Steering wheel wobble?

[E30_Narek]

My steering wheel wobbles at 55+ mph. Sometimes it's stead, but other times it's pretty violent. I assumed it was my poor front tires and that they were unbalanced, so I went out and bought 2 brand new tires and had them balanced and put on the front. The wobbling, for some reason, starts much earlier now. What could be causing this?

EDIT: I actually noticed this wobble/shimmy after I changed my steering wheel a couple months ago to an NRG wheel.

[redlightpete]

It's usually wheels and tires with a BMW. Just because they are balanced doesn't mean the wheels or tires are round. If your tire shop has a 'road force' balancer, they can diagnose the problem more accurately. I've gone as far as getting tires 'trued' to get them round. Just because tires are new doesn't mean they are round or uniform.

Unfortunately the trade-off for steering feel is sensitivity to wheel and tire issues. A lighter/smaller steering wheel may make problems more obvious.

[E30_Narek]

It's usually wheels and tires with a BMW. Just because they are balanced doesn't mean the wheels or tires are round. If your tire shop has a 'road force' balancer, they can diagnose the problem more accurately. I've gone as far as getting tires 'trued' to get them round. Just because tires are new doesn't mean they are round or uniform.

Unfortunately the trade-off for steering feel is sensitivity to wheel and tire issues. A lighter/smaller steering wheel may make problems more obvious.

Yeah, it's a pretty light wheel. When I had the old, 4-spoke one, I didn't feel anything when driving. The balance machine wasn't a road force, I believe. It was just the one where the shaft spins the wheel, no pressure was really applied. I'll try and get it road force balanced soon. One question though. Would it be dangerous to drive on the freeway like this? I can get past the shake if I know it's ok to drive it.

[efficient]

How is your steering guibo?
I had an aftermarket wheel bolts come loose because of all the play.
How are you rims? Bent a little?

[estoguy]

Have you checked the tie rods and the tie rod ends? Jack up the front and grab the wheels (as in rim and tire wheel) at 9 and 3 o'clock and move it back and forth. You should be able to feel any play.

As efficient said, you sure it's not the lower steering rack causing the wobble? Could be the guibo, or one of the U-joints in that lower piece. It connects from the steering column to the top of the rack. I just had this problem with mine - u joints. Between my old piece and the "new" used one, the guibos were fine (and the original is almost 30 years old).

Looks like this:



The guibo should be at the upper end. Might be a little hard to see with the brake booster and such but you can see it.

With the car just standing, open your hood and driver's window. As you look at the linkage, move your wheel back and forth. If it's a problem with the linkage in some way, it should be apparent. In my case it was the lower knuckle that attaches to the rack - the u joint had some bad play - the wheel was moving a few degrees before the steering would move. If it's quiet, you should hear the u joint clicking if it's bad. Find a solid used linkage. I got one from a BMW wrecker for $50.