New Contours and Tires = Horrible steering wheel shake! HELP

[Poke2120]

This problem has been long solved 5 months ago. No more problems, got new wheels...

Poke

[Eric]

have the tires static and dynamic balanced. any good wheel shop should be able to do this for you.

[tdc]

Wheel balance?

Loose lugbolts?

[Bimmer RaVer]

yeah balance them, you can actually do this at a high school shop if you have one, its as simple as adding little .75oz wieghts

[Poke2120]

The wheels already have been balanced. They were balanced this afternoon (before I put them on) by the tire shop I go to. I trust them to do a good job, they have never let me down before, and knew exactly what I wanted.

So yes they have been balanced. Any other thoughts? The wheels looked in perfect shape when I got them, I couldn't see any bends whatsoever with my naked eye. Is it possible they could still be bent but undectable to me? These are used rims, only 10k miles, but they looked perfect to me before they were mounted.

Poke

[tdc]

Weights can fall off. And did you check your lugbolts? Sometimes if the wheel isn't centered properly it can feel like the bolts are tight when they're really not.

[Poke2120]

All the weights were there when I bolted on the wheels at 5:00 today. So unless is somehow knocked them off during the bolt on, and didn't see them on the ground, they are all there.

The lugbolts can't be loose, I torque wrenched all of the wheels down with 100ft lb of torque. And I double checked each wheel as well, just to be safe.

Poke

[SG_M3]

ouch a 100ft lbs, watch out not to shear them.

[Poke2120]

The lug nuts are fine My dad always uses 100ft lb and recommeneded that I do so as well.

Well I am going to drive the car now, I have to. Hopefully nothing bad happens.

But has anyone else with had a problem like this with aftermarket wheels on a E36 325i w/ stock suspension?

Poke

[Matthew C Smith]

Well, I say 100 ft-lb is too much. Things have torque specs for a reason....

Try 75 ft-lb next time.

If the wheels are balanced and nothing else has changed and the problem did not exist before, you've probably got a bent wheel.

[jderry]

Does this occur (steering wheel shake) when you ALSO apply the brakes or only under acceleration??

100 ft*lbs is to much. Max I would go is 82-85 ft*lbs.

Like people said, you could have a bent rim. Are you sure the tires are on the rims correctly??

Can you have someone look at them while you are moving slowly.

[///Samson]

I agree with Matthew - * who knows a lot of good tech info.

You really should tighten them by hand.

~Check the rims for bends

~hopefully you didn't bang your caliper/s - causing them to be tight on your rotor/s.....

~* Check the psi -- make sure it isn't too high or too low.

[ben325is]

Switch out the front and rear wheels, swap in your spare, etc. Figure out which wheel is bent. I had a bent wheel, felt like the whole car was going to rattle apart at anything above 55.

[Poke2120]

Well guys I took the car, with all 4 rims on, to the tire shop my family has used for over 20 years. The owner personally spent an hour of his time, taking off each wheel and putting it under the machine that spins them to test for warps or bends. He said he found nothing. He swapped them all around too. Took the car out for 3 different test drives after each step. I saw him get out of the car, after the 3rd test drive, and he said to me "jesus, that thing will rattle your teeth out."

He told me he had never seen a car react to wheels like that before, after them being properly rotated, mounted, and balanced. His only guess was the offset was completely off. Now, I am VERY confused, since the previous owner of these wheels had them on a 93 325i with stock setup, exactly like mine. How could the offset be different on my stock 94 325i?

I have taken the Contours off and put the stock rims back on, until I can figure out what the hell to do.

Poke

[Matthew C Smith]

Are they replica kontours?