urgent: ungodly vibration at speed

[E30godz]

I was out enjoying the ice today, got some crazy drifts going on....amazing amount of fun....but anyways....on the way hope i noticed a vibration getting progressively worse past 35 MPH, its not engine speed related, or gear related as far as i have discerned. I wanted to see if it would go away at higher speed so i got on the interstate....bad idea....i get to 80 and the car is about to vibrate itself apart...the wheel isnt vibrating either....what the hell could this be??

[Brian 89 325i]

Does the gear shift viberate? Its also maybe the driveshaft.

Brian

[E30godz]

nope, gearshit doesnt vibrate.

[rscheiring]

I had a terrible shimmy in my M6, esp when braking at higher speed. It was the control arm bushing. Thats common for this car. I was surprised at how violent the shimmy was. Another concern I had was the diff'l mount, but this was ok.

If you're a car club member, you should try Mike Morris (techtalk@roundel.org). He is excellent, replies quickly and knows his stuff.

[E30godz]

i thought the control arm bushing would vibrate JUST under brakeing at high speed....and i thought it would shake the steering wheel...but thanks for the addy!

[rscheiring]

Shows you what I know. Let us know what Mikey says.

[rscheiring]

I meant Mike Miller, not Morris. Ooops.

[E30godz]

I just dropped him an email. Thanks, though im not 100% certain what i said about the CA bushings is true...i HOPE that would be it as they arnt that much $ or hard to replace!! Good time for M3 ones.

[Jordan]

If the CA bushings were bad, you would get significant feedback in the steering wheel. Since you said that you are not getting steering wheel feedback, I would look elsewhere.

Do you have sand or snow caked in your wheels? loose a wheel weight?

You also didnt mention what end of the car it seemed to come from.

[Bill 84 318i]

If it just happened after drifting, is it possible that you have a chunk of snow stuck inside the wheel? Been there, done that.

CAB vibrates under high speed, not necessarily braking. And it mostly shakes the steering wheel, not the car. And it doesn't *usually* go out all of a sudden.

[E30godz]

i just called EuroStar and the guy said that since i didnt hit anything it COULD be just snow or ice stuck in there...hopefully this shit will melt soon and i can see...

[E30godz]

it doesnt really seem to have a point of origin...it just vibrates...if i had to say, i would say the rear of the car.

[Brian 89 325i]

could be your rear u joint, I threw parts at my vibration untill i was replacing the diff and noticed the rear u joint was SUPER notichy.

Brian

[Mystikal]

Hahaha, snow rookie. My car vibrates all winter because of the snow and ice built up in there.

[E30godz]

yup i think that was it, i left the car parked in my car port and apparently some of the snow melted and i took it back out, and it was fine! (sigh of relief) I cant help thinking i "cried wolf" on this one.