Small Vibration Over 70 MPH

[dog2bert]

I am getting a small vibration in the steering wheel over 70 mph.
The tires and wheels are brand new and just had them balanced.

Car has 60k miles.

What could it be?

[EthanolTurbo]

Did you get them road force balanced? Road force balancing is far superior and gets rid of vibrations that a regular wheel balancing won't. It's a must with BMWs IMO.

[maupineda]

I have read that bumping tire pressure up a bit can eliminate that, I recall seeing a video for old BMW models where they explain why this happens, and it has to do with the harmonics of road forces acting on the steering as the car goes down the road, larger wheels are more susceptible of this. my M with new wheels and tires does it, you cannot feel it, but you can see it on the steering wheel.

[COVID-19]

Did you get them road force balanced? Road force balancing is far superior and gets rid of vibrations that a regular wheel balancing won't. It's a must with BMWs IMO.

This! Happened on both my m3 and x1

[BoomTastic]

Are those oem wheels? If not you may want to make sure hub bore is a match.

[dog2bert]

The wheels are Apex ARC-8R

[TexaZ3]

The question is - have you had the shimmy before new wheels and tires, or this is new?

[M3AT]

I had a shimmy too above 65mph. I had a bent wheel and got it repaired, but still had a very slight vibration. My shop found that one of my FCABs was torn and said that was causing it. Had those replaced and shimmy is gone.

[dog2bert]

I switched back to my old wheels and tires, 19 inch VMR CSL reps, and the vibration was much less slash gone. Maybe because the 19 inch wheels are so much heavier.

I tried decreasing the air pressure from 30psi to 25psi with no change in vibration.

Remember, this vibration is small enough that if you are holding the steering wheel you barely feel it. Really only noticeable with hands off the wheel.

[maupineda]

I switched back to my old wheels and tires, 19 inch VMR CSL reps, and the vibration was much less slash gone. Maybe because the 19 inch wheels are so much heavier.

I tried decreasing the air pressure from 30psi to 25psi with no change in vibration.

Remember, this vibration is small enough that if you are holding the steering wheel you barely feel it. Really only noticeable with hands off the wheel.

is the other way around, increase to around 40.

[dog2bert]

Tried 38 psi today. Seemed to just shift the vibration to 75mph.

I am going to have all of the front bushings replaced next. Will let you know the result.

[FBloggs]

How many miles on the odometer?
> 90k...track rods but definitely take a close look at the RF RTAB if you're stock and have stock cats.

[dog2bert]

After having everything replaced in the fcpEuro Control arm kit: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...e46m3cakitfull and RTAB still have the vibration.

Looks like I am going to try road force balancing next.

[dog2bert]

Road force balancing didn't find anything more to balance but they did let me know the tire might be a little bit out of round.
I switched the front and rear tires and the vibration was better but not gone.
I am working with Apex since I bought the wheel and tire combination from them.
Maybe I just got a bad batch of P4S tires.

[Tbonem3]

Clean your hubs/lips/wheel bores?