steering wheel vibration

[christkl2601]

Dear All,

Just got my 320i about 3 weeks ago. After a few days of driving I noticed vibration in steering wheel when driving between 40 to 60 kmh. Thought my car still new so left it and see if it will go off by itself but it never did. It's very annoying as don't expect such problems from bmw. Complaint to ingress and send the car in but they told me they put in some insulation at steering column and ask me to test it next couple of days. Well the problem still there. Would like to hear from all you sifu's on what the problem could be. Need to be armed with proper knowledge next time I complain to ingress.

 

[seancorr]

Hello there,

Welcome to the club and pls intro yrself in the newbies section too.

As for your issue, you mention you felt vibration on your steering wheel while you are driving and not vibration noise is that correct?

If so is the vibration very strong like what you get if the alignment is off and do this happen on smooth and bumpy roads?

Also its very important that you go for a test drive with one of their technicians (senior one most preferably) and show them the issue so they know how to replicate it when they are troubleshooting it.

As for myself I typed out a letter listing all the issues I had with my car and hand it in to the technician that I test drove with and demonstrated each of the problem so he knows it. Thankfully after a few weeks (I had various issues with my ride) they managed to iron out the issues.

True, this shouldn't be happening with such a marque but sadly its very evident in Bolehland.

 

[ganeshkumar328]

Please get ur steering rack checked...I had mine replaced under warranty after taking the car for abt 1 month..had the same vibration problem...

 

[christkl2601]

According to SA They need to refer to bmw malaysia first. They tried fixing it by putting in some additional insulation at steering wheel column. Suspected it's the steering rack. Am going to give them an earful now

 

[ganeshkumar328]

Yea...u should....mine was terrible after one month....first had the tyre bulge...I thought it cud have been the tyre that was causing the vibration...turned out it wasn't..then checked the steering...it just didn't feel right...especially when u r doing 140...then slowly became worse when I was doing abt 100...and when turning in, it was bad...gave a peace of my mind to AB tun Ismail,(KL)...they called up bmw in Germany...bmw Germany said replace the steering rack ..part came after 3 weeks...had to leave the car for a day...luckily they gave me a 125i to drive around until the next day...collected the car, and it was back to its best...

 

[ganeshkumar328]

Since then no more complains...

 

[christkl2601]

Good for you Ganesh. Just to update you, after the 3rd time sending my car in, they now deduced engine mounting issue and said will get approval from BMW malaysia to change it. I suggested steering rack but they said mine is the latest version so can't be the problem.

I don't know how many more times I have to bring it in to fix this problem. Lucky in my old age I'm more tolerant. Haha.

Got also a weird ticking sound everytime I drive slowly. Seems more problems as months pass by.

 

[seancorr]

Good for you Ganesh. Just to update you, after the 3rd time sending my car in, they now deduced engine mounting issue and said will get approval from BMW malaysia to change it. I suggested steering rack but they said mine is the latest version so can't be the problem.

I don't know how many more times I have to bring it in to fix this problem. Lucky in my old age I'm more tolerant. Haha.

Got also a weird ticking sound everytime I drive slowly. Seems more problems as months pass by.

Hi bro,

The engine mounting is a new problem...can't say I've seen this happened here in this forum so far...could be wrong.

Yeah BMW = Banyak Masuk Workshop...myself included have been to the dealer more than 6 times over the span of a year for various issues and touch wood - the car is fine now.

The ticking sound...is it coming from your engine bay? I had this issue when I'm driving on slow to marginal speed and it gets very evident when I gently accelerate. If that's the case I told the technician who was with me when I demonstrated the issue to him that the sound could be poor firewall insulation when they took out my whole dashboard the previous time for troubleshooting and he noted down the issue. When I got my car back the sound is no longer there but they didn't tell me if what I told them before was the cause so I assumed that's the case - poor fitting back of parts after they open up the car which is usually the case.

 

[christkl2601]

Hey Sean,

To be exact my ticking sound appear when driving gently and taking my foot off the accelerator. And as opposed to yours, my sound is stronger from the rear part. Dealer tried to fix it twice and both times they failed. And the ticking is more frequent now more so after the last attempt to fix it.

But thanks for your advise. Just gotta continue driving with loud music until it's fixed

 

[ganeshkumar328]

Could be some harnesses being lose.. Try to check underneath the car...or perhaps mayb the rear seats!! Keep them(SA) reminded coz they will forget every time u tell them and yet the sound/problem is still there...

 

[seancorr]

Could be some harnesses being lose.. Try to check underneath the car...or perhaps mayb the rear seats!! Keep them(SA) reminded coz they will forget every time u tell them and yet the sound/problem is still there...

Yeah what I did with my case was I TYPED out a letter listing my problems and passed it to them after showing each problem. Thankfully they addresses all the issues listed so kudos to my dealer SC.

 

[ganeshkumar328]

Hahahahha.....too many on the list ler...tak bleh ingat....

 

[lexus]

The noise from the steering wheel after hitting a slight bump is really irritating. Replaced steering rack twice already but the problem still persist. I read bmw forum from australia and they also have the same problem with F30. How to resolve this issue. Any ideas?

 

[splee]

The noise from the steering wheel after hitting a slight bump is really irritating. Replaced steering rack twice already but the problem still persist. I read bmw forum from australia and they also have the same problem with F30. How to resolve this issue. Any ideas?

Some members claimed that the sound mysteriously disappear after they upgraded their stock suspension to a after market suspension system.

 

[lexus]

My car is still under warranty. I will ask Tian Siang mechanic if they are willing to try this. FYi...i did try other F30s and they all the same. It seems this problem is commom amongst F30. You dont expect this sort of noise with a new car but with F30, it does. Thats a bummer.

 

[alantiong]

I have just confirm with bmw. They confirmed that changing aftermarket suspension only void the suspension warranty such as control arms n bushing.. No affecting the electronics n engines. By the way. When we upgrade to titan, the problem of knocking steering did not mysteriously disappeared. Yours truly here had figured it out. All your n the details of suspension geometry. All science.. No guessing.

 

[alantiong]

As for steering vibration... The most obvious is the tyre balancing n not alignment... Or engine mounts. I guess steering din vibrate while revving stationary. So it can't be engine. Simple logic

 

[TheTinkerer]

About the knocking noise problem. My car (2 years now) still have the problem since day one despite having the steering rack changed twice. Recently, I heard that Mazda CX-5 also has similar problem and that they have identified the problem to be lower arm bushing. Could they be the same problem the F30 is having?

 

[christkl2601]

Heard abou the CX-5 problem as well due to lower arm bush. Happens mostly to the CKD model only. Will inform Ingress of this info. According to SA engine mounting will come next week and they will call me to bring my car in. I am not confident it will solve the thumping sound over bump and steering vibration issue but worth a try. Even the ticking sound the SA have no clue what the problem is. I am insisting for a courtesy car and told them i will test drive the car after they fix. Once I'm satisfied all problem is fixed, will i give them back the courtest car. If not fixed, I drive off with courtesy car still.

 

[alantiong]

IWhy ate I guys still gropping in the dark... The problem is identified.. Solution tested.. Why still wanna didcuss "possibilities' sampai cx5??