[Daviebrown]

Originally Posted by Daviebrown

As above, the most common cause of wheel wobble under braking with BMW is not brake discs but front suspension components, either track rod end or lower control arm bush or joint. Just because you had the lower control arms done some time ago doesn’t mean something else hasn’t failed. Have it checked out by someone reputable.

As i said in my original thread, bmw’s 3s and 5s are very sensitive to even small amounts of play in the front suspension which shows as brake wobble. If you have any doubt then change it. Ive made the mistake of putting cheap replacements on only to find them knackered in 15k miles. I’ve had far too much cheap rubbish off ebay now, some of it supposedly branded items but clearly not, get something over the counter.

[BMW33]

Originally Posted by Daviebrown

As i said in my original thread, bmw’s 3s and 5s are very sensitive to even small amounts of play in the front suspension which shows as brake wobble. If you have any doubt then change it. Ive made the mistake of putting cheap replacements on only to find them knackered in 15k miles. I’ve had far too much cheap rubbish off ebay now, some of it supposedly branded items but clearly not, get something over the counter.

Thanks Davie, yes I've spoke to countless people with 3 & 5s with the same issue. Yeah I'm not a fan of buying parts off ebay. Will buy from a trusted source.

[therealdb1]

Originally Posted by BMW33

Yeah it does have abnormal play in that arm, I think it's best to do them both in pairs any brands etc you would recommend?

I'm still running totally original suspension all around as I only have 36k miles on the clock!

At this rate my car should just about be run in by the time the government ban the sale of petrol!

I only replaced the brake discs because they were corroded not because they were worn out!

Perhaps I'll tax it Wednesday; it could do with going out for a run.

[BMW33]

Originally Posted by therealdb1

I'm still running totally original suspension all around as I only have 36k miles on the clock!

At this rate my car should just about be run in by the time the government ban the sale of petrol!

I only replaced the brake discs because they were corroded not because they were worn out!

Perhaps I'll tax it Wednesday; it could do with going out for a run.

Haha so you've not had to go down that route yet, well I hope you dont because its bloody annoying trying to get to the bottom of issues like these!

[BMW33]

So to update this thread, I went ahead and changed my thrust arms which were actually in a very bad state the rubber bush on the subframe side was torn in multiple places. Opted for the meyle ones. The vibration I described at the beginning of the thread is still there it made no change to that whatsoever.

Everything else seems perfect under there. Where to go from here?

[Chappers 71]

I've had vibration through steering wheel under braking a few times over my 10+ years of 35i ownership.
Changing front discs twice & having a set refaced (can't think of the correct terminology) cured the vibration for a few thousand miles but it always came back. I put that down to pad deposits & running Red Stuff front pads. Last time it happened I changed to non ceramic pads & fitted a pair of ATE front discs which did the trick for a while until it came back again. After having the car on a shaker ramp a very small amount of movement was found on the lower right control arm, the guy said it was very minimal & he wouldn't have noticed it if the car had been having an mot. I replaced both front lower control arms & have not had vibration under braking since.
So for me it was a combination of my driving style, lots of heavy high speed braking & holding the car on the brake pedal with hot brakes whilst stationary & lastly worn control arms.
I am now no longer the king of the late brakers & dont hold the car on the brakes anymore, that & the new control arms & ate discs has cured my braking vibration issues for the last two years & 8,000 miles.