[230IGuy]

Been searching around the forum, wanted to post my personal issue. Have a '19 230i, manual, msport, under 50k with vibrations at 70k/h and at higher speeds the vibrations get better but return much worse, feels like the whole car is vibrating (.

Wheel shakes left and right + vibrations in seat (mild) no noise.
At higher speeds the floor, seat, door and wheel vibrate, humming noise (doesn't sound like a bad bearing though). Felt driver and passenger side.

Any ideas, had 2 wheels repaired, problem did not go away. Been balanced twice now, still no resolution. Alignment was checked, within tolerance. More noticeable on smooth roadways. I think it's speed related, around town under 60k/h I notice nothing but smooth driving.

[WolfGTI]

Switching wheels front to back - make any difference?

[230IGuy]

I have a staggered setup, 9" rear, 8" front, should say tires are very new. I've got some 17's I could switch on maybe from my 1er, can give that a shot.
The dealer allegedly looked over my suspension and okayed everything, blamed the bent rims. Havent gone back, next on my list. Could anything get out of round, riding on bent rims?

[WolfGTI]

Unless you were driving with the bent rims shudder for an extended period, it shouldn't affect the suspension. Quick check on your lug bolts to make sure they are torqued properly.

[MassNerd]

Usually for speed dependent vibrations, check wheel balance and your alignment first.

Another question, does applying the brakes affect the vibration at all?

Good suggestion by Wolf to check the lugs. That's the easiest/cheapest thing to check.

[marcthedark]

Are you using an adapter to make the wheels fit the center bore? Or wobbly bolts?
Otherwise … did they use a Hunter Roadforce machine to balance the wheels (not sure if that is still the best or if something better came along)? Sometimes the wheels look good on one of the "that will do" balancing machines but turns out not to be in real life.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by marcthedark

did they use a Hunter Roadforce machine to balance the wheels (not sure if that is still the best or if something better came along)?

One thing I recall an alignment shop owner telling me was that his Hunter machines had identified new/newish tires that had no apparent issues with them but in fact had internal manufacturing defects that weren't discoverable by other means. I don't recall the specifics of how the defects manifested themselves on his Hunter machines, but he was pretty tickled by the results since no one had been able to figure out what was wrong with the cars.

IIRC, the defects were very slight internal belt misalignments that weren't picked-up during the manufacturing process. The first time it happened, he had to demonstrate it for the manufacturer's rep before he'd take the tire back for examination, where they discovered the source of the problem.