Felix and his wobble! Advice and opinions welcomed :)

Little Lady Katie

Little Lady Katie

Zorg Legend
British Zeds
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Points
75
Location
York
Model of Z
Z3 3.0i
Hi all!

I hope everyone's really well and enjoying their weekend!

I have a little Z3 related query that I wanted to put to the group to ask for advice, opinions and suggestions on the problem I've currently got!

So Felix has been pretty great as of late, but just the last couple of weeks I've noticed something a little bit amiss. I've been doing longer commutes now I've started my next 16 week rotation in a hospital in Hull, and Felix has had some good 1hr runs from York to Hull and back.

I am experiencing what seems like a very random and very sporadic steering wheel rattle/vibration. There doesn't seem to be anything that particularly triggers it. It does seem to start when I'm driving along at a decent speed (50/60/70), though as I say it feels completely at random. The steering wheel starts to vibrate very hard (I feel my grip tighten on the wheel!) and I can hear a very soft rattle coming directly from the steering column in front of me when it occurs. Noise and feel wise, the first time I noticed it a few weeks ago, I thought I must have had a flat tyre because of how rough the ride felt. I can only describe it as sounding a bit like driving on those concrete stretches of dual carriageway or motorway where you hear the tyres going 'dum dum dum dum dum'. It stops just as randomly as it has started. Sometimes 30 seconds later, other times minutes later

Felix had his old tyres on when it started a few weeks ago. I had a full set of shiny new shoes put on him this thursday as his back tread was wearing down and they were due a change. Still noticed the sporadic steering wheel shake/vibration afterwards. He just had his service and MOT today.

He's had front offside steering rod and track rod replaced and the bushes on offside lower suspension replaced today alongside his oil change and filter etc

We were hoping those things would have put pain to the shake and stopped it, but i noticed it on my drive home today. Just subtly. but it was there

I rang a garage that does tracking today to ask if it could be that and they seemed pretty confident that it tracking wouldn't cause that rattle and vibration. So at the moment I'm a bit lost!

Nothing seems to worry me like problems with my lovely Felix, especially when I know he's got to get me to hull hospital for placement days, so I do hope I'm able to get to the bottom of this - and as always i'd be so grateful for anyones opinion, advice and sharing of your own experiences of anything similar!

Thank you in advance :)

Katie (and felix! )
 
Little Lady Katie said:
Hi all!

I hope everyone's really well and enjoying their weekend!

I have a little Z3 related query that I wanted to put to the group to ask for advice, opinions and suggestions on the problem I've currently got!

So Felix has been pretty great as of late, but just the last couple of weeks I've noticed something a little bit amiss. I've been doing longer commutes now I've started my next 16 week rotation in a hospital in Hull, and Felix has had some good 1hr runs from York to Hull and back.

I am experiencing what seems like a very random and very sporadic steering wheel rattle/vibration. There doesn't seem to be anything that particularly triggers it. It does seem to start when I'm driving along at a decent speed (50/60/70), though as I say it feels completely at random. The steering wheel starts to vibrate very hard (I feel my grip tighten on the wheel!) and I can hear a very soft rattle coming directly from the steering column in front of me when it occurs. Noise and feel wise, the first time I noticed it a few weeks ago, I thought I must have had a flat tyre because of how rough the ride felt. I can only describe it as sounding a bit like driving on those concrete stretches of dual carriageway or motorway where you hear the tyres going 'dum dum dum dum dum'. It stops just as randomly as it has started. Sometimes 30 seconds later, other times minutes later

Felix had his old tyres on when it started a few weeks ago. I had a full set of shiny new shoes put on him this thursday as his back tread was wearing down and they were due a change. Still noticed the sporadic steering wheel shake/vibration afterwards. He just had his service and MOT today.

He's had front offside steering rod and track rod replaced and the bushes on offside lower suspension replaced today alongside his oil change and filter etc

We were hoping those things would have put pain to the shake and stopped it, but i noticed it on my drive home today. Just subtly. but it was there

I rang a garage that does tracking today to ask if it could be that and they seemed pretty confident that it tracking wouldn't cause that rattle and vibration. So at the moment I'm a bit lost!

Nothing seems to worry me like problems with my lovely Felix, especially when I know he's got to get me to hull hospital for placement days, so I do hope I'm able to get to the bottom of this - and as always i'd be so grateful for anyones opinion, advice and sharing of your own experiences of anything similar!

Thank you in advance :)

Katie (and felix! )
Click to expand...
@Little Lady Katie it sounds very much like to me a siezed caliper piston. If everything else has been looked at that's where I would look next. Had the same symptoms a few times over the years on various cars and it always came up as that. Hope this helps? Good luck.
 
I'm sure i have read a similar tread and i understood it was down to the new tyres.
 
It could be a number of things causing your problems. Possibly still be bushes somewhere, suspension issues, tracking even on the rear wheels, possibly a sticking brake calliper, steering rack problems - the list goes on. I'd suggest having a specialist look over it (a good one will do that for free for you), not just someone down the local tyre place. I'd start getting things discounted rather than randomly changing things hoping you'll fix it.

You say its just had work done it - simply being lifted off its wheels and put back down might be sufficient for it to feel better, but, it might worsen again as you do a few miles. More tread on tyres might also dampen it a little.
 
My money is on a thrown wheel weight on one of the front wheels - quick balancing will confirm it. I had my wheels refurbed and one of the rear ones threw its weights... everything was fine until I got to 60-75 mph then my backside was shaken and stirred !!! If the shake is through the steering wheel (and pretty much always when you reach a certain speed) then it must be a front wheel weight.

Beyond that I would say a new bush on the front - but start with a quick trip to a local tyre place for the balancing
 
Katie, this sounds incredibly similar to what I've had with mine the last couple of weeks with a seizing drivers side front caliper. Annoyingly with mine it stuck on eventually, and forced me to got an get it unseized at a local garage (and then I changed it for a new one).

The symptoms aren't consistent unless it binds on fully, in which case the steering vibration is ridiculous (was struggling to get off a dual carriage way doing 45 with the wheel wobble).

When it does it next, try pulling over safely and feeling the temperature of the ally wheel near the centre of the hub. DO NOT touch the caliper itself, because if it is binding you will probably lose the skin off your fingers. If the wheel is hot, then it's heat transferred from the disc heating up through the binding issue.
 
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly @Andy McDonnell !!

I just find the advice and support I get from fellow zedders on here invaluable! It gives me ideas for places to where to start looking!

I wonder if that could be it you know.... the only advisories on his MOT were to do with his break pipes on all wheels and his front brake hoses. Our mechanic who serviced him said he did need 3 discs changing and his two front pads I think he said. I wonder if that could be all linked to the cause?

The problem is that our lovely family mechanic is going on holiday soon - and where he would charge me next to nothing for his time, the big garages I imagine will be a little different! :/
 
@GazHyde thats exactly what it's doing! and when I get out of the car and park up on the drive, I swear I have been able to smell a feint smell of warm brake!!

What would you advise I do? money is my real concern these days - with every penny going on these ruddy university fees! Our mechanic John had said to ring him after he gets back from his jollybobs on 16th feb to book a day in with him to get my breaks stripped, new discs etc done. Did I aught to ring him monday and beg to fit me in sooner before he goes away? Or did I aught to just fork out for full garage rates and get the problem fixed elsewhere?
 
I guess I don't know how urgent it might potentially be? It didn't matter so much when I was just doing ten min commutes into york hospital, but now I'm journeying all the way over to a hospital in Hull!
 
Little Lady Katie said:
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly @Andy McDonnell !!

I just find the advice and support I get from fellow zedders on here invaluable! It gives me ideas for places to where to start looking!

I wonder if that could be it you know.... the only advisories on his MOT were to do with his break pipes on all wheels and his front brake hoses. Our mechanic who serviced him said he did need 3 discs changing and his two front pads I think he said. I wonder if that could be all linked to the cause?

The problem is that our lovely family mechanic is going on holiday soon - and where he would charge me next to nothing for his time, the big garages I imagine will be a little different! :/
Click to expand...
If you need 3 discs changing one may well be very slightly warped, even the smallest warp can rattle your teeth out.

Pleasure and hope the problem is cured soonest. Whatever the issue transpires to be.
 
@Little Lady Katie - if it is a caliper, I just paid £78 for a genuine BMW caliper (refurbished by Pagid) at Eurocarparts for £78. You get £24 back on return of the original caliper too. You can take them off and refurbish them and refit, but time wise I don't think it's cost effective.

If you need the discs and pads changing it makes sense to do those at the same time. Shame you are so far from the Zed Shed in Basingstoke - would soon have you sorted :)
 
@GazHyde do you think it's something I would be wiser to get addressed sooner rather than later? or would you have thought that I could afford to wait 3 weeks or so until John is back from holidays? I want to do the best thing for felix! but money as i say is a factor, now more so than ever!


Thanks all for the great help and support. I will keep everyone updated
 
Redline said:
It could be a number of things causing your problems. Possibly still be bushes somewhere, suspension issues, tracking even on the rear wheels, possibly a sticking brake calliper, steering rack problems - the list goes on. I'd suggest having a specialist look over it (a good one will do that for free for you), not just someone down the local tyre place. I'd start getting things discounted rather than randomly changing things hoping you'll fix it.

You say its just had work done it - simply being lifted off its wheels and put back down might be sufficient for it to feel better, but, it might worsen again as you do a few miles. More tread on tyres might also dampen it a little.
Click to expand...

When you say specialist, do you mean a garage that specialises in wheels and brakes or a BMW specialist? we have a BMW specialist electronics garage nearby with a couple of BMW master technicians, but I have been there for a few things in the past and I do feel like they sniff their noise up at my lovely old boy! That and they charge a prettty penny...!
 
I live in York if anyone knows any garage in the area that they'd particularly recommend?
 
Little Lady Katie said:
do you think it's something I would be wiser to get addressed sooner rather than later?
Click to expand...
Assuming it is a caliper, then it's "ok" until it sticks on fully. It's like anything which could potentially fail - do you really want to end up stuck by the side of the road waiting for the AA man?!
 
Little Lady Katie said:
When you say specialist, do you mean a garage that specialises in wheels and brakes or a BMW specialist? we have a BMW specialist electronics garage nearby with a couple of BMW master technicians, but I have been there for a few things in the past and I do feel like they sniff their noise up at my lovely old boy! That and they charge a prettty penny...!
Click to expand...
Any garage should be able to sort this for you, it's very basic mechanics and should take even the most basic professional 1 hours labour to do one caliper and only a max of 2 hours labour to change pads, discs and calipers on both sides.
 
GazHyde said:
Assuming it is a caliper, then it's "ok" until it sticks on fully. It's like anything which could potentially fail - do you really want to end up stuck by the side of the road waiting for the AA man?!
Click to expand...
no! :hilarious:

Right well I will ring John on monday and see what he says. The garage I spoke to on the phone earlier about the tracking said I could drop by on thursday and they'd get it up on the ramp and have a look at it. So i have options there! I will keep you posted as soon as I have news. At least now I can tell them what I suspect it to be :) thank you so much Gary, Andy and everyone! if any further thoughts or suggestions, please send them my way :) :thumbsup:
 
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