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Front brakes warped, steering wheel vibration upon braking

25K views 53 replies 24 participants last post by  dharmabmw 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,

I'm having this issue with my 2008 550i since last July.
I went to my local dealer back in July 2011 to have to brakes looked at for squeeking and noise (no vibration). They ended up replacing the front pads.
Since then, after about a month or 2 of normal driving, a vibration in the steering wheel will be noticed upon braking from ~45-30 mph. Took it back to the dealer and they replace the rotors and pads. 2 month later again, same vibration. Took it back again and they checked for the hub to see if it's true and it was, so they replaced the rotor and pads again. ~2 months later, vibration is back.
My car is there now for the 3rd or 4th time and they said they cannot warranty my brakes because they see discoloration on the rotors as if it's been over heated. My driving is pretty normal (probably more on the conservative side if anything) and I do not track the car.

Has anyone encountered this situation? What can I do to convince them that this is BMW's responsibility?
 
#42 ·
Clean and lube the caliper mounting pins after having the rotors turned. same thing happened to me on my e39; went thru a set of new rotors and pads, and had the 2nd set warp and need turning before the autozone guy said you need to scrub & clean the pins, spray out the holes on the calipers, then spread some caliper pin lube on the pins before mounting the calipers back on. Did that, and voila!!! no more warping or vibration issues when braking; its been 30k mi so far/ $22 to turn the rotors @ Autozone and $2 for the little packet of lube. Definitely an "Easy Button" moment. Unfortunately, ended up with a 2nd set of brake pads with only 2000 mi on them.......... :(
 
#43 ·
I went through 2 rotors and 1 set of pads on my 07 525xi... on the third try I had both front control arms replaced $$ along with just the rotors (pads were still meaty). Got about 3k miles on them so far and I have to say the car brakes like if I just pulled out of the showroom floor. Have them check the arms, as this (In my opinion) aids in the warping of the rotors.
Hope this helps!
 
#44 ·
BMW e60 shaky steering wheel when braking

Hi. Did you resolve your problem with shaking steering wheel?
I've got the same problem with my e60. Replaced the discs 3 times now. Twice by BMW but the shaking comes back after about 1.500 miles. Last month went for new lower trust arms as many members were blaming bushings on them. The old ones look like there is nothing wrong with them. At the same time had to machine down the discs as they were warped again. I though that it was it but now after a 1k miles its starting again.
 
#49 ·
All:

This is my own personal experience and opinion. The brakes on this car are undersized for spirited driving and or track use. Keep in mind I do completely understand that this car is not made as a track car, etc. However I do wonder what would happen if you would be driving this car on the autobahn @ 100+ and came up on a car that was going much slower and had to actually use the brakes. Do this more than once per 30 minutes and the rotors have pad deposits (as some would say warped rotors). I do agree that my driving style is part of this problem and having a JB4, with other mods attributes to this issue LOL.

Latest for me..

I have had my car at the dealer for this issue no less than 3 X's. They always claimed that the front end was in perfect working order. I begged to differ. I finally had enough when the car wouldn't track straight anymore, of course strangely enough it was out of warranty. Hmm... I went ahead and replaced everything in the front end. I found out that there were bushings and ball joints that were bad. After replacement I can say that I have now gone 5 weeks without steering wheel vibration.

Just some more information on this thread.
 
#50 ·
Just curious but I did not see any posts on proper wheel lug torque. I had a similar issue after BMW did a front brake job. I had vibration after a few hundred miles. They did replace the rotors. However I made sure the wheels were torqued properly 88 ft/lbs.

The rotors are soft that is why they wear as the pads wear. Torque is a big deal so make sure they are properly torqued and with a calibrated wrench.
 
#51 ·
Thanks for your replies guys. I had the car twice at BMW. Every time they replaced discs and pads they said that they were warped. In the end they blamed my style of driving as the cause of brake warpage and refused to replace them again under the same warranty. I could pay for a new set with new warranty they said. But I said that it would be pointless cose it's nothing to do with my driving style and I'd rather get an aftermarket set of discs. And so I did. Got a set of Bosch discs. Vibrating had stopped but only for 1.5k miles. Because I read a lot about worn bushings on control arms that can be the cause of the vibrations I decided to replace them with Lemforder ones. (I was assured by BMW mechanics that all bushings were fine)
Got them replaced and the discs machined down. You can see the old ones in pictures above. Everything seemed to be perfectly fine until a week ago when I started noticing vibrations on the steering wheel again.
The only things that haven't been replaced yet and could be responsible for vibrating are the thrust arms and the hubs. Should I replace them??? I'd rather not to without being 100% sure that this is the cause.
Do you guys have any ideas??? Please help...
 
#53 ·
That would explain a lot. Hubs were the last thing I was going to replace as everything else was replaced with no luck. I was so fed up with the costly parts that I sold my 530 and got a newer 520 instead which lacks of power but is good on fuel.
Hope this will help others.
 
#54 ·
If you have access to a dial indicator, you could check the hub for true-ness (is that even a word?) quite easily. The problem with changing the hub is that you will have to change the bearing as well and that is an ugly job. If there is rust, dirt or grease between the rotor and the hub, that can cause a pulse in the brakes as a variation as small as 0.001" can be felt. A thorough cleaning with a wire brush along with a wash with brake cleaner will take care of most issues but remember to do a before and after measurement.
 
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