60-70 mph possible wheel issue...

[Junebug85]

I picked up a 2016 F06 640d (AUC) 2 weeks ago from a main dealer in Sunningdale. All great expect on the way home I noticed when accelerating or hovering around 60/70 mph there was a slight "vibration" from the wheels that I could feel through the steering.

My initial thoughts were wheel balancing. I contacted the dealer the next day who advised me to take it to my local main dealer to have it looked at. I didn't want to wait as the main dealer said they couldn't get me in for 3 weeks or so. As I didn't want to wait, I took it to a local tyre garage who are well recommended in the area. They confirmed that the balancing on all 4 tyres was out. The car had 2 new 20" Dunlop Sport Maxx RFTs put on before I bought it. The fronts still had 5mm left on them.

I thought great! Issue resolved. However driving the car yesterday and today, I noticed that when accelerating on the motorway from 60/70 mph, the car doesn't accelerate smoothly. Higher speeds it accelerates and drives fine. There is not issues when the car is breaking or any shaking/vibrations on the steering wheel.

I changed over to my 18" Winter RFTs when I got home and took the car for a drive. Now it's almost like the issue has gone away but my mind is still not convinced...

My thoughts are:

a) Book the car into BMW and get them to look at it for piece of mind- they will fob me off and say no issues etc etc

b) It's the 20" runflat tyres giving a harsh ride and the UK roads (my previous car had 19" runflats and didn't have this issue)

c) Does VDC play a part as i've never had that before (90% of the time the car is in Sport mode)

d) Possible issue with the alloys (20" 373M OEM) Buckled?

e) It's all in my head and everything is fine - just accept it

Apologies for rambling on a bit, I open the floor up to the experts now...

[Junebug85]

Update: Earlier I set the tyre pressures to Front 2.6 and Rear 2.8 and went for a drive down the Motorway. Feels like the issue has gone....

[JBF650]

I’ve the msprt package on my car and 20” rims. I had a bubble in one of my RFT and it caused a vibration too around those speeds. As I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaated the RFT being like Fred flintsones car to drive.... I put up with them for as long as I could and then threw the towel in and put the right Michelin pilots 4 S on all round. Day and night..... transformation. Beautiful and not a hint of vibration or uncertainty. Ditch the RFT, the are shit

[MARKPRIOR]

higher pressures help, but its generally just the RFT tyres, other possibles are bubbles & warped discs

[Junebug85]

Update:

So the car went in for a service yesterday and I asked them to investigate the vibrating issues....

They came back and said that no issues found!
However they said the OSF alloy has a slight buckle in it.... When I asked if that was causing the vibrations they said they couldnt confirm that! What!?!!!

I have asked them to get another alloy that is straight and true and then try that on the front of my car. If the vibrations stop - all good!

They said that vibrations are the characteristics of the gran coupe and its design.... I didn't buy that! I have also asked to do a back to back test with another 6GC.

They agreed and will contact me within a week or so.

Opening it up to all you experts on here.... Could the buckled wheel be the cause of the issues?

BMW didn't seem too fused about it but said I can buy a new wheel for £415.00! Ha

Thanks

[JBF650]

Originally Posted by Junebug85

Update:

So the car went in for a service yesterday and I asked them to investigate the vibrating issues....

They came back and said that no issues found!
However they said the OSF alloy has a slight buckle in it.... When I asked if that was causing the vibrations they said they couldnt confirm that! What!?!!!

I have asked them to get another alloy that is straight and true and then try that on the front of my car. If the vibrations stop - all good!

They said that vibrations are the characteristics of the gran coupe and its design.... I didn't buy that! I have also asked to do a back to back test with another 6GC.

They agreed and will contact me within a week or so.

Opening it up to all you experts on here.... Could the buckled wheel be the cause of the issues?

BMW didn't seem too fused about it but said I can buy a new wheel for £415.00! Ha

Thanks

What a load of Absolute clap trap... They said that vibrations are the characteristics of the gran coupe and its design.... I didn't buy that! I have also asked to do a back to back test with another 6GC.

absolutely no car ever is designed or has characteristics of vibrations in the steering and ride .... rubbish. If it’s the alloy buckled I’d have them replace it. Why it’s buckled is more than likely due to the horrendous RFT that BMW insists on fitting to the cars. Rid yourself of those as soon as possible and you will delighted with the ride and handling of your car.

[Opie55]

Of course an out of round wheel can cause a vibration. I think both in roundness and side to side a wheel is supposed to be 30/1,000" or less out of true. That is roughly the thickness of 10 sheets of ordinary copy paper.

[Junebug85]

Originally Posted by JBF650

What a load of Absolute clap trap... They said that vibrations are the characteristics of the gran coupe and its design.... I didn't buy that! I have also asked to do a back to back test with another 6GC.

absolutely no car ever is designed or has characteristics of vibrations in the steering and ride .... rubbish. If it’s the alloy buckled I’d have them replace it. Why it’s buckled is more than likely due to the horrendous RFT that BMW insists on fitting to the cars. Rid yourself of those as soon as possible and you will delighted with the ride and handling of your car.

Thanks for the reply. As it's been like that from the day I bought it, i will push for them to replace.

I've been looking at getting a set of 20" MPS4S

[Junebug85]

Originally Posted by Opie55

Of course an out of round wheel can cause a vibration. I think both in roundness and side to side a wheel is supposed to be 30/1,000" or less out of true. That is roughly the thickness of 10 sheets of ordinary copy paper.

Funny how they didn't comment or commit to saying it may be the issue.

Will chase them if i don't hear anything in a week

[sir harmony]

Uhhh, stupid suggestion of the day: Make sure its not your lane assist. You mentioned that you purchased the car 2 weeks ago. I remember driving and wondering what the heck was causing a slight vibration on the highway. It didn't help that i had a bent wheel. And then I noticed that the lane assist was on; subtle enough that on sport mode which I normally drive on, and with exhaust, I wasn't aware of it before. Anyway, that my stupid suggestion for the day.

[Smithn05]

Definitely could be a buckled wheel, although they will probably claim as its buckled you must have done it and try to get out of replacement under warranty.

If that is the case and they refuse then you can get wheels straightened back to oem specs cheaply. Had two of mine dine recently for about £35 each.

Hopefully it won't come to that but worth knowing with the quality of our roads!!

[Junebug85]

Originally Posted by Smithn05

Definitely could be a buckled wheel, although they will probably claim as its buckled you must have done it and try to get out of replacement under warranty.

If that is the case and they refuse then you can get wheels straightened back to oem specs cheaply. Had two of mine dine recently for about £35 each.

Hopefully it won't come to that but worth knowing with the quality of our roads!!

Thanks for the advice

It's been like that since the day I picked the car up so will be fighting my corner using that. It wasn't right from day one.

Do they take the tyre off the alloy when straighting it out? Is it a long process?

[Opie55]

Yes, they have to remove the tire. How it gets done is one of two ways. Some places have presses just for that purpose. Some places use a not-so-sophisticated process known commonly as "heat and beat."

[Opie55]

And no, it's not a long process. If the place is not backed up, they can do it the same day.

[Junebug85]

Just come across this thread...

https://www.6post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1271149

Mine doesn't look like that and the buckle is on the inside edge. Should the wheel balancing place not have picked up on the buckle when they balanced the wheel? :

[Opie55]

Hard to say since you say yours "doesn't look like that."

[Smithn05]

Originally Posted by Junebug85

Thanks for the advice

It's been like that since the day I picked the car up so will be fighting my corner using that. It wasn't right from day one.

Do they take the tyre off the alloy when straighting it out? Is it a long process?

I think they leave the tyre on the rim although I didn't actually see them do mine.

Two front tyres and both nearside wheels straightened took about an hour in my local TyreShack. All good.

[Smithn05]

Originally Posted by Junebug85

Just come across this thread...

https://www.6post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1271149

Mine doesn't look like that and the buckle is on the inside edge. Should the wheel balancing place not have picked up on the buckle when they balanced the wheel? :

No guarantee it will show up on the balancing rig .... as long as it can be balanced ,which usually it can, then they wont pick it up unless they see the buckle.

Ive had several wheels with buckles over the years that happily get balanced - and also cause no vibration. Just used to leave them be!

[Junebug85]

Originally Posted by Smithn05

No guarantee it will show up on the balancing rig .... as long as it can be balanced ,which usually it can, then they wont pick it up unless they see the buckle.

Ive had several wheels with buckles over the years that happily get balanced - and also cause no vibration. Just used to leave them be!

Ah cool!

So there's a chance that the buckle is not the cause of the vibration

Guess I'll know when the dealer puts on a different wheel for me to test!

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by Junebug85

Ah cool!

So there's a chance that the buckle is not the cause of the vibration

Guess I'll know when the dealer puts on a different wheel for me to test!

Balancing is to evenly distribute mass around a circle. Since a buckle does not change the amount of mass, it won't really affect balance. It may or may not cause a vibration. It will cause a vibration if it is bad enough that the tire, in trying to conform itself to the buckle, is deformed enough that it is no longer round where it meets the road.

[Junebug85]

Car has gone in again to Sytner Leicester this morning.

They plan to put another set of wheels on the car and then go for a test drive.

They were really excited that they had a great courtesy car for me (G20 320d). If only they were that excited about fixing my issue

[Junebug85]

After having had the car for 4 hours, I've been advised that they will now going to balance all 4 wheels and re-test the car.

They have finally confirmed that there is an issue.

I've also asked for the buckled wheel to be replaced but this needs to be ordered from Germany.

My wife is not convinced that this will resolve the issue, especially when I've been telling her about the issues others have had, being brake related, guibo related or tyre related.

Sytner are adamant its nothing mechanical.... but I've read alot about it possibly being the Guibo/Flex Disc. You'd think they would have checked this? :