Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[M II]

Originally Posted by gdobson

I have a 2009 135i with 4000km. I recently switched my stock M-sport package wheels for Moda EB-1 18 in rims all around and Bridgestone LM-25 winters 225-40/18's tires both from the tire rack.

The local installer used the included centering rings etc. that came with the rims.

I now notice a new and distinct vibration/wobble in the steering wheel when I apply the brakes at moderate speed. There is little if any vibration when driving at highway speed without brakes applied.
I have tried various inflation pressures.
Anyone have any thoughts? Could the lugs be loose or a problem with installation?
It may be unrelated to the new wheels/tires seems more of a brake issue.

Thanks

It seems to be a brake issue in your case since the vibration only appears when you're under braking situations. Warped rotors are a major issue and you probably will never ever get your car's rotor temperatures up that high. My guess would be that you got your OEM pad temperatures high enough where they were out of their efficiency range.

When you do this, you leave deposits of your pad on the rotor surface unevenly. Now, imagine that your pad is making contact with now an uneven surface all equate to vibration under braking scenarios.

I would work on properly bedding in your pads to get a nice transfer layer from the pads over to the rotors. Otherwise, you'll have to remove the rotor and resurface them to get a nice smooth surface.

Good luck on the fix

[TheRuss]

Did you ever get to the bottom of this? I'm having the same issue with my 2009 135i. Also, it happened not long after getting winters fitted. I took my car out a couple of weeks back and found an empty road to do 10 sets of hard braking from 60mph to about 10-20mph, but the problem remains. I even did the 10x hard stops twice, with a cool down period in between and after, without stopping.

Only other thing I can think of is that I didn't stop hard enough, or the weather was too cold and cooled the brakes down too much between hard stops. That said, I'd have expected it to have flattened the surface off.

Not sure what else it could be though.

[SerenityInSpeed]

If you are using oem pads with any spirited driving, you will get uneven pad deposits, causing judder upon braking. As stated above, pushing the pad too hard is the cause. My rotor temps never exceeded 300F, which isn't hot enough to cause rotor issues.

My 135I is in the shop as I type. I am hoping they will replace rotors again; they were replaced approximately 6k miles ago so I am expecting the dealer to claim abuse....

As soon as I get my auto back, I will be swapping out pads with a set of hawk hps. Good luck!

[TheRuss]

I dunno, I barely use my brakes at all. I very much doubt that I overheated them. Also, that shouldn't cause uneven pad material deposits unless I stopped with them hot.