result: Shimmy got better, but still there

Step 4- Pull the wheels. Do the paper test on the spacers on their respective wheel. Check for play in the hub as well, these things should be TIGHT
Result: Steering rack, everything else in the suspension system seems totally fine. Not sure / not confident in used spacers. To eliminate this variable, I bought the Turner Motorsport Perfect flush kit

Step 5 - Install Turner Motorsport perfect flush kit (15mm in front, 12.5mm in rear)
- Did the paper test on the used spacers vs new Turner spacers - it did seem like perhaps the old spacers were warped ever so slightly as the paper test was a bit easier in some areas on the Macht Schnell front spacers.
- On the front hubs: when moving the spacer up and down on the hub it did seem that there was SLIGHT movement which I could hear, but it was so slight I thought perhaps this was normal as the spacer needs perhaps a tiny bit of room for heat expansion, etc. Didn’t seem to do this side to side though - tried to capture on video but didn’t really get the sound - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e1p...usp=drive_link
- Ran 39mm extended bolts front to back again as the 43mm in the front just would not fit properly and could not be tightened all the way down
- Had the front wheels re-force balanced as I found the passenger front wheel to not have wheel weights weirdly as if it lost them. Turns out yes, the passenger front needed a .75 which they installed, driver’s side was fine.
- Shimmy seemed to get slightly better but still not 100% as it was before spacers. This video is the latest shimmy with the Turner spacers installed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i2P...usp=drive_link

Next experiments -
Step 6- Fill front tires to 42 psi to see if it resolves the issue
- Will try this today

Main thoughts for the culprit -
- Bent front wheel(s) that are balancing no problem, but because of the spacers is showing itself clearly where as without spacers it’s fine?
- Potential wheel bearing issue?

Any help / advice would be highly appreciated, I’m going nuts trying to figure this out! Thank you guys so much in advance!!

[Tbonem3]

In all my years, it's almost always been that the wheel/spacer is not sitting perfectly flat to the hub as you do your torque sequence.

Hub face/lip need to be clean, spacers clean, wheel backface needs to be clean. Wheel needs to be sitting perfectly and your torque procedure should be gentle enough not to "cock" the wheel in any particular angle, then you ramp up the torque as you complete your 5 star pattern, starting with the second go-around (I usually do 3 go arounds at least) for even torquing.


You probably don't need to worry about warped spacers as they will be pulled or pressed flat as you're torquing the wheelbolts. If it were badly warped, alloy is fairly inflexible so it would likely crack if it were so bad.

[ChapterM3]

In all my years, it's almost always been that the wheel/spacer is not sitting perfectly flat to the hub as you do your torque sequence.

Hub face/lip need to be clean, spacers clean, wheel backface needs to be clean. Wheel needs to be sitting perfectly and your torque procedure should be gentle enough not to "cock" the wheel in any particular angle, then you ramp up the torque as you complete your 5 star pattern, starting with the second go-around (I usually do 3 go arounds at least) for even torquing.


You probably don't need to worry about warped spacers as they will be pulled or pressed flat as you're torquing the wheelbolts. If it were badly warped, alloy is fairly inflexible so it would likely crack if it were so bad.

Really interesting point, thank you for chiming in - and even if the spacer is not sitting perfectly flush, they would still torque down no problem?

The hubs were scrubbed really clean, the spacers are brand new and the back faces as well. Maybe some corrosion if anything. Any suggestions on how you clean these surfaces for something that I might have missed?

[sbay]

Had this issue with a set of wheels where one on the front wheels was
previously bent/repaired and no matter what I did, even with a Road Force while watching the guy and him showing me the numbers…it still shimmied with spacers. Thought it was the wheel spacer until I put a different set of wheels with the same spacer and got no shimmy. Sorry man while I agree with the above post, I’m going to have to go with the spacers amplifying the bad wheel

[Sharocks]

It's time to get rid of the 67's brotha.

[Tbonem3]

Really interesting point, thank you for chiming in - and even if the spacer is not sitting perfectly flush, they would still torque down no problem?

The hubs were scrubbed really clean, the spacers are brand new and the back faces as well. Maybe some corrosion if anything. Any suggestions on how you clean these surfaces for something that I might have missed?

No, at that point, I wouldn't believe it to be a surfaces issue but rather the seating method of the wheel as you start to torque. It's gotta be even.

[bigjae46]

The issue comes from the lack of a standard chamfer around the hub lip and the inside of the wheel bore.

Need to do the paper test. Can you fit a piece of paper between the hub/spacer or spacer/wheel? No good. Could still be no good if there is not much contact between the hub lip, spacer and wheel. And 10mm spacers are always a no-no on a BMW.

[Bimma360]

I will admit that this is a pretty dumb suggestion on my part b/c I am basically going to say, just spend close to $4K on custom wheels. But that's what I did with my DD driver, and plan on doing with the e46. Factory wheel design, forged, custom widths and offsets, no spacers. The 21' wheels I had made weighed less than the factory 20's that came on the car, and was also rated to be stronger. Just putting it out there.

[Nate047]

And 10mm spacers are always a no-no on a BMW.

Can you expand on this…?

[bigjae46]

Can you expand on this…?

The lip at the hub is approx 10mm. There is no way a spacer can sit flat against the hub. Should be at least 12mm.

AND...you want a 12mm spacer to get the tire to be flush anyway. That is the EU requirement to for snow chain clearance.

[Casa de Mesa]

I found this video pretty spot on:

https://youtu.be/lK0bzjInqWU?si=sTzi56PKx80ZRjb0

Some good advice when it comes to spacers.

[ChapterM3]

Thanks all for chiming in - clarifying that I have 12.5mm spacers on the rear currently not 10mm that I initially started with. Also tried the paper test on all wheels as reported in my first post, just in the above video from Bimmerworld, did it the same way and was suspect of the macht schnell’s being easier in some areas of the spacer than others when applying pressure as shown in the video. Thus why I opted for the Turner set to rule them out

Going to look into the bent wheel possibility next week as well as re-torquing the wheels as delicately as possible as suggested.

On another note, anyone tried this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t_pqhq...cJCU8Co7VqN5tD

[digger]

get a dial indicator (magnetic base mounted to strut tube) on the brake rotor bolt interface sans spacer then with spacer. Check the lateral run of the rotor and spacer where wheel mounts and also the radial runout (concentricity) of the spacer lip as applicable.

you can also remove the rotor and do the hub itself if the rotor is out and wire wheel the surfaces to ensure no junk between or corrosion. You need to do the checks with the bolts torqued to spec but wheel not mounted (i have purchased some cap screws to simulate the lug bolts in the past but you could just gets some normal nuts if you have studs)

have you removed spacer and with same wheels or alternate wheels (assume thats needed) to double check that it still drives nice w/o spacers?

also try and borrow some other wheels and test with and without spacer

[TexaZ3]

Could be spacer which is not balanced. There is nothing you can do about that.