Whole car vibrates when turning steering wheel at low speed...

[GeeRam]

The low speed vibratory rattle I had on mine (as well as a squeaking noise when turning s/wheel) was the bushing on the steering rack where the s/column attaches.

BMW fitted a new rack, as the bushing is integral with the rack, so not cheap if the car is out of warranty.

[1speedbike]

Originally Posted by katsooba

im on stock 261 18" wheels with 225\35\18 tires.

i dont think it should be a problem, but why does it strain the system so much?

Yeah I don't think it should be a problem either. This never happened on my stock wheels, on any winter wheels, or on my old breytons which were same size as stock, even with slightly larger rubber. Only ever happened with the 19's. Maybe our problem is different? Or maybe we have the same problem, but it's just more pronounced on your car so it happens even with the 18's. Could it be what GeeRam mentioned below?

Originally Posted by GeeRam

The low speed vibratory rattle I had on mine (as well as a squeaking noise when turning s/wheel) was the bushing on the steering rack where the s/column attaches.

BMW fitted a new rack, as the bushing is integral with the rack, so not cheap if the car is out of warranty.

That sucks. I've read stories on E90 post and X3 forums, and others have had the issue. Sometimes a new steering rack helped. Other times it didn't at all. Of course I mentioned that last tidbit to BMW and they refused to try to put in a new rack before just blaming the wheels. Ugh.

[katsooba]

hi speedbike

my problem is not like Geerams, as i dont have any squeeking from the steering wheel
the whole cars just shudders as i turn the wheel about 1\2 degree, and when i turn it little more it relaxes

its like the car tells me "i dont wanna turn there" and then u force it hehe

didnt feel that the steering was heavier or something, it just shakes for a second in 1 mph speed and thats it

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by katsooba

hi speedbike

my problem is not like Geerams, as i dont have any squeeking from the steering wheel
the whole cars just shudders as i turn the wheel about 1\2 degree, and when i turn it little more it relaxes

Mine was making the rattling noise for quite a long time (3-4 months) before the squeaking started. I couldn't determine where the rattle wa scoming from, just sounded like it was from the below the trans tunnel somewhere. It was only when the s/wheel squeaking got worse and worse and the steering started feeling funny that I got the dealer to do something.
It was only after it was done, that I realised the vibrating rattle must have been the rack bush as well as it had disappeared after the rack was replaced.

[chrisko]

Seems like there's a lot of confusing but I'll try my luck.

Just got DP and axle back installed (+JB4 stg2) and I'm noticing a weird rattling sounds, very quiet. So quiet that when the aircon is on, I can't hear it (or it disappears). Anyways, it happens more frequently when I turn the wheel OR when I give it a slight rev to like 1000 RPMs.

The sound resembles two pieces of plastic vibrating against each other. It sounds like it's coming from somewhere in my dash, not too sure. It's annoying the hell out of me and I don't know what to do -_- Don't see how DP + exhaust and JB4 can do this lol.

[ShocknAwe]

Speedbike, read through the thread and I didn't see the answer to this, are you feeling it in the steering wheel or under your butt? Slightly less likely but it's possible that a few frame/subframe bolts are loose, so I'd look there if they didn't check those when torquing down the suspension bits.

Other than that, how about changing out the sway bar bushings since it was used?