Vibrations at highway ~60mph, suggestions welcome!

[grabbou]

Hey,

Here's the problem: Vibrations coming from the front of the car (I feel my legs slightly vibrating) at 110-140kmh on a highway. I think it's a bit bigger when I am accelerating, but this might be placebo, after testing all the things.

Edit: Jump to my last post for an update and better explanation of the problem.

Setup:
- TMS 10mm front with the integrated hub extender,
- Eibach 12mm rear
- Aftermarket 20' forged wheels

I previously thought that my issues were related to the spacers, but this is now resolved and after careful consideration, it turned out to be spacer-agnostic (tried different combinations and no spacers at all).

You can see my previous (original) post below:

Hey,

I am having spacer issues and I think I've read almost all the information out there on the Internet about what people are experiencing and what could be causing this.

Since spacers industry exists nowadays, I think they must fit without any issues. I wonder what's the issue with my particular setup and I'd love to get your feedback about that.

Here's the problem: Vibrations coming from the front of the car (I feel my legs slightly vibrating) at 110-140kmh on a highway. I think it's a bit bigger when I am accelerating, but this might be placebo, after testing all the things. The issue does not happen if front spacers are taken away.

Setup: Eibach 10mm front, Eibach 12mm rear, with dedicated bolts from Eibach too. Everything has been cleared properly. Car is 6mo and has ~20kkm.

Wheels are aftermarket 20' forged wheels that have been balanced properly and road tested. No issues. Same happens on 666M tho.

Few things here:
- 12mm is already rubbing hence I can't really put it. The car is on air suspension and will not sit properly on one side when aired out
- Previous 10mm set of Eibach on the front cracked (yes!) because of the vibrations that were much bigger than the ones currently and happened between 110-180kmh. The reason was that the spacer was not sitting flush (too long lip). The installer didn't see that.
- The current set of 10mm Eibach has been previously on the rear (confirmed to provide no vibrations there), and sat flush this time on the front (weird, right? all in all it was same product). However, it was loose around the lip - I think the round hole was 1mm bigger than the lip on the car, e.g. 72.6mm instead of 72.5mm? Not sure if I am wording this right, but I was able to toggle spacer around by 1mm. Could this be responsible for the current vibrations I am having? On the rear, same 1mm extra was not providing such vibrations.

My question is: why this is happening and how can I fix it. Most of the people write about the steering wheel vibrating, in my case - the steering wheel is fine.

I already ordered 10mm spacer with the integrated extended hub, by TMS, which looks most promising out of them all. I am just curious whether this is going to fix it and what's the reason for the current state of things. Ideally, I stop buying spacers one after another.

[f80er]

Probably not the spacers causing it. I didn't read everything you posted but does it vibrate with the spacers??

[VChenz]

I put 12.5mm TMS spacers on my car -which are hubcentric- and the car operates like OEM. No wobble or vibration. The spacer fits the hub and the wheel fits the spacer similarly. There is no play between the wheel, spacer or hub.

I read some horror stories on spacers so I made sure everything was really clean (wire brush, brake cleaner, lots of shop towels). I also applied a thin layer of anti sieze so corrosion won't be an issue.

I did find the aftermarket extended wheels bolts are absolute shit. Three of twenty had mangled threads that needed some filing so the bolts would thread. This could be your issue. Make sure the bolts are seated. If they are cross threaded they could feel like they are tight but they really aren't.

[Signature Wheel BMW]

Make sure you clean the hubs very well and torque everything to specs. Good luck, Mike.

[grabbou]

Originally Posted by f80er

Probably not the spacers causing it. I didn't read everything you posted but does it vibrate with the spacers??

Yes, vibrates with front spacers only.

[grabbou]

Thank you for the answers. I think front bolts might be slightly over-torqued, will check that today at the shop.

I am going to do some tests today and will let you know:
- test drive with no spacers once again, just to confirm
- test drive with Eibach 10mm re-fitted
- test drive with 12mm I have (fitment issues, but at least I can check if it's 10mm-specific)

[grabbou]

// removed. the issue wasn't fixed as I supposed.

[THEROK]

Spacers suck. Buy wheels that fit. The end.

[allinon72]

Originally Posted by THEROK

Spacers suck. Buy wheels that fit. The end.

Or buy spacers from reputable manufacturers. Burger Motorsports. Macht Schnell.

[x.shell]

Originally Posted by allinon72

Or buy spacers from reputable manufacturers. Burger Motorsports. Macht Schnell.

Agreed. Burger ones are perfect. They have an integrated hub lip that makes for a perfectly centered seat.

[grabbou]

Unfortunately, looks like I was too optimistic with that. My battle is still on.

The vibration is there from around 100 km/h to 120 km/h. It is hardly noticeable when accelerating very gently or without front spacers that seem to be amplifying the preexisting problem. It also doesn't happen all the time, it's definitely dependant on the surface the car is riding and the quality of the road.

When I first picked up the car with the air suspension, everything was fine. I floored the car and drove it to its limits to explore what kind of handling I was now dealing with and had literally zero issues. Problems started happening somewhere after putting front spacers on & catching a flat tire on the highway. Now that the spacer issues are resolved, I think there's another fault that has developed in the meantime.

What could be causing this? Any ideas? Steps to do? Maybe something was damaged in the suspension while the flat tire was caught? Or suspension could've been damaged from running spacers and not-centered properly wheel?

[grabbou]

I took my car to the mechanic today and they did the entire suspension inspection. They didn't find anything suspicious - all components seem to be in a good shape. The car has around 17k miles on it so far.

Since I am also getting the "clunking noise" after installing KW HAS (and then, my current air suspension), I asked them to re-torque everything tomorrow under load, as per suggestions others posted here (e.g. sway bars could be causing this). I am hoping that there's something loose and is what is causing the vibration as well.

On a side note, the shop said that steering rack is making some noises, which means I'll most likely get it replaced under warranty. I am going to verify this at the dealership, but I doubt that it's the one responsible for the vibrations. I had this issue in my previous F32 last year too.

Rather than loose components, I have no idea what could be the problem. I drove the car on the concrete road and there was no vibration at all, I went to a different asphalt and it was back, exactly in that range.

[THEROK]

Any sort of wheel vibration annoys me so much I really feel compelled to provide input.

9 out of 10 times it's caused by wheel/tire imbalance. It can be a bent wheel or poorly designed wheel. It can be a bad tire straight from the factory. It can be a combination of both in any corner.

I'd have a very reputable shop with a Hunter Roadforce machine check each wheel with tire off and tire on to check for run out. Should they verify trueness, I'd make sure to spend the money to get them Roadforce balanced by a trained/skilled Hunter operator.

Only once I eliminate the wheel/tire variable will I begin to look elsewhere. Good luck with the chase.

[AutoTalent]

Originally Posted by THEROK

Any sort of wheel vibration annoys me so much I really feel compelled to provide input.

9 out of 10 times it's caused by wheel/tire imbalance. It can be a bent wheel or poorly designed wheel. It can be a bad tire straight from the factory. It can be a combination of both in any corner.

I'd have a very reputable shop with a Hunter Roadforce machine check each wheel with tire off and tire on to check for run out. Should they verify trueness, I'd make sure to spend the money to get them Roadforce balanced by a trained/skilled Hunter operator.

Only once I eliminate the wheel/tire variable will I begin to look elsewhere. Good luck with the chase.

Well said ^ can't be said any better

[grabbou]

Originally Posted by THEROK

Any sort of wheel vibration annoys me so much I really feel compelled to provide input.

9 out of 10 times it's caused by wheel/tire imbalance. It can be a bent wheel or a poorly designed wheel. It can be a bad tire straight from the factory. t can be a combination of both in any corner.

Yup, that's generally my conclusion here as well! My vibrations are now fixed - Hunter RoadForce on a different set of tires/wheels, new steering rack and lower control arm and we're good.

My takeaway here is this:
1/ only Road Force for the wheels
2/ never assume everything works. My vibrations started showing up after spacers, but it wasn't the cause. It made me look in the wrong place tho.

Right now I am on winter tires which were PITA to balance and produce a lot of road feel, but I am putting summer soon.