This site is part of the Wheel Shake On BMW E34
When fitting 18 inch or above wheels to a BMW 5 series some vibration concerns could be encountered. When fitting any sort of non standard alloy wheels which you can buy from accessory shops, vibration might occur when you travel over 60 miles per hour. Also this vibration possibly could occur under braking, which may make you believe that a wheel balancing problem is out of the question. As this fault could happen when someone is traveling around the 50 – 60 MPH, people may assume it is just a balancing problem. From my own experience, I have had the wheels taken to a garage countless times to have them balanced. Only to find that the flaw rarely seems to go away, or seems to be worse a day or so later. The vibration on my car also happened when the car was under braking. Therefore I went along the path of changing the brake discs, thinking maybe they were warped. After changing the discs and pads the vibration problem was still there.
I then received information that the cause of the problem was likely to be the track control arm or the anti roll bushes for causing the vibration. So I went forward and changed the two of these items. The following thing tried was checking to see if the wheels were buckled and I also changed the back for the front wheels and visa versa, but with no better results. When purchasing many of these E39 BMW 5 series alloys wheels from the aftermarket shops, they will tell you that the wheels are the same to fit the E34 models as well as the E39 model. Nonetheless the hubs on the E34 models are very slightly smaller than the E39 models and although you get some plastic shims that arrive with the wheels these are not suitable for the E34 model.On view you will discover the hubs on the E34 models are alot smaller than the E39 model, meaning that the shims supplied with the wheels are not much use.
Whilst trying three different styles of 18 inch alloy wheels on my BMW E34 the same shakiness occurred on all sets. One set was a MV type 1 style. I fitted a set of TSW wheels with the same problem and then some replica AC Schnitzer type wheels. It was only really when 18 inch and above wheels were fitted that problems arose. Then by chance I was looking through EBay and I came across some metal shims which are designed especially for the BMW E34 to stop this vibration issue. The shims were then fitted and the vibration trouble then disappeared. I have only seen these shims advertised on Ebay under the BMW alloy wheel section but you may be able to find them elsewhere as well.
